Richard E. Aaron/RedfernsThe Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City will host the first loan exhibition in an art museum ever to focus solely on instruments used by rock musicians.
“Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll,” which will open on April 8, 2019, will feature more than 130 instruments played by such legends as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Page, Metallica and many others.
The exhibit will feature items spanning from 1937 to 2017, most of which have never been seen outside of a performance stage.
Among the instruments included in the display will be such famous electric guitars as Clapton’s “Blackie,” Van Halen’s “Frankenstein” and Jerry Garcia‘s “Wolf,” as well as Keith Emerson‘s massive keyboard setup and Keith Moon‘s “Pictures of Lily” drum kit.
The exhibition will also feature the guitar Berry used to record “Johnny B. Goode”; Hendrix’s personally decorated “Love Drops” guitar; Motown session legend James Jamerson‘s upright bass; an electric bass owned by Cream‘s Jack Bruce that was painted by the artist collective known as “The Fool”; and Page’s iconic 1970s stage outfit boasting an embroidered dragon.
In addition, the exhibit will feature a sculpture created from the pieces of an electric guitar that Pete Townshend smashed during a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz.
The exhibition will be organized thematically, with sections focusing on how musicians utilized emerging technologies, how they used their instruments to create a visual identity, “Guitar Gods,” and the destruction of instruments in concerts.
Vintage posters, videos and stage costumes also will be featured in the display.
The “Play It Loud” exhibit will run through October 1, 2019, at the Met and then will open the following month at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
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