"This Place Is Empty" is a song from The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

' 2005 album A Bigger Bang

A Bigger Bang

A Bigger Bang is the 22nd British and 24th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released on Virgin Records in September 2005. It is a follow-up to their previous full-length studio album Bridges to Babylon from 1997, that gap of eight years the longest between studio albums of the band's...

. It is the first of two songs on the album sung by Keith Richards

Keith Richards

Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...

.

In promotional video on the Rolling Stones official website, Richards stated the song started one evening in his Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 home when his wife was out without him. He said he was sitting on a couch with the guitar and the song sparked. The final version is a bittersweet ballad where Richards pines for his familiar face.
It was formally recorded in Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger

Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....

's estate in France. The song is notable for its clear piano opening and raspy vocal imprint. Largely an acoustic song, Richards performs guitar with Jagger performing slide guitar

Slide guitar

Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...

. Richards also performs bass and piano for the recording. Jagger played drums on the original recording, but Charlie Watts

Charlie Watts

Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...

' drumming was later added.

The song was played on the 2005/2006 A Bigger Bang Tour

A Bigger Bang Tour

A Bigger Bang Tour was a worldwide concert tour by The Rolling Stones which took place between August 2005 and August 2007, in support of their album A Bigger Bang...

 set list, often alongside "Happy

Happy (Rolling Stones song)

"Happy" is the tenth track on The Rolling Stones' 1972 album Exile on Main St. Keith Richards sings lead vocals. Released as the second single from the album in July 1972, it reached #22 in the US....

".