This week will mark the much-anticipated return of the Rolling Stones to New Orleans. They will perform at the Fair Grounds on Thursday, May 2, as headliners of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

This will be the sixth time the Stones have performed in the city, although it’s taken the past five years to get them to Jazz Fest. With great fanfare, the band was announced as a headliner for the 50th anniversary festival in 2019 — but they were forced to cancel so Mick Jagger could have heart surgery. They did come to town later that year — only to have their Superdome show postponed by 24 hours because of a hurricane.

The Stones first came to New Orleans in July 1978, playing to a crowd of 80,173 at the Superdome. Van Halen and The Doobie Brothers opened, and tickets cost $13.50.

The Stones’ next Superdome concert on Dec. 5, 1981, drew 87,500, breaking the U.S. record at the time for the largest attendance at an indoor concert. The show featured opening acts The Neville Brothers and George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

While visiting New Orleans, the Stones also attended a party aboard the riverboat President catered by chef Paul Prudhomme and featuring performances by The Meters, Deacon John Moore, Clarence “Frogman” Henry and The Neville Brothers.

The Stones again played a sold-out Superdome show to 55,000 fans in November 1989 and came back five years later in 1994.