SOME affectionately call them the Strolling Bones, and certainly we don’t see them as often as we would like.
But in lieu of the real thing, fans of the Rolling Stones will derive huge satisfaction when the band stages an Australian-exclusive exhibition in Sydney from November 17-February 3.
Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones Exhibit is the largest touring experience of its kind ever to be staged, and the first time the band have unlocked their vast private archive exploring their journey to superstardom.
To be held at the International Convention Centre, it will feature more than 500 Stones items as It allows visitors to experience first-hand the band’s incredible journey from their early impecunious days to headlining the biggest stages in the world.
It will include their most cherished instruments, onstage and offstage clothes, valuable works of art and handwritten lyric books, personal diaries, recordings, unseen film and photos, a screening cinema and interactive recording studio, all of which will culminate in an exciting backstage-to-onstage 3-D concert experience.
The original works of key collaborators who helped to make the band not just musical but cultural icons are also on display at Exhibitionism, including Andy Warhol, John Pasche, who designed the band’s tongue logo, fashion designers Ossie Clark and Alexander McQueen, artist Shepard Fairey, producer Don Was and film director Martin Scorsese.
In addition, there will be a new film with a high-octane soundtrack that will allow visitors to look back at the high points of the band’s career. It then steps back into the early days, to an amazing recreation of the tiny flat in Chelsea shared by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in 1962.
A guitar gallery brings together examples of some of the band’s prized instruments, including a rosewood Fender Telecaster and a Maton that Richards played on Let It Bleed, which famously disintegrated as he reached the final notes of Gimme Shelter.
Other unique items include the cassette player on which Richards famously sketched out the idea for (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, just before falling asleep in a Florida motel room, Jagger’s lyric book, which features the hand written words for Miss You, Hey Negrita and Worried About You, Richard’s 1963 diary, and the toy drum kit Charlie Watts used in the recording of Street Fighting Man.
The huge Sydney display follows rave reviews and huge crowds of music, art and fashion lovers from the global premiere of Exhibitionism in London, to its US premiere in New York City, through to the most recent Nashville showing.
Tickets $36.50/$29.50/$15. Book at ticketek.com.au
Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones Exhibit, November 17-February 3. International Convention Centre, Darling Park, Sydney,