Latest news with #Jagger
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
With Sales Improving Worldwide, CEO Josh Schulman Is Bullish on the Future of Burberry
LONDON – From colorful scarf bars in stores to campaigns featuring the Jagger clan and VVIP events stretching from Highgrove to the Flamingo Estate, Burberry's charm offensive is working, with sales improving worldwide despite the tough environment for luxury. The company has successfully stemmed the double-digit sales declines of the past year and outstripped growth expectations for the first fiscal quarter. More from WWD Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti to Open a Campus in London Priya Nair Returns to India as CEO, Managing Director of Hindustan Unilever Limited Topshop to Stage Fashion Show in London After Seven-year Hiatus In the three months to June 30, it reported 433 million pounds in retail revenue, a 6 percent drop at reported exchange, and a 2 percent decline at constant rates. Comparable store sales were down 1 percent, compared with analysts' projections of a 3 percent decline. In the corresponding period last year, comparable store sales were down 21 percent. Perhaps no one is more surprised than chief executive officer Josh Schulman who joined Burberry last July. 'If you had asked me 12 months ago where we would be today, I wouldn't have imagined the amount of progress that this exceptional team has been making,' said Schulman, adding that brand desirability is also on the rise due to Burberry's focus on 'timeless British luxury.' He added: 'It's early days, and it's a tough macro, but we are really starting to see the potential of what lies ahead. We're taking things step by step, but we are optimistic about the quarters ahead and optimistic about the business in general.' Schulman, who has been broadening the price points and appeal of the brand, said the metric he's 'super excited' about is conversion, the ability to turn window shoppers into paying customers. 'Our conversion is up across the world — very significantly — and we're doing so in a tough luxury market,' he said, adding that local customers have been outspending tourists worldwide. The positive news caps a tough year for Schulman, who is hoping to restore Burberry to its golden days of 3 billion pounds in revenue and an operating margin in the high teens. As reported in May, the company unveiled an enriched cost-savings plan that could see 20 percent of its workforce eliminated by 2027. The plan is aimed at unlocking 100 million pounds by fiscal 2027, in addition to 40 million pounds revealed last year. Burberry plans to cut mainly office-based jobs, and will reorganize the schedules of its shop floor staff so they are working during peak traffic hours. The company is also eliminating the night shift at its factory in Castleford, Yorkshire, where the signature gabardine trenchcoats are made. Around 25 percent of staff will be impacted. The turnaround is taking shape, although Schulman and analysts said it's still early days. Bernstein called Burberry's first-quarter performance 'decent, particularly in the context where French and Italian peers are expected to shrink by negative' high-single-digit to double digit, when they report earnings later this month. 'More importantly, company commentary indicates early signs of brand reignition,' said Bernstein, adding that 'the sequential improvement in same-store sales — against a most difficult environment — suggest that things are starting to work.' The bank also believes that Burberry has a 'more realistic pricing approach in leather goods,' which should help fuel growth going forward. Deutsche Bank noted that Burberry's shares are up 27 percent so far this year, 'significantly outperforming both larger peers [including LVMH and Hermès] and turnaround peers [Kering and Ferragamo].' Citi looked farther ahead, speculating that Burberry's underlying retail sales 'could turn positive' in the second fiscal quarter for the first time in two years. The 'execution is on track, with new [fall and spring] collections and a wider pricing architecture delivered to stores over the next three quarters to reignite brand desirability,' Citi said. Friday's first-quarter news sent the share price up more than 6 percent to close at 13.27 pounds. There is even talk that Burberry could rejoin the FTSE 100 index when the London Stock Exchange undertakes its next quarterly review in September. Burberry fell out of the index, which includes the biggest companies by market capitalization, last September following a 50 percent decline in its share price in the months leading up to the review. In the first three months, Schulman said growth came from 'sequential improvement' across all regions, thanks chiefly to more enthusiastic local customers. The Americas rose 4 percent, followed by EMEIA, or Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa region, which rose 1 percent. Greater China was down 5 percent, while Asia Pacific fell 4 percent. Kate Ferry, Burberry's chief financial officer, said the performance in the Americas, which represents around 19 percent of overall sales, was particularly interesting. 