A couple of nights ago E. Pluribus Gergely called me to ask if I’d ever watched Martin Scorsese’s Mick Jagger’s Rolling Stones (aka Shine a Light), the popular, star-studded Stones concert film from a year or two ago that critics agreed was their “best concert film since Let’s Spend the Night Together.” I had not. Although I’d had the opportunity to watch it for free on cable for months, I could not bring myself to watch even a second of what would surely be a shameful spectacle of two of my all-time favorite artists, the Stones and Scorsese, collaborating to get into the ripe pants of the likes of Fergie.
Last night, while waiting to watch Casablanca for the 263rd time I allowed myself a 10-minute peak at this movie, which was playing on basic cable.
I caught Jack White enthusiastically and badly wailing on the boring “Loving Cup” like a 15-year-old boy pulled out of a high school talent show. I can understand being intimidated by singing alongside even a long-washed-up Jagger, but White’s supposed to be a pro. He can’t complete a verse without falling out of character and out of key. Get it together, man! And find your own voice, even if it’s that whiny, “scary” voice you put on for most of your own music!
Then I saw Jagger awkwardly strain to hold a continuous flow of notes on “As Tears Go By.” The guy sounded like he was ready for a nursing home despite the fact that his hair was as healthy and well conditioned as any 68-year-0ld man’s hair has ever been. No wonder Marty’s cameras rarely strayed from Mick!
Finally I saw the Stones play “Some Girls,” with Jagger once more hogging the spotlight by bashing out the song’s two chords whenever he wasn’t talk-singing. Here’s what really irked me: the band bypassed the “dirty” verse on “Some Girls,” the “Black girls just wanna get fucked all night…” verse. In the theatrical release did the band really wuss out and skip that verse, or was it cut for the VH1 broadcast?
Oh, and Keef is as pathetic as anyone in that organization for writing a 500-page, holier-than-thou memoir after appearing in that slop!
And my man Marty should retire from making films and trying to bed cheerleaders. He can, however, continue to talk enthusiastically about the obscure, old films of his childhood.
I downloaded the “soundtrack” (aka excuse to do another live disc, this time on another label) and played it once. I hate when the stones have special guests on their live cd/dvd. I dont see playing this ever again or giving the movie more than 15 minutes of my time (and I’m a huge Stones fan)
Got this from Netflix about two years ago. Totally and completely forgettable. On Friday night, alexmagic and I were at a bar with friends, and this played on TV on mute. Probably the best way to experience the film; after all, Scorsese did get some high-class cinematographers to film the thing.
Yeah, I managed to watch about 3-5 minutes of this in sidelong glances with the sound off at the bar.
Charlie photographed well in Scorsese’s black and white footage, thus making him the Most Valuable Stone.
The part I saw was Bill Clinton meeting the Stones, followed by crestfallen Charlie being informed that the Clinton meet-up wasn’t the actual meet-and-greet, because Clinton had 40 people coming that the Stones also had to pal around with. This led to what, in my mind, is an ultra-rare bit of Charlie and Ron Wood interaction, with Charlie saying something like “Come on, Clinton!”
I also caught a few seconds some time later of Mick performing with closed captioning on, which seemed more interesting than the performance itself.
Haven’t seen it. May never see it. (I did, though, also watch Casablanca for the 10,000th time last night.)
Imagine if you’d seen Shine a Light in an imax theater! Just imagine how much, uhh, bigger it would have been!
Even more than the lackluster performances, what I detest in these Stones live spectacles are the lame and sort of pathetic parade of “youngsters” who are, I suppose, supposed to burnish the Stones’ claims to relevance or hipness or something. Jack White! Sheryl Crow! Dave Matthews! Justin Bieber! Whatever! Totally useless.
Mod, as for “best Stones concert film since Let’s Spend the Night Together,” that’s like saying “best Stones album since Undercover” (sorry, 2000Man)–it just sounds pitiful.
Oh come on, misterioso, you weren’t dazzled by Jagger’s “laser-shaman dance” at the beginning of “2000 Light Years” in that Hal Ashby-directed Let’s Spend the Night Together? I can’t find the exact clip I have in mind, but it went something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzVy-Bbn1II
You know, I tried, I really tried to watch LSTNT very recently, it was on a no-commmercial, HD channel and I figured this was the best chance to revisit it. I gave it a good 30 minutes, or more to the point, a not so good 30 minutes. Everything I didn’t like before I still didn’t like–Mick’s barking dog vocals, the uninspired playing, the stupid look. Well, you name it.
I am convinced there is a good 1978 concert film yet to be assembled. I really like the audio bootlegs Handsome Girls, which are very good, and it seems to me that I have seen footage from one of those (Fort Worth?) shows. But, then again, I am not sure that adding visuals from that tour is such a good idea either.
