Rolling Stones could fall foul of China's censors

It's only rock'n'roll.

But will they like it? The Rolling Stones could fall foul of China's beady eyed censors when they play their first ever gig in China on Saturday.

Unbridled lust and rock'n'roll decadence is still deemed too shocking for Chinese audiences, even in Shanghai, the country's most progressive city.

The British rock veterans are the biggest band ever to play in China, but they could be exiled on Main Street if they overdo the raunchy lyrics.

So how dirty will the censors allow the Stones to get? Last time they were supposed to play in China, in 2003, they were told they could not perform "Honky Tonk Woman", "Brown Sugar", "Beast of Burden" and "Let's Spend the Night Together" because of fears the songs could upset delicate sensibilities.

In the end the SARS epidemic meant the group's concert was cancelled anyway - not a great deal better than back in the 1970s when the Stones' first attempt to play in China failed to get off the ground.

But now the legendary band is hoping that it will be third time lucky - and that, this weekend, China will embrace rock 'n' roll like never before.

The band arrived in Shanghai yesterday afternoon to prepare for the gig on Saturday night.

Their chosen destination is China's biggest city and financial hub which sees itself very much as the cosmopolitan heart of the country.

"I'm really excited.

We all know that Shanghai is a big important city so we wanted to make sure it's on our itinerary.

We don't want to leave it out," singer Mick Jagger told the Shanghai Daily, which said the concert marked a "spectacular pirouette on the international stage of the 21st century" for China.

"Keef" Richards said he was very grateful for being allowed in.

"China will be a bit of an adventure for us, we've never been there before, it's a first and by now we don't get many firsts," Richards said in a voice the paper described as "home counties, eccentric and slightly squiffy uncle."

The promoters of the tour, which has the innocent moniker "A Bigger Bang", haven't said if the Stones will indeed be muzzled on Saturday when they play, although most people believe the band will tone it down so the censors won't feel the need to clamp down.

The Stones are no strangers to censorship.

In 1967, they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show singing "Let's Spend the Night Together" but Sullivan insisted on they changed the line to "Let's spend some time together", which Jagger did, registering his disdain with a salvo of pouts which did no harm to their bad boy image in the States.

That appearance was on the same day as the first American Football Superbowl and it was during this year's game in Detroit that the censor last had a close look at the Stones' lyrics.

During their half-time show in February, two words were censored from "Start Me Up" and "Rough Justice", though it was not immediately clear if singer Mick Jagger did it himself, or whether the producers cut the offending words.

The show went out with a five-second delay.

China has opened up in certain areas but remains puritanical in many ways.

The entertainment industry, in particular, remains tightly controlled.

Last week Rolling Stone magazine was told to stop publishing, and there was speculation that the title was censored because of political content.

The Stones first tried to play in China 25 years ago, soon after the country began to open up to the outside world, but Mick Jagger and Chinese officials in the US didn't get on.

Ticket agents said that all the cheap tickets, which began at 300 yuan, or £21, were gone and that all that remained were the £210 VIP tickets The Rolling Stones play in a compact 8,000-seat theatre rather than in a bigger venue, such as a nearby soccer stadium which can hold 100,000 fans.

In China these days there is only marginal interest in men with guitars - Taiwanese boy bands and grinding techno are a much bigger draw.

It's not all that long since rock'n'roll was defined as "spiritual pollution" by Communist cadres and most of the bands playing in China have been pretty safe bets -- Elton John in 2004, veteran heavy rockers Deep Purple and soul diva Mariah Carey.

The pioneers were Wham! back in 1985.

Cadres wearing earphones watched George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley play the first ever Western pop concert in China.

- INDEPENDENT