Rip This Joint! The Rolling Stones 1972 Exhibition at London’s O2 Debuts

All Jim Marshall and Rolling Stones fans lucky enough to be in London sometime over the next three months need to check out the new exhibition – Rip This Joint! The Rolling Stones 1972 – that opened a few days ago (the opening party is tonight) at The O2 in London.  The exhibit coincides nicely with the Stones live shows at the O2 slated for Nov. 25 and 29 that reportedly sold out in 7 minutes(!) in celebration of the band’s 50^th year. To whet your appetite a bit, here are a handful of behind-the-scenes shots from the exhibit's installation courtesy of Team Marshall’s crafty Dave Brolan, who curated the show.  One of my favorite touches is the vignette created to emulate a classic shot of Keith Richards sitting on a stool at Sunset Sound in LA in the spring of 1972.  Visitors will be able to sit down to get a snap and perhaps a momentary feeling of what is was like to be “Keef” in the midst of creating “Exile on Main Street,” one of the truly splendid rock albums of its, or any, era.

Here’s a nice write up by Louise Jury, chief arts correspondent, published a few days ago in the London Evening Standard: Pictures of the Rolling Stones “with their trousers down” on an infamous U.S. tour go on show in London for the first time today. The candid photographs were taken in 1972 by the late Jim Marshall who joined the band in partying so hard that the journalist he was working with for Life magazine complained to their editor.

But Dave Brolan, who has curated the new exhibition at the British Music Experience museum, said: “Jim still got the cover shot and a big photo feature and hundreds of great pictures. “Jim was granted exceptional access to the Stones. He is regarded as the most important rock photographer, most of his archive is unique and he was often the only photographer present, at the Stones’ recording session in the show, for example.”

Marshall, who died aged 74 two years ago, also photographed Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire at the Monterey pop festival, Johnny Cash performing in San Quentin jail and backstage at the Beatles’ final concert.  Keith Richards once described him as “another Stone.” The guitarist added: “He caught us with our trousers down and got the ups and downs. I love his work, which must have been frustrating to do at times.  But this is what happens on gigs like this.’ ” Entry to the exhibition is included in the price of a ticket to the British Music Experience.