Oh, it’s a TERRIBLE concert film. I’m sure you know I’m joking around with the “2000 Light Years” stuff. I remember watching it on TV with my bandmates when it came out. I’m pretty sure it has a 3-D segment (built around the laser-shaman sequence). I’m pretty sure we somehow had 3-D glasses with which to watch – and laugh at – that part. Does this ring a bell for anyone?
Mr. Mod, I think you’re thinking of Terrifying which was the TV special from the Steel Wheels tour with a special 3-D segment.
Ah, that could be, Oats. They got the “Terri” part right in that title. The Hal Ashby one sucks, too, although my money says some Townsperson will defend it, especially the scene in which Warren Oates (no relation to you, right?) and Harry Dean Stanton jam backstage with Keef and the ghost of Gram Parsons.
I’ve never seen Casablanca. You guys make it sound like I should see it instead of the Stones film.
What will we learn next, that you’ve never heard Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band album?
I saw a couple songs from Shine a Light this weekend. The only thing that stuck with me was that the Beacon Theater in NYC is a beautiful venue on film. To contrast this with vastly superior “Ladies and Gentlemen …” (which I won here on RTH, thanks!) which was filmed on big, blank stadium stages in Texas, you conclude that the surroundings are not particularly important.
You ain’t missing much with Casablanca. Aside from Ingrid Bergman looking stunning, it’s a bunch of people talking and talking and talking. At least Shine a Light is in color.
Why would anyone expect that to be a good concert movie? The Atlantic City 89 show is pretty good, and the 3d is kinda neato and only lasts a few minutes. The IMAX show was really cool if you saw it on one of the humungous IMAX screens. Ladies and Gentlemen is far and above the best, but they were young and it was from a time when people didn’t demand every second be scripted and perfect.
What big concert would be better? U2? Their songs suck, but the show looks just like The Stones. Maybe Paul McCartney? Half his songs are good, but the show looks just like The Stones. That’s what the big shows are now.
And the Hampton Pay Per View from 81 blows away Hal Ashby’s “film.”
2000Man, I will pass over your presumably ironic comments on Casablanca. But do tell more about the Hampton pay per view–I am not familiar with it. I used to have a good video recording of the Kingdome performance from 81 which was, well, at least not as bad as LSTNT.
Your comments about the greatness of L&G are on the mark, especially the part about its being “from a time when people didn’t demand every second be scripted and perfect.”
The question is, who dictated that every second should be scripted and perfect?
Watching L&G recently, it was amazing to watch a concert film that doesn’t cut every millisecond, that actually just lingers on the band, that isn’t trying to generate fake excitement by revving up the editing, to say nothing of trotting out lousy “guest stars.”
Btw, here’s a clip from that 78 Ft. Worth show. Good, but the Mickmockery potential is high.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z72wCH5ZZy0
Somewhere along the line I stumbled upon footage of a young-ish Mick Jagger on the same stage as Muddy Waters.
Muddy was a giant of a man, so much presence, and Jagger was like a praying mantis in a hurricane. Getting blown away.
I was reminded of this with the thread’s introduction about Jack White.
(I have no views whatsoever about Casablanca.)
Your Waters-Jagger comparison is apt!
misterioso, I notoriously only seem to like crappy movies. I like zombies, and I like fart jokes and I like explosions and I like Mel Brooks. I don’t care one way or another about Casablanca.
The Hampton Pay Per View was the very first PPV if I recall correctly (you can thank the Stones for Wrestlemania 1236, I suppose). It was simulcast one radio stations and it’s where the famous clip of Keith swinging his guitar at the guy that ran onstage comes from. I’d like to say he nails the guy, but it looks more likke he tussles with the guy to me. I think it’s a good show.
The people that demanded the perfection are the sponsors and promoters, number one, and nowadays that’s what the fans expect. I’ve actually heard people that don’t like small shows because the bands are “sloppy,” and they’d like to see them when they get more professional. Yuck.
Wow, I’m a song and a half into Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones, which is playing on VH1 and this old codger forgot how relatively tremendous this concert film is compared with anything else I’ve ever seen of them live in the post-Brian years! Mick’s schtick is not yet a parody! Charlie Watts has not yet lost his balls! Keef plays with BOTH hands! I may have to stick with this bad boy for a while.
Oh man, seeing Mick and Keef enthusiastically share the mic on “Happy” is more poignant than any sentence in Richards’ 500-page memoir. If they can keep themselves from playing all those lame deep cutz on Exile that you guys love so much I may have to reconsider the entire Mick Taylor era!
I may have spoken too soon: the floor show version of “Sweet Virginia,” complete with the cliched sax noodlings of Bobby Keys, was worse than the album version. OK, let’s see if I can get down with “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”…at least I’m getting a bit of what I need out of a Stones concert film.
All in all L&G:TRS was SOLID. Glad I got to see it again.