Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones kicked off their 2013 50 and Counting tour last night (May 3) at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The band were joined by Mick Taylor, who has been announced as special guest on the tour, to play "Midnight Rambler". Other guests included Gwen Stefani, who joined the band for "Wild Horses" and Keith Urban who played guitar and sang during "Respectable".

The Rolling Stones played a tiny club show in Los Angeles on Saturday night (April 27). The gig took place at The Echoplex in the Echo Park neighbourhood, with most tickets distributed to fans via a ticket lottery which took place earlier in the day at the El Rey venue across town, after the news of the show went online that morning.

The Rolling Stones have been forced to postpone the opening date of their upcoming North American tour. The band were due to kick off the 50 & Counting tour on May 2 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. But the show has now been bumped back 24 hours to accommodate a sporting fixture - the National Basketball Association playoffs.

Keith Richards has said that the Rolling Stones' forthcoming 2013 leg of the 50 And Counting tour was "bound to happen". "We kind of knew it was bound to happen," explained Richards. "I get itchy first – Ronnie's always itchy," he said of which band members were keenest to tour. "I was the first one to be very enthusiastic to do it," added Ronnie Wood, in an interview with Radio.com.

The Rolling Stones have announced they will play a second gig in London’s Hyde Park. The band will play on July 13, one week after their show on July 6. Jake Bugg, Tom Odell and The 1975 will support the Stones for their second concert. The band's show on July 6 sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale last week. Tickets for the July 13 show - which is part of the Barclaycard Presents British Summer Time Hyde Park series - go on sale on Friday at 9am, with Barclaycard Unwind customers able to buy from Wednesday.

The Rolling Stones' former bassist Bill Wyman has said he would never rejoin the band because he's got "better things to be doing".

Andy Johns has died at the age of 61. The producer and engineer was hospitalised last week, collaborator Stacy Blades told Billboard, partly due to liver problems, though no cause of death has yet been announced. The younger brother of producer Glyn Johns, Andy Johns was born in 1952. He began studio work as tape operator on The Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request in 1967, before going on to engineer legendary albums such as Led Zeppelin's II, III and IV and The Rolling Stones' Exile On Main Street.

The Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts has spoken about his memories of playing Hyde Park in 1969 as the band get set to return there for a show on July 6. The central London venue was the sight of the now-legendary concert that took place just two days after the death of Brian Jones. Mick Jagger sported a white smock and read a Shelley poem in tribute to Jones before thousands of butterflies were released from the stage.

The Rolling Stones have announced a slew of dates in North America as part of their 50 & Counting tour. Scroll down to watch the band announce the dates. Shortly after confirming they would play London's Hyde Park on July 6, the band revealed a nine-date run across America and Canada, starting in Los Angeles, taking in Las Vegas, Toronto and Chicago before winding up in Philadelphia.

The Rolling Stones have confirmed they will be playing London's Hyde Park on July 6, 2013. The Stones will play Hyde Park on July 6 as part of the Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park. Support comes from The Vaccines, The Temper Trap, Gary Clark Jr. and King Charles. Tickets for The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park go on general sale 9am Friday 5 April from www.bst-hydepark.com. Barclaycard Unwind customers will be able to purchase tickets from 3pm Wednesday 3 April from www.barclaycardunwind.com. The full line-up is: THE GREAT OAK STAGE