'We actually saw new customer numbers growing in the region, as well as returning customers. We're seeing a much broader range of customers in America, too, which is good,' she said. She and Schulman stressed that Greater China, which represents 30 percent of sales, has been showing quarter-on-quarter improvement, with sales coming from locals rather than tourists, in line with the overall trends in Asia-Pacific. Ferry added that 'traffic in the luxury market is challenging everywhere, and tourism is certainly down, but our team in China are really encouraged by all they are seeing. Overall, it's sequentially improving and it remains a really important market for us. We are really, really excited about the future of China,' she said. Worldwide, bestsellers in the three months included outerwear, particularly lightweight jackets, and items with check trims or with the Burberry Prorsum Knight stamp. In the shoe category, wellies and pool slides also had a strong response from customers as well, Schulman said. Summer products have been selling at places including The Newt, a 2,000-acre working farm and luxury hotel and spa in Somerset, England. Burberry created a custom check pattern for the hotel as part of a summer partnership, and has been selling swimwear, outerwear, hats, scarves and umbrellas at the boutique. Burberry has also done a takeover of The Standard in Ibiza, whipping up its signature check in yellow for parasols, loungers and cushions. There's also a big Burberry logo at the bottom of the swimming pool. The brand is working with The Standard's rooftop bar and restaurant, doing weekly Burberry-curated cocktail evenings, soundtracked by guest DJs spinning from a custom-built booth. For the VVIPs there were trips to the gardens at Highgrove, King Charles's private home in Gloucestershire, following a collaboration with the estate on a 28-piece capsule collection. In the U.S., Burberry invited big-spending customers to the launch of the Highgrove collection at the Flamingo Estate, the working farm turned high-end lifestyle destination in Los Angeles. As the glamorous campaigns and events continue to roll out, there is steady work going on behind the scenes, and in the Burberry C-suites worldwide. As reported in May, Schulman decided not to fill the role of chief commercial officer and to do the job himself, with Burberry's regional presidents reporting directly to him. On Friday, along with the first-quarter announcement, Burberry said the four regional presidents will join the executive committee and take part in relevant decision-making, strategy and operations. They are Claudia Kim in Asia-Pacific; Frank van Loon in EMEIA; Josie Zhang, in Greater China, and Laura Dubin-Wander, in the Americas. Schulman said the move is meant to align leadership and decision-making more closely with the end-customer. Schulman said the regional presidents' 'market insights and deep customer knowledge are invaluable, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with them to drive' the Burberry Forward strategy. Looking ahead to the full 2025-26 year, Schulman said the transformation is not like 'turning on a light switch' and will take time. 'It is a multiyear plan with the aim of re-grounding the brand in a timeless British luxury expression. There's so much storytelling that we can do, and we will continue to execute our product strategy, leading with outerwear, earning our authority in other categories, and getting the product and marketing right to appeal to the broad universe of luxury customers.' Although the company did not comment on the second quarter performance, it said the plan was to prioritize investment and deliver margin improvement 'with a continued focus on simplification, productivity and cash flow. We remain confident that we are positioning the business for a return to sustainable, profitable growth.' Best of WWD What the Highest-paid CEOs at U.S. Fashion and Retail Companies Make The Definitive Timeline for Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Sean John Fashion Brand: Lawsuits, Runway Shows and Who Owns It Now Confidence Holds Up, But How Much Can Consumers Take?
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Daryl Hall and John Oates Look Back on Playing With Mick Jagger at Live Aid: ‘It Was Shocking, To Be Honest'
Live Aid boasted plenty of participants who could be considered MVPs – particularly organizer and driving force Bob Geldof. But for a primetime chunk in Philadelphia on June 13, 1985, Daryl Hall & John Oates held that distinction. The two — who met in the City of Brotherly Love in 1967 and began working together three years later — rolled on stage at about 9:50 p.m. at John F. Kennedy Stadium, starting with their Billboard Hot 100 toppers 'Out of Touch' and 'Maneater.' They also brought out former Temptations members Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin to recreate part of their then-recent Apollo Theater medley of the group's 'Get Ready,' 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg,' 'The Way You Do the Things You Do' and 'My Girl' — complete with some of the Motown group's trademark dance steps. More from Billboard 'Pride & Prejudice' Film Soundtrack Bewitches the Charts With 20th-Anniversary Vinyl Reissue Fred again.. Releases 'Victory Lap' Remix Featuring Denzel Curry Jadakiss Reacts to Drake's 'What Did I Miss?': 'They Flip on You ... That's the Game We In' But wait, there was more. The augmented Hall & Oates crew stayed on stage to back up Mick Jagger, performing sans Rolling Stones, on his solo tracks 'Lonely at the Top' and 'Just Another Night' as well as the Stones' 'Miss You.' Then a high-heeled Tina Turner joined the proceedings, taking Michael Jackson's place on 'State of Shock' (a Jagger duet from the Jacksons' Victory album) and a show-stealing 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It),' during which Jagger, who'd changed outfits mid-song, memorably ripped off Turner's leather mini-skirt. 