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Rare DS, one page, 8.25 x 13.25, September 23, 1963. A NEMS Presentations Ltd. performance contract for a one-night engagement by "The Rolling Stones" at "The Cavern Club" on Tuesday, November 5, 1963, for a fee amended in type to "£65 (Sixty-five pounds)." Additional clauses specify payment terms, performance timing ("one 50 minute spot between 8.0 and 11.30 p.m."), and a radius restriction preventing the group from appearing within fifteen miles of the venue for five weeks before and one week following the engagement. A NEMS Enterprises 'With Compliments' sheet is stapled to the upper left corner. Signed prominently at the conclusion in ink by Brian Epstein. In fine condition, with light creasing and faint edge toning.
This historic engagement proved to be the Rolling Stones' sole performance at the famed Cavern Club, occurring at a pivotal moment in late 1963 as the band emerged from the London R&B circuit into national prominence. The Beatles, who had previously traveled south to see the Stones perform, were themselves in attendance that night. Years later, Ringo Starr recalled: 'I remember standing in some sweaty room and watching them on the stage…Keith and Brian—wow! I knew then that the Stones were great.' George Harrison was similarly struck by the crowd's reaction: 'The audience screamed and shouted and danced on tables.'
Following the performance, Mick Jagger reflected: 'Man it was hot! We almost sweated away. They've had so many big groups at the Cavern that you've really got to prove yourself, they asked us back so they must like us.' Bill Wyman similarly recalled the Liverpool reception in his autobiography: 'While some people were building a wall, metaphorically, dividing the north from the south in pop music, we found no barriers whatsoever from Merseyside fans. Walking around the city we were stopped and chatted to by friendly Liverpudlians. In the evening our show at the Cavern was fantastic, with a marvellous crowd.' Although the Stones were invited to return, their rapidly expanding popularity soon rendered the Cavern too small to contain their audiences; when they next played for Cavern promoters in 1964, the engagement was moved to the larger Tower Ballroom in New Brighton.
Signed prominently by Epstein on behalf of NEMS Presentations Limited above the company's printed Liverpool address, the document represents an extraordinary convergence of the Beatles, Brian Epstein, the Cavern Club, and the Rolling Stones at the dawn of the British Invasion. A remarkable and exceptionally rare artifact from one of the defining moments in early British rock history.
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