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By: Dennis Cook
It's hard to know why The Rolling Stones made Shine A Light, a new theatrically released concert film culled from two nights at the Beacon Theatre in New York City in fall 2006. The aging British legends have flooded the DVD market in the past few years, with 2007's The Biggest Bang offering seven and a half hours of footage from the 2006 tour and 2003's Four Flicks offering up three full shows from the 2003 tour and a lengthy documentary. So, what then does equally legendary film director and acknowledged Stones fan Martin Scorsese bring to the table? 30 years earlier Scorsese helmed The Last Waltz, arguably the greatest rock concert film ever. The filmic tale of the original lineup of The Band taking their final bow at Winterland in San Francisco is emotionally and musically rich, a weird snapshot of the industry and a goodly number of its elite (Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Staple Singers, Neil Diamond, Van Morrison) as the '70s ground down. Given the stature and ginormous talent of those involved with Shine A Light it's not unreasonable to walk in expecting something more than just another night in the life of the Stones, which is sadly what we get.
Bursting out promisingly with a multi-format/film stock blur of pre-production rustling worthy of Natural Born Killers, things quickly settle into a straight concert film. Though intercut with flashes of vintage footage of the youthful Stones from the '60s, there's nothing close to a revelation here, especially given how every pore and crevice in their craggy history has been lingered over in the past 40 years. Instead, we get a front row seat for a quite decent concert by a band, if not long past, at least a good measure away from their prime.
While a bit apprehensive about the cameras throwing either himself or the audience off before the concerts, Mick Jagger's natural narcissism takes over after a couple tunes and he apes and preens for the lens to marvelous effect. His need to be seen, to live in other's eyes, is part of the power supply that keeps this senior citizen working it like a man half his age. Though his voice has lost a fair amount of its '60s and '70s luster – see the sluggish delivery on "Tumbling Dice" and his lack of breath on "Just My Imagination" in Shine as examples - this aerobic performance proves he's still a debauched Jiminy Cricket with massive wood. His "sex on two legs" rep remains firmly intact in Shine A Light, though increasingly the Mick we see on stage seems like a character he plays, a good deal removed from the fussy, worried man we glimpse briefly in the opening sequence.
The Rolling Stones Shine A Light
Besides the sweating distance proximity the cameras offer, there's the bizarre sound design choice to bring up individual players in the mix as the lens focuses on them. Imagine turning your head at a gig and when the guitarist came into view his instrument blared up a few degrees and everyone else faded back a bit. It's beyond irritating but you get used to it after a few songs. Maybe it's an attempt to give a little credit to everyone in the band, though the lion's share of screen time belongs to Mick and his pirate brother Keith Richards. Whatever the rational, it's off putting and continually draws one out of even a facsimile of a true "concert experience." Balancing it out, to some degree, is Scorsese and cinematographer Robert Richardson's instincts for capturing small gestures, unspoken exchanges and other tiny nuances that we usually miss in the cheap seats.
It's just plain fun to watch Richards and Ron Wood work, their styles both complimentary and miles apart. One of rock's singular originators, Richards' slash 'n' burn randomness, though frequently brilliant, is a touch wild here, bordering on whimsy a few times, but balanced by his Chuck Berry chops and gutsy tunings. Wood brings coolness to Richard's heat, his pub smart licks and beautifully controlled slide work enlivening every selection. A clear-eyed Wood reveals he may be the band's secret weapon (though he shouldn't hold his breath for a bigger share of the pie, one thinks). Jagger fairly frequently straps on an axe and though his playing is remarkably basic, even after all these years, there's no denying his enthusiasm.
Jack White with The Rolling Stones Shine A Light
The guest musicians are nice spice but don't add much musically. Best of the bunch, Buddy Guy joins them for a sloppy, mildly enjoyable version of blues standard "Champagne & Reefer," after which Richards hands a slightly bewildered Guy the guitar he was playing in thanks. Jack White (The White Stripes) is too star struck during Exile fave "Loving Cup" to offer anything substantive outside of some hipster cred for the Stones. Christina Aguilera awakens Jagger's inner horndog on "Live With Me," but her vocal pyrotechnics are a poor match and outside of a mediocre reading of the Let It Bleed classic we've only to enjoy the sight of Jagger dry humping the could-be-his-granddaughter singer with undisguised libido.
Outside of that moment and a good deal of lens grinding by Jagger, there's not a lot of sex to Shine A Light. It's almost like listening to dudes talk about past conquests in a bar. Today's Stones are more settled, safer, less dangerous than days of yore. Put bluntly, they've put a sort of metaphorical condom on things. You get this in the bleeped stage profanity but more distressingly in the neutered version of "Some Girls." Initially, the performance almost makes it worth the ticket price but when they consciously cut the nastiest verses it's clear this is a different band than the one that made Cocksucker Blues. Never shy about their charming misogyny or about ruffling anyone's feathers in their first three decades, their golden years find them holding back or perhaps making choices based on demographics studies and industry advice. One peek at the front ranks, full of model attractive young people - not an old, sweaty, overweight Stones hardcore in sight - is enough to tell you they handpicked the people likely to get camera time. This film was originally given an R-rating and was edited to secure a PG-13 and thus the widest possible audience. It's a financial choice that tilts artistic ones, and the impact of a song like "Some Girls" is blunted when you take out a prickly passages like:
White girls they're pretty funny
Sometimes they drive me mad
Black girls just wanna get fucked all night
I just don't have that much jam
Chinese girls are so gentle
They're really such a tease
You never know quite what they're cookin'
Inside those silky sleeves
Keith Richards Shine A Light
Some hay has been made about the relative obscurity of some setlist choices but nothing here is remotely unfamiliar to anyone who's delved into their catalog beyond the hits. It's cuts like "You Got The Silver" (a fab spotlight for both Richards' solid lead singing and Wood's pedal steel prowess) and faux-country gem "Faraway Eyes" that endear The Rolling Stones to many fans. They are a fine singles band, obviously, but it's the deep album tracks where the real meat and marrow lie. As far as singles go, you just try not to leap a little inside when "Sympathy For The Devil" gets rolling late in the show, and there's always something perversely admirable about their ability to make "Brown Sugar," an ugly tale of jungle lust that begins on a slave auction block, into a populist rave-up.
There's really no faulting the musicianship in Shine. Longtime bassist Darryl Jones fills Bill Wyman's shoes ably and a backline that includes Chuck Leavell (keyboards) and Bobby Keys (saxophones) is pretty much guaranteed to dazzle at least some of the time. Not a single criticism have I for drummer Charlie Watts, whose timing remains positively Swiss. The man is the benchmark almost every rock 'n' roll percussionist aspires to and he's lost nothing.
All in all not a bad show but the question remains, why? Is it to prove that they can still earn every penny at live shows? Well, sure and it's fine if they aren't breathing fire like the narcotics and pussy powered daredevils that made Sticky Fingers in 1971. We all decay a little with the years. But, strip away the nostalgia and bountiful good will they walk into any venue with and just listen to the music. It's good but far from the best rock 'n' roll band on the planet today. You could put up almost any concert from the Drive-By Truckers, Radiohead, My Morning Jacket, The Black Crowes or Wilco from just the past year and it betters what we hear in Shine A Light, a pleasant bit of distraction that given the parties involved could have been so much more.
JamBase | NYC
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