On a lawn outside London’s Saatchi Gallery, The Rolling Stones has been prevented from playing a short performance outside their own exhibition of memorabilia by the local Chelsea residents.

Keith Richards, quoted in Music-news, told The Sun newspaper:

“There was a plan to do four or five numbers on the lawn but the Chelsea Residents’ Association poo-pooed (disputed) that. How generous of them. It would have only been four or five songs.”

Richards added:

“I’m dying to see the reproduction of our first flat together in Edith Grove because the only thing that gave it character was the pong (smell)… I mean that’s where we sat around and basically concentrated every night on how to play together. We were endlessly listening to records and occasionally we went out and did a gig…. wow, yeah, it is a long time since Edith Grove.”

This comes after they said Muchas Gracias! to their fans who flocked to see them in their recent tour of Latin America. This included their historic performance in Cuba on March 25 to 1.2 million people (Mxdwn covered the build-up to this historic moment – see both articles).

Exhibitionism opens next month 5/4 until September before travelling the world.

Keith Richards ended:

“(It) pains me a little because there are a couple of jackets I let in there that I ain’t going to see for a long while.”