Marseilles (AFP)
First record contract, grimy apartment of the beginnings reconstituted, rare instruments: the traveling exhibition-event of the Rolling Stones passes through the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, the only French stopover, before going around the world.
"We feel at the Stones, they open the cupboard with secrets," enthuses AFP Philippe Maneuver, famous rock critic, sponsor of the meeting, which begins this Thursday, until September 5.
The man with the eternal dark glasses could not say better.
At the start of the 2,000 m2 space dedicated in the bowels of the Marseille football stadium, the spectator goes through a life-size reconstruction of the group's first dilapidated London apartment.
Welcome to 102 Edith Grove, between overflowing dirty dishes, piles of cigarette ends and spilled beer bottles.
"It was Mick Jagger who had this idea by visiting an exhibition on Dubuffet, with his reconstituted workshop. He called the decorator to restore their apartment", describes Martin d'Argenlieu (major projects director of the Vélodrome) during the visit. to the press before opening to the general public.
On the living room turntable, a Howlin 'Wolf spins, while a Bo Diddley cover art prominently on the dingy carpet.
The roots of the Stones - black American music - are there.
"Before being a staggering artistic adventure - they will celebrate their 60-year career in 2022 - the Stones are buyers of records at the start, like everyone else", breathes Philippe Maneuver.
- Mephistophelic outfit -
Among the 400 pieces presented, we also see the first recording contract of the group, crossed out, because it did not suit them.
Alongside Keith Richards guitars, we discover in a display case a dulcimer, a sort of double lute.
This rare instrument was played by Brian Jones, the cursed angel of the Stones, genius poly-instrumentalist, founding member of the group who died in 1969.
We can also admire Mick Jagger's Mephistophelic stage outfit for the 1969 tour, definitely a bad year in the group's history, since a spectator will be killed during one of their concerts in Altamont (United States).
The "Unzipped" exhibition, with a zipper visual which refers to the cover of the album "Sticky fingers" released 50 years ago, ends in immersion in a mythical show given in Cuba.
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Inaugurated in 2016 in London, this blockbuster exhibition only goes to France in Marseille and will then go to Toronto.
The Phocaean city and the Stones, it's a long story, very rock'n'roll since it begins with a bloody eyebrow arch.
- Chair on Mick -
An overexcited fan threw a chair at Mick Jagger as the group gave a show in the small Vallier hall in 1966. Jean Sarrus, future of the Charlots, who was at the time in the group Les Problems (which was touring with the Stones in France), remembers it for AFP.
"The next day, we were in Lyon, and Mick Jagger came on stage with big clown glasses to hide the scar," says the man who played bass at the time.
"There were one or two cops, no more, wooden chairs that folded, the projectile left. It was two years before 1968, it was the bubbling youth (laughs)", confides to AFP, Mady, elegant septuagenarian, who was in the Vallier room that evening.
An early fan of the Stones, she won a keynote for the press visit to the Vélodrome.
"I was invited to the visit, I said to myself + what are they talking about, I know the Stones well + but when I arrived here, I had the impression of meeting some friends", comments she does.
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"With this story of eyebrow arch, the Marseillais said to themselves + they hate us +. But no, they came back three times (1990, 2003 and 2018), they love this rebellious side of the city", concludes Martin d'Argenlieu .
© 2021 AFP