Rolling Stones play surprise gig in Paris

The Rolling Stones have performed to 350 fans in Paris after announcing a surprise gig on Twitter.

It was their first concert since 2007, and came ahead of 50th anniversary shows in London and New Jersey.

Playing for almost an hour and a half, the band rattled through hits like It's Only Rock and Roll and Brown Sugar.

"I can't believe we're all still standing up," joked Mick Jagger. "You'd think by now one or two of us would be sitting down, but we're not."

Tickets to the event at Le Trabendo club in Paris cost £12, selling out within minutes.

By contrast, seeing the band at London's O2 Arena in November could set you back £406.

'Thrill'

Some fans waited for more than three hours to snap up a ticket.

The Rolling Stones are in Paris to rehearse for those arena dates and tweeted that last night's performance would be a "short warm-up gig".

They played fan favourites including Route 66 and Miss You, as well as their latest single Doom and Gloom, which peaked at number 97 in the UK's Official Singles Chart.

Fans Don Device and Robert Blalack were amongst the crowd.

"It seemed like it was their fifth or sixth performance, they still had the enthusiasm and the thrill of enjoying the audience reaction, even after 50 years," said Mr Blalack.

"Actually, after tonight, I think that they have got a long time in front of them," added Mr Device.

"They were much more tight [tonight]. I saw them for the first time in 1979 - worst concert I have ever seen. Tonight - amazing! I saw younger men tonight than I saw in 1979."

Le Trabendo has previously hosted famous names including Metallica, Arctic Monkeys and the Neptunes. But the Rolling Stones are the biggest band to perform there.

The venue has a capacity for 700 people and the crowd was also made up of the band's friends and colleagues from the music industry.

Tickets for the "warm-up gig" sold out within minutes.

"We really lucked out," said one fan from San Francisco, who had secured a ticket because her husband's former boss works for the Stones.

Hit songs

"I have seen them before, but it has been in larger arenas with 40 thousand people, and [in] such a small club it was incredible. They played all the hits. Brown Sugar was still my favourite."

Johan Anssens said he had waited in the cold for three and a half hours to buy his £12 ticket after he read about the gig on Twitter.

He said he didn't feel sorry for fans in Britain and the United States, who are being charged much steeper prices for the band's 50th anniversary tour dates.

"I don't have a job so I wouldn't be able to go if I had to pay the same price as in London," he said.

"But here I could afford it, so I think it is very democratic. I love the Rolling Stones and I had an amazing night."

Some fans said that they had got in for free after organisers granted last-minute entry to those who had been unsuccessful queuing for tickets earlier in the day.

"They let about fifty extra people in, of all ages, and we did some very loud clapping!" said one man, who was wearing a backstage pass.

The Rolling Stones will play four arena gigs in London next month and New York in December.

"Don't worry, I don't work for the Stones, I picked this up on the floor as a memento!" he laughed.

Guitarist Ronnie Wood had earlier hinted that the band could perform in Paris.

He told NME magazine that there were "going to be little club gigs that we're gonna surprise ourselves to do as well… I don't know who we'll be billed as but we'll turn up somewhere and put a few to the test. Tiny, 200, 300 people kind of places."

There will be a second private gig on Monday funded by investment company Carmignac Gestion for their employees.

Fans at last nights gig said there were already rumours of further possible concerts in the French capital next week as the band continue to prepare for their major shows.