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From Rock and Roll Circus to Gimme Shelter to Sympathy for the Devil to Cocksucker Blues to Ladies and Gentleman: The Rolling Stones to Let’s Spend the Night Together, filmmakers have faithfullly fixed their cameras on the Rolling Stones. Now comes Shine A Light, shot in 2006 at the Beacon Theater during the Stones’ A Bigger Bang tour.
 The doc begins with Martin Scorsese frantically trying to find out what
the show’s set list is going to be. After a full-throttle “Jumping Jack
Flash” opener, three special guests are introduced at various points:
while Jack White nervously duets with Mick Jagger on “Loving Cup,”
Buddy Guy injects genuine blues ferocity to Muddy Waters’s “Champagne
& Reefer” and Christina Aquilera climbs octaves on “Live With Me.”
Quick cuts and extreme close-ups capture Jagger awkwardly shimmying
about the stage and catwalk, and Keith Richards joyfully leading the
13-piece band (including backup singers and horns). In addition,
Scorsese intersperses archival interview footage between songs. Towards
the end of the 18-song set, the Stones’ signature centerpiece “Sympathy
for the Devil” falls flat as the audience chants “ooh ooh.” But “Brown
Sugar” - again, with the crowd loudly wooing along - is a rousing
finale.
Shine A Light provides a backstage pass to rock and roll nostalgia of the highest order. It’s the nature of the game.
Pic: Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts take a bow
More Stones:
Keith digs hash
The Huckabee connection
Shine A Light website
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