'I felt the significance of it, that's the best way to put it,' Hall recently told Billboard. 'It was one of those moments where we knew something significant was happening.' 'At the time we were at the top of our game in the world of pop,' says Oates, speaking separately to Billboard. 'And it was Philadelphia, so it made sense for us to be there. The vibe was great and the energy was just insane. It was something I'll never forget.' Neither Hall nor Oates remember specifically how their Live Aid booking came about; both say it came through the duo's then-manager Tommy Mottola. And because they had performed with Ruffin and Kendricks at the Apollo less than two months before (the Live at the Apollo album came out September 1985), it seemed appropriate to have them be part of Live Aid as well. Backing Jagger came somewhat out of the blue, however. 'Mick had done a solo album (She's the Boss) at the time and didn't really have a backing band,' Oates recalls. Hall & Oates' guitarist G.E. Smith had played guitar on one of the album's tracks, 'Secrets,' which helped connect the two acts. 'This really wasn't initiated by me at all,' Hall says. 'I was just a soldier in the army and other people were saying, 'Mick wants to do this. You're gonna do this with him and Tina's involved and you guys bring out David and Eddie…' It was all sort of planned out, and I just said, 'Sure, sure, sure.'' Rehearsals with Jagger at SIR Studios in Manhattan were as memorable as the show itself for Oates. 'We had prepared the songs and gone over them and had them pretty well down 'cause, of course, our '80s band was so frickin' good,' Oates remembers. 'We were on stage playing, doing whatever we were doing, and Mick comes into the room and basically jumps on stage, just a 'you guys ready?' kind of thing and he said 'Let's go!' and called out a song. We counted it off and he went into the song as if he was playing a giant stadium. He did the whole thing — the chicken wings, prancing around the front of the stage, full-on. It wasn't like we were in a rehearsal studios just playing the songs; he actual performed it, treated it like it was a full-out performance in front of no one except us. It was shocking, to be honest with you, but it was so frickin' exciting.' Hall adds that Jagger was 'nervous' about the performance, which was his most high-profile away from the Stones at that point. 'He asked me afterwards, 'How did we do? How did I do?' It was that kind of thing,' Hall says. 'That was interesting, 'cause I see these things from the inside pretty much. Once we got on stage we were just a machine.' Both Hall & Oates have fond memories of the hang at the stadium that day. 'Considering what we were there for, which was starving people in Africa, it was a joyous event,' Hall says. 'I would just keep bumping into people and meeting people. Everybody was smiling and shaking hands. It was a really friendly event considering it was the top of the world's artists at the time. And 'cause we were at the end of the show I got to see everybody as they were performing, one after the other after the other. It was really the ultimate experience to watch as well as participate in.' Oates had also arrived early in the day to soak in the atmosphere and enjoyed the camaraderie backstage. 'Everyone who was done in their trailer, dressing room or wasn't performing was basically just hanging around. Everybody was nice and pumped. Jack Nicholson, who was a buddy, was there emceeing. It was cool to be in a casual environment, with people all around.' Oates doesn't remember much about the night's shambolic 'We Are the World' finale. 'I probably blew out my energy during our set and just kind of went through the motions for the encore,' he says. Hall recalls that 'everybody was rushing the stage, trying to get in front so people would notice them. (Laughs) I'm not saying that in a bad way; everybody was just kind of feeling good and doing it. It was a lot of adrenaline and energy flying around.' Promoter Larry Magid, whose Philadelphia-based Electric Factory Concerts firm produced the U.S. show in conjunction with the late Bill Graham, says it was a point of personal pride to have native acts such as Hall & Oates on the bill. 'It just worked out to have those acts on,' he remembers. 'Hall & Oates with Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin; both of them were living in Philadelphia at the time. I liked that. I liked Patti LaBelle being from Philadelphia. The Teddy Pendergrass thing [his first performance since a 1982 car crash left him paralyzed from the chest down] was overwhelming, very emotional. And the opening act, the Hooters, was a hot new act from Philadelphia at the time and I was so happy we were able to showcase them.' Hall acknowledges that having the Stateside portion of Live Aid in Philadelphia (a simultaneous concert took place in London) did make it more resonant. 'I felt a little bit of pride in that,' Hall says. 'I was glad Philadelphia was the place.' Hall & Oates, of course, formally ceased working together in 2024 after 18 studio albums and 16 top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Hall is still touring on the heels of his 2024 solo album, D, while Oates is on the road and will release his new album, Oates, on Aug. 29. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Atlantic
