The Rolling Stones Fined £200,000

The Rolling Stones were due to finish their set by 10:30pm on Sunday (Nov 25) night but played for the sell-out crowd until gone 11pm. The band were taken to task over this by the local council, who issued them with the penalty. “It means a big fine – but the guys just do their thing. There wasn’t a janitor standing there, jangling his keys, saying. ‘I want to go home'”, said the band’s agent, Bernard Doherty.

Other than the curfew, The Rolling Stones first night at the O2 Arena ran smoothly with former members Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor joining the band alongside by Mary J Blige, who added vocals to “Gimme Shelter”, and rocker Jeff Beck, who played guitar on 1969’s “I’m Going Down”. Bassist Wyman played with the Stones from 1962 until 1992 while guitarist Taylor was with them from 1969 to 1974. This was the first time the two have played with the band since that time.

The show began half an hour late at 8.30pm. A video showed clips of Stones fans including Iggy Pop, Elton John and AC/DC’s Angus Young explaining what the Stones mean to them. One of the talking heads, actor Johnny Depp, described their songs as “music that makes you want to do bad things”. Next, a tribe of percussionists wearing gorilla masks – a nod to the new compilation “GRRR!” – paraded around the arena, before the band launched into the Lennon-McCartney-penned “I Wanna Be Your Man”, NME reports.

The Rolling Stones will play the O2 Arena again on Thursday (November 29). They will also perform at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on December 8 and at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on December 13 and 15.