If you love rock and roll, you've got to get over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue in New York City and check out "Play it Loud." This is a terrific exhibit of musical instruments played by the greats. You'll see guitars, basses, and drums -- upclose -- played by the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zep, Van Halen, Hendrix, Springsteen, Prince and a whole lot more. I've seen so many of these instruments on film, so it was a thrill to see them so close. You can even see the cigarette burns on guitars played by Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Eddie Van Halen. The exhibit runs until October 1st.
You can learn more about the exhibit right here.
I saw it yesterday and snapped some photos:
Here's Ringo Starr's first Beatles drumkit, from 1963
Here's Bruce Springsteen's Fender Esquire-Telecaster that he played from 1972 until about 2005
Here's the saxophone that Clarence Clemons played on "Jungleland" and "Thunder Road."
Heres' a double-neck guitar that Jimmy Page played. This photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Jimi Hendrix played this Flying V. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art