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
When Mick Jagger Met the King of Zydeco
The story I'd heard was that Mick Jagger bought his first Clifton Chenier record in the late 1960s, at a store in New York's Greenwich Village. But when we talked this spring, Jagger told me he didn't do his record shopping in the Village. It would have been Colony Records in Midtown, he said, 'the biggest record store in New York, and it had the best selection.' Jagger was in his 20s, not far removed from a suburban-London boyhood spent steeping in the American blues. I pictured him eagerly leafing through Chess Records LPs and J&M 45s until he came across a chocolate-brown 12-inch record—Chenier's 1967 album Bon Ton Roulet! On the cover, a young Chenier holds a 25-pound accordion the length of his torso, a big, mischievous smile on his face. Bon Ton Roulet! is a classic zydeco album showcasing the Creole dance music of Southwest Louisiana, which blends traditional French music, Caribbean rhythms, and American R&B. This was different from the Delta and Chicago blues that Jagger and his Rolling Stones bandmates had grown up with and emulated on their own records. Although sometimes taking the form of slower French waltzes, zydeco is more up-tempo—it's party music—and features the accordion and the rubboard, a washboard hooked over the shoulders and hung across the body like a vest. Until he discovered zydeco, Jagger recalled, 'I'd never heard the accordion in the blues before.' Chenier was born in 1925 in Opelousas, Louisiana, the son of a sharecropper and accordion player named Joseph Chenier, who taught his son the basics of the instrument. Clifton's older brother, Cleveland, played the washboard and later the rubboard. Clifton had commissioned an early prototype of the rubboard in the 1940s from a metalworker in Port Arthur, Texas, where he illustrated his vision by drawing the design in the dirt, creating one of a handful of instruments native to the United States and forever changing the percussive sound of Creole music. Within a few years, the brothers were performing at impromptu house dances in Louisiana living rooms. They'd begin playing on the porch until a crowd assembled, then go inside, pushing furniture against the walls to create a makeshift dance hall. Eventually, they worked their way through the chitlin circuit, a network of venues for Black performers and audiences. They played Louisiana dance halls where the ceilings hung so low that Cleveland could push his left hand flat to the ceiling to stretch his back out without ever breaking the rhythm of what he was playing with his right. Influenced by rock-and-roll pioneers such as Fats Domino, Chenier incorporated new elements into his music. As he told one interviewer, 'I put a little rock into this French music.' With the help of Lightnin' Hopkins, a cousin by marriage, Chenier signed a deal with Arhoolie Records. By the late '60s, he and his band were regularly playing tours that stretched across the country, despite the insistence from segregationist promoters that zydeco was a Black sound for Black audiences. He started playing churches and festivals on the East and West Coasts, where people who'd never heard the word zydeco were awestruck by Chenier: He'd often arrive onstage in a cape and a velvet crown with bulky costume jewels set in its arches. Chenier came to be known as the King of Zydeco. He toured Europe; won a Grammy for his 1982 album, I'm Here! ; performed at Carnegie Hall and in Ronald Reagan's White House; won a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He died in 1987, at age 62. This fall, the Smithsonian's preservation-focused Folkways Recordings will release the definitive collection of Chenier's work: a sprawling box set, 67 tracks in all. And in June, to mark the centennial of Chenier's birth, the Louisiana-based Valcour Records released a compilation on which musicians who were inspired by Chenier contributed covers of his songs. These include the blues artist Taj Mahal, the singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, the folk troubadour Steve Earle, and the rock band the Rolling Stones. In 1978, Jagger met Chenier, thanks to a musician and visual artist named Richard Landry. Landry grew up on a pecan farm in Cecilia, Louisiana, not far from Opelousas. In 1969, he moved to New York and met Philip Glass, becoming a founding member of the Philip Glass Ensemble, in which he played saxophone. To pay the bills between performances, the two men also started a plumbing business. Eventually, the ensemble was booking enough gigs that they gave up plumbing. Landry also embarked