The Rolling Stones Summerfest in Milwaukee - 2015

Jonathan Krane with members of the Rolling Stones in Shanghai China April 8 2006

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

' first concert in China was held in 2006.

Background

On April 8, 2006,

held their first ever performance in China. The concert occurred 3 years after the tour they originally planned was delayed by the

SARS epidemic Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the virus SARS-CoV-1, the first identified strain of the SARS-related coronavirus. The first known cases occurred in November 2002, and the synd ...

. The tour was promoted by China-based Entertainment Company Emma Entertainment led by then CEO Jonathan Krane. The Stones performed at the

Shanghai Grand Theater The Shanghai Grand Theatre () is a complex located at the intersection of Renmin Avenue and Huangpi North Road in the northern part of the People's Square in the Huangpu District of Shanghai. The building houses the Shanghai Opera House and ...

in front of an audience of 8,000 people. The show was completely sold out, with ticket prices varying from $36 to $360. The Rolling Stones had to obtain approval for their set list from China's

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

and were prohibited from playing 5 songs including "

Brown Sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...

," "

Beast of Burden A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for transportation (e.g. riding horses and camels), while othe ...

," "

Let's Spend the Night Together "Let's Spend the Night Together" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and originally released by the Rolling Stones as a double A-sided single together with " Ruby Tuesday" in January 1967. It also appears as the opening track ...

," and " Honky Tonk Woman." The Chinese rock pioneer

Cui Jian Cui Jian or Choi Geon ( zh, c=崔健; ; born 2 August 1961) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and musician. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Chinese Rock", Cui is often deemed the most influential rock musician in China. ...

opened the show and then later returned to the stage to join

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

for a performance of "

Wild Horses The wild horse (''Equus ferus'') is a species of the genus ''Equus'', which includes as subspecies the modern domesticated horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') as well as the endangered Przewalski's horse (''Equus ferus przewalskii'', sometimes tr ...

" which was the 5th song in the set. The Shanghai performance became part of the Bigger Bang Tour which was The Stone's most attended tour in history with attendance surpassing 4 million people. From August 2005 to August 2007, the tour generated revenue of $558,255,524 with tickets sold surpassing 4.68 million.

Cultural impact

The concert was held during the lead-up to the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

when the Chinese government decided that it needed to open the country to live international content "as a sort of massive rehearsal before the games." While some critics said the high-ticket prices were prohibitive for local Chinese music fans, the participation of artists such as Cui Jian marked a major symbolic milestone for Chinese rock 'n' roll fans. The Rolling Stones returned to play at the Shanghai Mercedes-Benz Arena in China in 2014. The popularity of rock 'n' roll in China still endures as evidenced by the proliferation of numerous rock festivals in China such as the

Beijing pop festival The Beijing Pop Festival () was a rock music festival held in Beijing, China's Chaoyang Park each September since 2005. It featured rock bands from China as well as from overseas. It was a pioneer music event in China since it was the first inte ...

which was started 1 year after The Rolling Stones first performance.

Setlist

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolling Stones first concert in China 2006 in China 2006 concerts Concerts in China Rock concerts The Rolling Stones concert tours