START ME UP!
Exhibit gives fans peek at Stones’ lives
From their first apartment through their most recent tours, the Rolling Stones are giving fans a chance to take a deep look into their lives as the “Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World.”
Here are some key things to see at Exhibitionism, the British band’s massive exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery that opened Tuesday:
EDITH GROVE
Shortly after the Stones got together as a band in 1962, founding member Brian Jones moved into an apartment in west London with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and James Phelge. The apartment, at 102 Edith Grove, was notorious for being a mess, with clothes and dirty dishes strewn about the place.
The exhibition has re-created the scene with incredible detail, right down to the old empty beer bottles, a kitchen sink filled with pots and pans, and plenty of old Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records ready to be heard by an aspiring band that was, at the time, making only a few dollars per gig.
“The milk bottles were just growing this ... stuff,” Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts says through a speaker as visitors walk through.
Jagger and Richards shared the only bedroom with Phelge, a London clubgoer who became their roommate and companion. Jones slept in the living room.
It was at Edith Grove that the band started writing their own music, like the Beatles were doing.
Although no photos exist of the original Edith Grove apartment, exhibition curator Ileen Gallagher said it was made from the memories of the current band.
“The real Edith Grove was like living in an alien culture,” said Phelge, now 73. “You can’t replicate the spirit of the place.”
OLYMPIC STUDIOS
Behind a wall of glass is a recreation of the studio where the Rolling Stones recorded their first single, Come On, and many of their hits in the 1960s.
There are several instruments scattered around the floor, and a portion of Sympathy for the Devil — a 1968 Jean-Luc Godard film that shows the song’s creation — plays on a screen in the background.
In honour of Ian Stewart, the piano player kicked out of the band because he didn’t quite fit the part, there is his personal Ajello and Sons piano. Although Stewart wasn’t officially a member, he stayed on as a driver, friend, helper and musician until his death in 1985.
CLOTHES
There are lots of clothes, mostly from Jagger. There is the famous Omega shirt he wore on the 1969 U.S. tour. There is a replica of the flowing dress-like white shirt he wore when the Stones played a free concert at Hyde Park on July 5, 1969 — two days after the death of Jones.
From the 1970s, there are plenty of jumpsuits. And from the 1980s, you get the sporty look, when Jagger essentially wore a football uniform on tour.
More recent garments include long coats and capes, some of them designed by Jagger’s late partner L’Wren Scott.
GUITARS
The creators of the exhibition raided the homes of Richards and Wood looking for guitars to display, and found a few of their most iconic pieces.
Among them is the 1957 Gibson Les Paul that was hand-painted by Richards and used during the filming of Sympathy for the Devil. At the time, the Stones were involved in a drug case.
MEMORABILIA
Another section of the exhibition is dedicated to old posters and re- cords. Matt Lee, who is one of the world’s foremost Stones collectors, loaned more than 50 items to the exhibit, including many of the posters on display.
“As a general rule of thumb the earlier the poster the rarer it is, not just because it is older and less have survived, but because less were made in the first place,” Lee said. Also on display is the first contract signed by the band in May 1963.
3D MOVIE
At the end of the exhibit, visitors walk into a small theatre where they can watch a 3D movie of the Stones performing (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.