Play It Loud Opening Party

Earlier this year, Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock & Roll opened to much fanfare at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The exhibit officially opens at the Rock Hall tomorrow, but you can see it tonight at a special preview party. The exhibit offers "a rare, in-depth look at the artists and instruments that made possible many of the songs we know and love." The largest single exhibit ever at the Rock Hall, Play It Loud will feature instruments from 1939 to today; many have never been displayed outside of their original concert performance settings. Some of the items include Chuck Berry's Gibson guitar, Eric Clapton's Martin acoustic guitar model 000-42 used during his famous MTV Unplugged concert, Jerry Garcia's "Wolf" guitar and Jimi Hendrix' hand-decorated electric guitar. Other items include James Jamerson's upright bass used on many early Motown hits, the keyboard John Paul Jones used to record "Stairway to Heaven," Eddie Van Halen's performance rig from 2013, Tina Weymouth's "headless" Steinberger bass guitar that she used extensively with Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club through the late 1990s, and Steve Miller's electric guitar painted with psychedelic designs. Don Felder formerly of the Eagles, Nancy Wilson of Heart, and Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo of Metallica, all of whom have items in the exhibit, will appear at tonight's opening party that takes place at 8. Tickets cost $30 for members, $50 for non-members. (Niesel)