Stones roll over Chinese censorship with Shanghai show

The Rolling Stones rocked a largely foreign crowd in Shanghai Saturday with songs about Satan and sexual attraction.

The veteran British rockers heeded Chinese censors' request not to play five songs considered too risqué for local audiences.

But the two-hour set, featuring 18 songs, had plenty of references to sexuality and celebrations of the unconventional.

Highlights included Oh No, Not You Again, a new song in which lead singer Mick Jagger boasts of staring at a woman's cleavage; and both Midnight Rambler and Sympathy for the Devil, which have references to the Boston Strangler and Satan.

Censors had banned five songs, including concert standards Honky Tonk Women, Let's Spend the Night Together and Brown Sugar. 

Jagger practised his Chinese on the crowd, welcoming and thanking everyone for coming, although a large number of the crowd were expatriates. Tickets for the sold-out show were 300 yuan to 3,000 yuan ($40 to $400), more than the monthly wage of many Chinese.

"It's nice to be here, the first time we've played in China," Jagger said, according to Reuters.

Chinese rock pioneer Cui Jian, whose songs were anthems for student protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, performed Wild Horses in a duet with Jagger.

The concert is a "milestone" for him and all rock fans in China, Cui said.  "It is a big moment. I will never forget this."

The Stones attempted to give a concert in China in 1980, but did not receive approval from Chinese authorities. A concert scheduled for 2003 was cancelled because of SARS.

Saturday's concert at Shanghai's Grand Theatre is part of the Stones' A Bigger Bang world tour.

A Chinese version of the A Bigger Bang album being sold at the show was lacking several songs, as Chinese censors considered them too rough for Chinese ears.

The Stones are not well-known in China and most young Chinese have more of a taste for the sentimental pop put out by mainland, Taiwanese and Hong Kong artists.