The Rolling Stones “50 And Counting” Tour isn’t’ supposed to kick off until May 3rd at The Staples Center. It seems that the chaps have gotten antsy and need a warmup before playing arenas and have announced (completely out of the blue) that they will play a surprise show TONIGHT at the Echoplex in Echo Park, CA according to folks already in line and various information via Twitter.

Right, that's it. The Rolling Stones have nicked our gig tngt at the Echo. This time it's personal. Going down to have a word with Mick. #LA — New Build (@newbuildband) April 27, 2013

For everyone involved, this appears to be an extremely surprising and spur-of-the-moment development. New Build, a U.K. electronic band was originally scheduled to play the Echoplex tonight, tweeted what you can see above in the early hours of the morning.

Tickets went on sale at the El Rey Theatre’s box office at 1pm in a special lottery (bummer for those waiting since 8am.) Tickets are were $20 for those lucky enough to snag ’em. According to friends there, at least 200 people are already in line as of 10AM. *UPDATE 4/27, 2:30pm: Tickets to the concert are officially sold out. No tickets will be sold at the door.

The show will be live tweeted tonight on their official account.

*Update 4/27, 4PM: Reports from those who were among the first hundred in line are not good. Because of the lottery system the band imposed later in the process, many at the front (who were waiting since 7am) were given lottery tickets 311XXX. A chunk of late arrivals were the winners with 312094-312436. Needless to say there are a lot of unhappy folks.

Tonight's Golden Ticket. A $20 Rolling Stones gig at the 325-capacity @ Echoplex. 4/27/13. Photo via… http://t.co/6Jq0ueGOnR — LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) April 28, 2013

Scene at the @elreytheatre in LA for the just announced @RollingStones gig TONIGHT at Echoplex! Photo by @3po1nt0 pic.twitter.com/XOzc8670wQ — LIVE music blog (@livemusicblog) April 27, 2013

@phortin around the block at the el rey. pic.twitter.com/Kr2LDoZCAO — Jason Berger (@jayberger) April 27, 2013

Tonight's show is now SOLD OUT. Thanks everyone who tried to get tickets #Stones50 #AllSoldOut — GRRRegory (@GRRRegory) April 27, 2013



