Did you see Rochester’s Odeon Theatre erupt as the Rolling Stones walked on stage for the first time in 1963?

Perhaps you tried to climb in through their dressing room window a year later...

A new book reveals eyewitness accounts of those that saw the Stones as they climbed the ladder to rock stardom through the 1960s; and includes memories of three Rochester gigs between 1963 and 1965.

"Oh but what a night! The atmosphere and excitement were just something you had to be there to experience," recalls Angela Batty, who was 13 when she saw Mick, Keith and co in February 1964.

But not all the memories in "You Had To Be There: The Rolling Stones Live 1962–69" are gushing tributes.

Among the screaming hordes of fans were people like 16-year-old Chris Walledge, who had got into the back circle of The Odeon for free.

“I heard the intro to Satisfaction but then the screaming drowned out every note and every word for the remainder of the show," he said. "It was like watching TV with the sound turned off so I was glad I hadn’t paid."

But for every Chris Walledge there was a hundred fans like Margaret Madge who says of the 1965 gig: "Of all the shows I have seen since, that one sticks in my mind.”

It was the last time the Stones would play Rochester, and fittingly Margaret remembers the newly penned "Last Time" was the best song of the night.

Outside venue she watched Mick Jagger run down the theatre steps and jump in the back of an old van, and the Stones trundled off towards their destiny, never to return.

You Had To Be There: The Rolling Stones Live 1962–69 is available for a discounted price from www.gottahavebooks.co.uk/stones or full price via www.amazon.co.uk

Read more in this week's Medway Messenger.