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The Rolling Stones turned back the clock in style on Sunday with their first concert in five years, strutting and swaggering their way through hit after hit to celebrate 50 years in business.

Before a packed crowd of 20,000 in London's O2 Arena, they banished doubts that age may have slowed down one of the world's greatest rock 'n' roll bands, as lead singer Mick Jagger launched into I Wanna Be Your Man.

More than two hours of high-octane, blues-infused rock later, they were still going strong with an impressive encore consisting of You Can't Always Get What You Want and Jumpin' Jack Flash.

In between there were guest appearances from US R&B singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige, who delivered a rousing duet with Jagger on Gimme Shelter, and guitarist Jeff Beck, who provided the power chords for I'm Going Down.

Former Rolling Stones Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor were also back in the fold, performing with the regular quartet of Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards on guitar, and Charlie Watts on drums for the first time in 20 years.

The Sunday night gig was the first of two at the O2 Arena before the band crosses the Atlantic to play three dates in the United States.

The mini-tour is the culmination of a busy few months of rehearsals and recordings to mark 50 years since the rockers first took to the stage at the Marquee Club on London's Oxford Street in July 1962.

The reunion nearly did not happen. One factor behind the long break since their record-breaking A Bigger Bang tour in 2007 has been Wood's struggle with alcohol addiction. Jagger and Richards also fell out over comments the guitarist made about the singer in a 2010 autobiography. But they eventually buried the hatchet.

Richards has hinted that the five concerts ending at the Newark Prudential Center in the US on Dec 15 would not be the last.

The band has come in for criticism from fans about the high price of tickets to the shows, which ranged from around 95 pounds ($150) to up to 950 pounds for a VIP seat.

The flamboyant veterans, whose average age is 68, have defended the costs, saying the shows were expensive to put on, although specialist music publication Billboard reported the band would earn $25 million from the four shows initially announced. A fifth was added later.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Emily Cheng is an editor at China Daily. She was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Media, English Literature and Politics. She has worked in the media industry since starting university and this is the third time she has settled abroad - she interned with a magazine in Hong Kong 2007 and studied at the University of Leeds in 2009.