Shine a Light

I caught most of Martin Scorsese's excellent IMAX Rolling Stones documentary, "Shine a Light," which captures them performing in a relatively small venue, Manhattan's Beacon Theater, interspersed with interview footage mainly from the 1960s and early 1970s. The camera work and sound is fabulous, much better than the other two Stones documentaries I've seen: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones" and an IMAX film from about ten years ago. I've also got the "Four Flicks" DVDs at home and have watched them in person six times, plus Mick Jagger with the Hall and Oates band at Live Aid.) Whatever individual performer the film focused on, their sound was even turned up. In a show in Virginia (from the same tour as the Beacon show), the Stones sang "Sweet Virginia." At the Beacon, they sang - as I arrived - that anthem to living in NYC in the 1970s - "Shattered." (Although I walked by the Beacon - located near Washington Square Park and the NYU and New School campuses many times when I lived in NY, I've never seen a show there.) The set list favored songs from the two Stones albums that I consider two of the top five albums of the rock area ("Exile on Main Street" and "Some Girls"). The Stones played some interesting songs, then did some Keith Richards lead vocals and featured some songs with guest artists, and then played the songs they've usually ended with (with two hours of this plus interviews the film didn't show the whole concerts we saw at other locales). Of course, the band played somewhat different sets in different locales. Christina Aguilera - a modern-day diva I don't particularly like - was excellent in a duet with Mick Jagger of "Live with Me" (pictured above) - almost reminding me of the Live Aid "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" duet I saw between Mick and Tina Turner. The Stones' searing "Some Girls" was excellent. Live or on film, Mick is so magnetic, so energetic, so expressive (and amazingly fit, at age 65) - it's no wonder that I regarded him as a role model - along with Jimmy Carter, Bruce Lee, and Jim Rockford as played by James Garner - in my youth. The last interview the film shows is from the Dick Cavett show in the early 1970s, when Cavett asks Jagger if he can imagine performing and touring and making music when he's 60, and - without hesitating - Jagger says - Yes, sure. And so he is. (I considered watching the film not only a way to connect with friends with whom I've seen Stones concerts but also research for an upcoming event in which I may play Mick [though I should have been working out and re-losing some weight for that].)