Rolling Stones to do a show and tell
THE Rolling Stones have long belonged in a museum, critics might say. But now the veteran rockers will take over the Saatchi Gallery in London to stage the first ever major exhibition devoted to the band’s career.
More than 500 artefacts from the group’s personal archives, including costumes, correspondence and unseen video clips, will be displayed at the interactive exhibition, which has been designed to match the epic production values of the Stones’s stadium shows.
Described as “the most comprehensive and immersive insight into the world’s greatest rock ’n roll band”, the show, titled Exhibitionism, will open in April, over nine themed galleries on two floors.
Like the band, Exhibitionism will embark on a four-year world tour after its London opening.
Exhibitionism will no doubt continue to entertain paying customers many years after infirmity finally forces Sir Mick Jagger and Keith Richards off the stage.
Once the scourge of the Establishment, the Stones are offering discount tickets to schools, so a new generation can learn the history of rock ’n roll rebellion via an interactive tour which traces the band’s 52year career through outrageous stagewear, rare audio tracks, guitars, cinematic presentations, artwork and personal diaries.
With record sales in decline, the exhibition is becoming a lucrative substitute for rock legends who have left their mark on popular culture. David Bowie Is, an exhibition which spanned five decades of the star’s life and career, became the most visited exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, with 312 000 visitors in 2013. Total attendance figures passed 1 million during the show’s tour of five international cities.
Elvis fans are flocking to the city’s O2 Arena, where significant artefacts from his career have been loaned from Graceland for a show.
The Stones show will span more than 1 750m2. A band source described it as “10 times the size of David Bowie’s V&A exhibition and 20 times bigger than the Elvis show”. Band members spent three years planning the exhibition, which features collaborative work with writers, designers and filmmakers such as Andy Warhol, Alexander McQueen, Tom Stoppard and Martin Scorsese.
Jagger said: “We’ve been think- ing about it for quite a long time but wanted it to be just right and on a large scale, just like planning our touring concert productions. I think right now, it’s an interesting time to do it.”
Richards said: “While this is about The Rolling Stones, it’s not necessarily just about the members of the band. It’s also about all the paraphernalia and technology associated with a band like us, as well as the instruments that have passed through our hands over the years that will make the exhibition really interesting.”
The exhibition will include some “really silly things… and really I mean silly”, Jagger promised. However drummer Charlie Watts said his archive of memorabilia was bare. “I’ve got more Louis Armstrong stuff than I have Rolling Stones,” he said.
Becoming a museum exhibit will not be the band’s final chapter. “I don’t think it means it’s all over just because you’re doing a sort of retrospective exhibition,” Jagger said. “We’re still working and still doing shows and I think we will continue to do so.”
Watts added: “It would be lovely if it was (the end), but I have a feeling it won’t be.” – The Independent