The Rolling Stones played their very first concert in America 60 years ago on 5 June 1964. Opening acts at the show were Bobby Vee, The Chiffons, Bobby Goldsboro and Bobby Comstock.
The first American Stones show was at Swing Auditorium in San Bernadino, California. The venue held 10000 fans but it is uncertain how many attended that first Stones show. The venue was constructed in 1949. Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, Ike and Tina Turner, Jack Benny, Bob Hope and George Burns had performed there. In 1981 a Cessna aircraft crashed into the building and it was later demolished.
On the day (June 5, 1964) The Rolling Stones had only released one album just weeks earlier. The debut ‘The Rolling Stones’ from the UK was released in the USA with a different tracklisting as ‘England’s Newest Hit Makers’ on 29 May, 1964.
For The Stones 11 song set they performed five tracks from the album and only one original song ‘Tell Me’, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. That first album had two other original songs ‘Now I’ve Got A Witness’ and ‘Little By Little’ which were credited to ‘Nacker Phelge’, the name they used when the other three members, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Brian Jones, contributed to the song.
One other song ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, written for The Stones by John Lennon and Paul McCartney was also performed as were covers by Chuck Berry, Tommy Tucker, Willie Dixon and Bo Diddley.
To date, The Rolling Stones have performed 793 concerts in America. At the end of the current Hackney Diamonds tour on 21 July 2024, The Stones will have performed 803 concerts in America.
The setlist for the first Stones show in America, 5 June 1964 was:
Not Fade Away (from England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1964) (The Crickets cover)
I’m Talking About You (Chuck Berry cover)
I Wanna Be Your Man (The Beatles cover)
Hi-Heel Sneakers (Tommy Tucker cover)
Route 66 (from England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1964)(Bobby Troup cover)
Walking the Dog (from England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1964) (Rufus Thomas cover)
Tell Me (from England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1964)
Beautiful Delilah (Chuck Berry cover)
Can I Get a Witness (from England’s Newest Hitmakers, 1964) (Marvin Gaye cover)
I Just Want to Make Love to You (Willie Dixon cover)
I’m All Right (Bo Diddley cover)
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