50 years…

…of rock and roll.  They were on stage last night in London.

The Rolling Stones welcomed former members Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor back on stage at their 50th anniversary kick-off concert at London’s O2 Arena last night (November 25th). The show also featured guest spots by Jeff Beck and Mary J. Blige. Although Wyman and Taylor weren’t onstage at the same time, the show definitely showed a small amount of nostalgia for the Stones, with the band tipping it’s hat to the Beatles for the opening number by performing “I Wanna Be Your Man” — which John Lennon and Paul McCartney finished for them in 1963 giving them their first Top 20 UK hit. The Stones followed it with a triple punch of ’60s classics — “Get Off My Cloud,” “It’s All Over Now,” and “Paint It, Black” before settling into the set. Blige stepped up to sing the Merry Clayton part in “Gimme Shelter” and Jeff Beck joined the band for the 1969 Let It Bleedouttake, “I’m Going Down.”

Bill Wyman made his first appearance with the Stones since June 27th, 1990 in Basle, Switzerland, sitting in on “It’s Only Rock N’ Roll” and “Honky Tonk Women.” Taylor was featured on the band’s 1969 classic, “Midnight Rambler” — a cornerstone of the legendary shows he played with the band between 1969 and 1973. Although he hasn’t played live with the band since sitting in with them on December 15th, 1981 in Kansas City, Missouri, he added new guitar work to the 2010 expanded reissue of Exile On Main Street.