China strikes five songs from Stones playlist

Let's Spend the Night Together, Honky Tonk Woman and three other Rolling Stones songs have been deemed too risqu for Chinese ears.

China has asked the band to exclude the songs from their first evermainland concert, to be played in Shanghai on Saturday.

Lead singer Mick Jagger said Friday he isn't worried about China censoring the group's songs. TheStones have 400 more songs they can play, he said.

"We kind of expected that. We didn't expect to come to China and not be censored," Jagger told a news conference.

"It's not really an issue," he said. "But I'm pleased that the ministry of culture is protecting the morals of the expat bankers and their girlfriends."

He was referring to stories in the Shanghai newspapers saying most tickets to the concert at Shanghai's Grand Stage have been sold to foreigners. With prices between 300 yuan and 3,000 yuan ($40and $400), tickets cost more than themonthly wage of many Chinese.

The Stones also agreed not to play Beast of Burden, Brown Sugar and one other song that Jagger did not name. Because thecensors' major concern is sexual content, the fifth song is believed to be Rough Justice, from the British rockers' A Bigger Bangalbum.

The band had made plans for a 2003 concert in China, but it was cancelled because of the SARS crisis. China had requestedfour songs not be playedat that concert.

The Stones have also been censored in the U.S., most recently at the National Football League's Super Bowl half-time show. Broadcaster ABC silenced Jagger's microphone during sexually suggestive passages in two of the three songs the band performed.

The band is relatively unknown in China and has seen little fan adulation during its Shanghai stay.

While music by bands such as Nirvana and Pink Floyd is widely available on pirated DVDs, most Chinese favour Chinese pop songs over rock music.

Jagger said he hoped a planned nationwide television broadcast of the concert by the government's China Central Television would boost exposure for the music.

The Stones have invited Cui Jian, known as the father of Chinese rock, to join them on stage during the concert for a duet. About8,000 fans are expected to see the show Saturday night.