Hysteria and Satisfaction when Rolling Stones performed in Dundee in 1965

The Courier

12-06-2025

Screaming, fainting and sobbing teenagers caused pandemonium when the Rolling Stones performed in Dundee in June 1965.
The Marryat Hall was turned into a casualty station.
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts could barely hear themselves play and dodged stuffed toys of all shapes and sizes.
It made national headlines.
The Stones were the band of the moment following the release of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, which dominated the airwaves in the summer of 1965.
The band first played the Caird Hall a year earlier.
Albert Bonici and co-promoter Andi Lothian booked the Stones to join the bill of a pop package tour which was headlined by Freddie and the Dreamers.
The Stones performed at 6.30pm and 8.50pm on on May 20 1964.
The band returned to Scotland for a headline tour in June 1965 which included dates at Glasgow's Odeon, Edinburgh's Usher Hall and Aberdeen's Capitol Theatre.
They received 40% of the gross box office and 'no less than £750 per venue'.
Everyone wanted to see them.
Four Dunfermline schoolgirls skipped lessons after the Edinburgh show.
Hitchhiking 23 miles to the Gleneagles Hotel where the band were staying, they managed to meet the Stones and get autographs and souvenirs.
Next stop was Aberdeen.
You can't always get what you want, it's true, but the Stones did when they enjoyed a hearty meal of sausages, eggs, bacon and chips in Laurencekirk.
The fry-up at a country pub prompted Jagger to sing a song for the locals.
'We had a great meal on the way up,' said Jagger.
'Laurencekirk, I think it was.
'And the people were very nice.'
They returned to Gleneagles before the two shows at the Caird Hall.
Tickets were priced from five shillings to 15 shillings.
The Stones chose the supporting acts and were backed by The Hollies, Doris Troy, Johnny Cannon and the Shades, and the West Five.
Before the gig they were taken to Broughty Ferry for a photo shoot for Romeo and Jackie teen girl magazines in the grounds of the Taypark Hotel.
The band members were all clad in suits.
The two shows at 6.30pm and 8.45pm were attended by 3,500 fans.
The Stones were drinking bottles of Coke backstage.
They played for 30 minutes.
Songs included Not Fade Away, It's All Over Now and The Last Time, although little could be heard because the screaming was so loud.
Jagger and his bandmates thought a young fan had fallen from the balcony during the show when an enormous cloth gonk was hurled on to the stage.
In fact, it was a gift from Jean Gracie from Dundee and Ann Brown from Monifieth.
The Stones brought the girls backstage during the interval.
They were photographed by The Courier for the following morning's paper.
It was the calm before the storm.
The screaming reached a crescendo at the second show.
The teenybop adulation threatened to become overwhelming.
Hundreds of hysterical teenage girls attempted to break the cordon of police and 50 stewards which were made up of amateur boxers and wrestlers.
However, one girl got through.
Jessie Noble from Fintry raced past Wyman and Jones to the centre of the stage.
She threw her arms around Jagger and started hugging and kissing him.
Two burly stewards dragged her to the wings.
'I kissed Mick,' she said. 'I touched him and hugged him.'
There was a short spell of peace. Then it was back to the yelling, stamping, screaming and fainting again.
Jessie broke through the cordon a second time.
She was promptly carted out again.
The Courier said the floor of the hall became a battlefield.
The screaming girl fans stood on seats and chanted: 'Mick! Mick! Mick!'
Rooster-strutting Jagger looked in his element on stage and the cheering got louder when he took his jacket off and threatened to throw it to the audience.
Red Cross workers had stationed themselves around the hall.
Forty 'hysterical and fainting girls' were carried to the Marryat Hall.
They were laid out on blankets, then revived and treated at the scene.
One girl who collapsed unconscious was taken to Dundee Royal Infirmary for treatment after attendants worked unsuccessfully for half an hour to revive her.
Maureen Rooney of Mid Craigie was suffering from 'acute hysteria'.
She regained consciousness and was sent home.
Other teenagers attempted to reach the stage but were held back by stewards.
After the final song, many girls, who were still in the venue, were sobbing with disappointment because the band had left the stage.
The fans left behind a litter of dolls, papers, autograph books and sweets.
There were a number of broken seats.
A car was waiting for the band in Castle Street. The Stones drove back to Gleneagles.
A policeman grabbed a girl who attempted to throw herself in front of the car.
Jagger defended the group's followers after the Dundee gig.
'The fans don't mean to break the seats,' he said.
Afterwards, the band flew back to London from Renfrew Airport without Jagger.
He spent the weekend in Scotland with 19-year-old girlfriend Christine Shrimpton.
They visited Fort William, Oban and Loch Lomond.
Jagger and Shrimpton stayed in the Loch Lomond Hotel.
They flew back to London before the band went on tour to Scandinavia.
The Stones never returned to Dundee.
However, Bill Wyman did. He left the Stones in 1993 and later formed Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.
Wyman returned to the Caird Hall with his new band in February 2008.
There was also an equally famous 'what if?'
Charlie Watts might have performed at the Dundee Jazz Festival.
He put together his own 33-piece extra-big band in 1985 featuring many of the biggest stars of British jazz – including Jimmy Deuchar from Dundee.
Deuchar stayed in Barnhill.
Watts described him as 'quite brilliant' and 'probably the best writer in the band'.
The friendship almost brought the Stones drummer back to Dundee.
Alan Steadman was the organiser of Dundee Jazz Festival. He tried to persuade Watts to join the bill.
The plan never came to fruition, though, and Steadman was left waiting on a friend.