Rolling Stones rock Shanghai in first ever Chinese concert

Apr 8, 2006, 16:45 GMT

Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones sings at the concert in Shanghai Grand Stage, Shanghai, China, Saturday 08 April 2006. EPA/Liu song

Shanghai, China - Veteran rockers the Rolling Stones wrapped up their first ever Chinese concert Saturday with observers calling it the tamest of their 40-year career.

The band relented to Chinese censors and dropped five songs containing sexually suggestive lyrics from their playlist, including Honky Tonk Woman.

'It was all very disciplined,' said one German concert-goer, while a Danish fan described the band's onstage behaviour as 'very polite.'

But the audience loved it and at the end of their one-and-a-half- hour show the band walked away to resounding applause before reappearing for three encores including Satisfaction.

Speaking to journalists, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger said the Shanghai concert was mainly for the benefit of 'foreign bankers and their girlfriends.' Tickets cost up to 360 dollars, more than a month's wages for most of Shanghai's Chinese residents.

Indeed, among the 8,500 strong crowd there were few Chinese faces to be seen. But those that were there were treated to 62-year-old Jagger singing Wild Horses in duet with Chinese rock idol Cui Jian, regarded as China's answer to Bob Dylan.

The Rolling Stones have been trying to play in China for years and almost succeeded in 2003. However two concerts planned for that year were postponed following the SARS outbreak in Asia.

The Shanghai concert was part of the band's A Bigger Bang tour that began last August.