on a successful visual-art career, photographing contemporaries such as Richard Serra and William S. Burroughs and premiering his work at the Leo Castelli Gallery. He still got back to Louisiana, though, and he'd occasionally sit in with Chenier and his band. (After Landry proved his chops the first time they played together, Chenier affectionately described him as 'that white boy from Cecilia who can play the zydeco.') Landry became a kind of cultural conduit—a link between the avant-garde scene of the North and the Cajun and Creole cultures of the South. From the July 1987 issue: Cajun and Creole bands are conserving native music Landry is an old friend; we met more than a decade ago in New Orleans. Sitting in his apartment in Lafayette recently, he told me the story of the night he introduced Jagger to Chenier. As Landry remembers it, he first met Jagger at a Los Angeles house party following a Philip Glass Ensemble performance at the Whisky a Go Go. The next night, as luck would have it, he saw Jagger again, this time out at a restaurant, and they got to talking. At some point in the conversation, 'Jagger goes, 'Your accent. Where are you from?' I said, 'I'm from South Louisiana.' He blurts out, 'Clifton Chenier, the best band I ever heard, and I'd like to hear him again.' ' 'Dude, you're in luck,' he told Jagger. Chenier was playing a show at a high school in Watts the following night. Landry called Chenier: 'Cliff, I'm bringing Mick Jagger tomorrow night.' Chenier responded, 'Who's that?' 'He's with the Rolling Stones,' Landry tried to explain. 'Oh yeah. That magazine. They did an article on me.' It seems the Rolling Stones had yet to make an impression on Chenier, but his music had clearly influenced the band, and not just Jagger. The previous year, Rolling Stone had published a feature on the Stones' guitarist Ronnie Wood. In one scene, Wood and Keith Richards convene a 3 a.m. jam session at the New York studios of Atlantic Records. On equipment borrowed from Bruce Springsteen, they play 'Don't You Lie to Me'—first the Chuck Berry version, then 'Clifton Chenier's Zydeco interpretation,' as the article described it. Chenier was in Los Angeles playing what had become an annual show for the Creole community living in the city. The stage was set at the Verbum Dei Jesuit High School gymnasium, by the edge of the basketball court. Jagger was struck by the audience. 'They weren't dressing as other people of their age group,' he told me. 'The fashion was completely different. And of course, the dancing was different than you'd normally see in a big city.' The band was already performing by the time he and Landry arrived. When they walked in, one woman squinted in Jagger's direction, pausing in a moment of possible recognition, before changing her mind and turning away. Chenier was at center stage, thick gold rings lining his fingers as they moved across the black and white keys of his accordion, his name embossed in bold block type on its side. Cleveland stood beside him on the rubboard. Robert St. Julien was set up in the back behind a three-piece drum kit—just a bass drum, a snare, and a single cymbal, cracked from the hole in the center out to the very edge. Jagger took it all in, watching the crowd dance a two-step and thinking, ' Oh God, I'm going to have to dance. How am I going to do this dance that they're all doing? ' he recalled. 'But I managed somehow to fake it.' At intermission, a cluster of fans, speaking in excited bursts of Creole French, started moving toward the stage, holding out papers to be autographed. Landry and Jagger were standing nearby. Jagger braced himself, assuming that some of the fans might descend on him. But the crowd moved quickly past them, pressing toward Clifton and Cleveland Chenier. Before the night was over, Jagger himself had the chance to meet Clifton, but only said a quick hello. 'I just didn't want to hassle him or anything,' he told me. 'And I was just enjoying myself being one of the audience.' The next time Mick Jagger and Richard Landry crossed paths was May 3, 2024: the day after the Rolling Stones performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. During their set, the Stones had asked the accordion player Dwayne Dopsie, a son of another zydeco artist, Rockin' Dopsie, to accompany the band on 'Let It Bleed.' A meal was set up at Antoine's, in the French Quarter, by a mutual friend, the musician and producer C. C. Adcock. Adcock had been working on plans for the Clifton Chenier centennial record for months and was well aware of Jagger's affection for zydeco. He waited until the meal was over, when everyone was saying their goodbyes, to mention the project to Jagger. 'And without hesitation,' Landry recalled, 'Mick said, 'I want to sing something.' ' As the final addition to the album lineup, the Stones were the last to choose which of Chenier's songs to record. Looking at the track listing, Jagger noticed that 'Zydeco Sont Pas Salé' hadn't been taken. 'Isn't that, like, the one?' Adcock recalls him saying. 