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Rare photos of Rolling Stones’ 1973 concert at Kooyong Tennis Club emerge

It was the gig that almost never happened, and has been mostly forgotten in Melbourne’s music history but now a surprise discovery of photos from the Rolling Stones’ 1973 Kooyong concert have sparked a wave of nostalgia. SEE THE PICS.

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Rare and unseen photographs from the Rolling Stones 1973 show at Kooyong Tennis Club have surfaced at a pub in South Melbourne.

The pictures, taken by Melbourne photographer Linley Godfrey, capture the Rolling Stones in full flight, with frontman Mick Jagger in a skimpy jumpsuit and long red sash, perhaps celebrating the fact the tour needed high-powered intervention to happen.

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Mr Godfrey took the pictures, then decided on a career in hairdressing, so the snaps languished without being seen.

The photos show Mick Jagger in a skimpy jumpsuit. Picture Linley Godfrey
The photos show Mick Jagger in a skimpy jumpsuit. Picture Linley Godfrey

A friend, Geoff Lindsay, at Lamaro’s Hotel in South Melbourne, convinced Mr Godfrey to dust off the pictures, and share them with the world.

“It’s strange; when you do a search for the Stones show at Kooyong, there’s hardly anything to be found,” Mr Godfrey said. “There was such a furore surrounding the show. All the folks in Toorak were mortified that Mick Jagger was coming to town.”

Mick Jagger wowed crowds with his trademark on stage shenanigans. Picture: Linley Godfrey
Mick Jagger wowed crowds with his trademark on stage shenanigans. Picture: Linley Godfrey

At the time, Jagger was banned from entering Japan due to a drug conviction. But then-Australian Immigration Minister Al Grassby granted visas to the band, saying: “The Stones are an excellent example to Australian youth.

The gig almost never happened thanks to Mick Jagger’s drug conviction. Picture: Linley Godfrey
The gig almost never happened thanks to Mick Jagger’s drug conviction. Picture: Linley Godfrey

“I told them I was putting my faith in them and hoped they would do the right thing. I have no regrets that I let them in — yes, I went out on a limb to give them visas — to give a man a bad name and hang him is immoral and un-Australian.”

Pictures of the concert had previously been few and far between. Picture: Linley Godfrey
Pictures of the concert had previously been few and far between. Picture: Linley Godfrey

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The Stones toured with Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.

They played a 12-song set that included Brown Sugar, Tumbling Dice and Honky Tonk Women, but no signature song, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.

The Stones are rumoured to be touring Australia in 2020.

nui.tekoha@news.com.au

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/rare-photos-of-rolling-stones-1973-concert-at-kooyong-tennis-club-emerge/news-story/5ef31dfb82e7e9a039c548700959a331