Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
There’s a meme that says for every cigarette you smoke God takes an hour off your life and gives it to Keith Richards. Divine intervention is as good an explanation as any for the longevity of the guitarist and his band, the Rolling Stones, who’ll celebrate their 60th anniversary next year. However, I believe the secret to their permanence is that until recently they never looked back. While other classic rockers took their victory laps, the Stones forged ahead, still believing themselves to be the greatest rock n’ roll band in the world. If not for the coronavirus they would have spent a chunk of last year on tour. The average age of founding members Richards, singer Mick Jagger and drummer Charlie Watts is 78.
2008’s Shine A Light was the first sign that the Stones were pausing to admire the view from on high and take stock of where they’d been. Filmed over two nights in 2006 at New York’s Beacon Theater, the set list featured the obvious hits alongside album tracks from 1972’s Exile on Main Street and 1978’s Some Girls, critical and commercial favorites which found the band at their most ambitious. Currently available for streaming on both Amazon Prime and Hulu, it finds the band playing an inspired set and ranks among their best concert movies.
Directed by Martin Scorsese, Shine A Light was his first concert film since 1978’s The Last Waltz and came three years after his documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan. It is one of four music features the director has helmed since the turn of the century. Music always played a leading role in Scorsese’s work with Stones songs gracing a number of his films. Scorsese approaches the proceedings with a fan’s attention to detail, suggesting songs and capturing guitar changes and stage banter. His devotion is matched by his expertise, the colors are vivid even when the lights are low and the camera puts the viewer in the middle of the proceedings as the band members dance around each other with haphazard grace.
Before a note is played, Jagger and Scorsese case the venue and discuss the shoot in semi-fictionalized scenes. Scorsese is told if the singer stands in front of a particular light for too long he’ll burst into flames. “We can’t do that. We can not burn Mick Jagger,” the director says. Scorsese is a natural character and is often an extra in his own films. As much film nerd as artiste, past films are referenced, such as when Richards and fellow guitarist Ron Wood shoot a game of pool, something we watched the members of The Band do in The Last Waltz.
If it’s to be believed, Jagger didn’t finalize the set list until an hour before the show. Scorsese stresses about whether the first song starts with a guitar lick or a drum hit and on whom to focus the camera. The switchblade guitar riff of “Jumping Jack Flash” gives him his answer. Throughout the film, Richards and Wood’s guitars bounce off each other in ragged glory, in and out of time and tune while they careen around the stage like funky zombies drunk on blood. As Keith later says, “We’re both pretty lousy but together we’re better than 10 others.”
“Charlie’s good tonight, innit he,” Jagger famously opined on the 1970 live album Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! Likewise, Shine A Light finds the drummer on a very good night, pushing the songs forward with the surge of a gospel revival, each ending in a prolonged raveup milked for maximum satisfaction. The lead singer, however, is always the focal point. Performing on a smaller stage than usual, he seems bigger than life, dancing and running and singing non-stop for practically the entire performance. It would be impressive for any performer, let alone Jagger who was 63 years old at the time and reportedly suffering from throat problems.
Equally split between big hits and deep cuts, the song selection will satisfy both casual and hardcore fans. While familiar material like “Brown Sugar” and “Tumbling Dice” hit expected high notes, a ferocious “She Was Hot” made me want to reexamine 1983’s Undercover album to see if it improved with age (results are pending). The Stones have always acknowledged their musical debts and here pay explicit tribute to Motown (a cover of the Temptations’ “Just My Imagination”), classic country (“Far Away Eyes”) and Muddy Waters, whose “Rollin’ Stone” gave them their name. Their performance of Waters’ “Champagne and Reefer” features guest guitarist Buddy Guy who played with Waters. At the song’s conclusion, Richards hands him the guitar he’s playing as a gift.
Shine A Light takes its name from the penultimate song off Exile on Main Street, arguably the Rolling Stones’ greatest album. In 2010, it was given the deluxe reissue treatment with bonus tracks, a first for the band. Other similar reissues have followed. In celebration of their 50th anniversary in 2012, came the career spanning Crossfire Hurricane documentary. After decades of forward momentum, the band was finally treating its past with the same reverence as their fans. “I never thought I’d be doing it for 2 years even,” Jagger says in a 1964 interview, included in the film. When asked how long he thinks they’ll continue, he replies, “At least another year.”
Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.