'The one the whole genre is named after? If the Stones are gonna do one, shouldn't we do the one ?' The word zydeco is widely believed to have originated in the French phrase les haricots sont pas salés, which translates to 'The snap beans aren't salty.' Zydeco, according to this theory, is a Creole French pronunciation of les haricots. (The lyrical fragment likely comes from juré, the call-and-response music of Louisiana that predates zydeco; it shows up as early as 1934, on a recording of the singer Wilbur Shaw made in New Iberia, Louisiana.) Many interpretations of the phrase have been offered over the years. The most straightforward is that it's a metaphorical way of saying 'Times are tough.' When money ran short, people couldn't afford the salt meat that was traditionally cooked with snap beans to season them. The Stones' version of 'Zydeco Sont Pas Salé' opens with St. Julien, Chenier's longtime drummer, playing a backbeat with brushes. He's 77 now, no longer the young man Jagger saw in Watts in 1978. 'I quit playing music about 10 years ago, to tell the truth,' he said when we spoke this spring, but you wouldn't know it by how he sounds on the track. Keith Richards's guitar part, guttural and revving, meets St. Julien in the intro and builds steadily. The melody is introduced by the accordionist Steve Riley, of the Mamou Playboys, who told me he'd tried to 'play it like Clifton—you know, free-form, just from feel.' It's strange that it doesn't feel stranger when Jagger breaks into his vocal, sung in Creole French. His imitation of Chenier is at once spot-on yet unmistakably Jagger. From the May 1971 issue: Mick Jagger shoots birds I asked him how he'd honed his French pronunciation. 'I've actually tried to write songs in Cajun French before,' he said. 'But I've never really gotten anywhere.' To get 'Zydeco Sont Pas Salé' right, he became a student of the song. 'You just listen to what's been done before you,' he told me. 'See how they pronounce it, you know? I mean, yeah, of course it's different. And West Indian English is different from what they speak in London. I tried to do a job and I tried to do it in the way it was traditionally done—it would sound a bit silly in perfect French.' Zydeco united musical traditions from around the globe to become a defining sound for one of the most distinct cultures in America. Chenier, the accordionist in the velvet crown, then introduced zydeco to the world, influencing artists across genres. When I asked Jagger why, at age 81, he had decided to make this recording, he said, 'I think the music deserves to be known and the music deserves to be heard.' If the song helps new listeners discover Chenier—to have something like the experience Jagger had when he first dropped the needle on Bon Ton Roulet! —that would be a welcome result. But Jagger stressed that this wasn't the primary reason he'd covered 'Zydeco Sont Pas Salé.' Singing to St. Julien's beat, Jagger the rock star once again becomes Jagger the Clifton Chenier fan. 'My main thing is just that I personally like it. You know what I mean? That's my attraction,' he said. 'I think that I just did this for the love of it, really.'
The Courier
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
Hysteria and Satisfaction when Rolling Stones performed in Dundee in 1965
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.
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
See the photo proves that while Sam Kerr's baby boy was born in England, he'll be raised 100 per cent Aussie
Sam Kerr 's son Jagger may have been born in England - but he will definitely be raised as an Aussie. The Matildas captain, 31, has posted an image to Instagram story from outside Australia House in London, the country's high commission for the UK, where matters like citizenship and passports are dealt with. The photo - featuring Jagger and Kerr's partner Kristie Mewis - was captioned 'Oi Oi Oi', which is a well known patriotic chant every Aussie knows. Jagger is likely to become a dual citizen - and given his mothers were born in Australia and the US respectively, it is safe to assume he will be a regular traveller abroad. It comes as Kerr continues her worrying long recovery from an ACL rupture in her knee sustained at a training camp with Chelsea in January of 2024 and made a surprise trip down under. Meanwhile, Family First national director Lyle Shelton was slammed after recently publicly questioning Kerr's same-sex relationship, blaming the couple for 'depriving' their son of a father. His vile post followed the soccer power couple - Mewis plays for the USWNT - proudly posting images of Jagger on social media. 'A baby is born - but where's dad?' Shelton wrote alongside a photo of the couple and their baby. 'Family First congratulates Sam Kerr and Kristie Mewis on the birth of their son - but we must speak a truth too many are afraid to say. 'No child should be deliberately deprived of their father. Children aren't lifestyle accessories - they're human beings with rights.' Shelton went on to ask: 'When cultural elites cheer on choices that sideline dads, who's left standing for the child?' 'Love is not enough. Every child deserves - and needs - a mum and a dad, wherever possible. It's time to put children's rights before adult desires.' Shelton was one of the leaders of the 'No' campaign against same-sex marriage in Australia. His post received support from United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet, who commented, 'children need both a mother and a father.'
