Give or take a few clips i've seen online over the years, last night was the first time i've actually sat and watched the film as a whole (it was on TV)

The reason i'd never bothered before was simply that having seen the band on the last tour, I just thought 'well it wont be worth watching'

How right I was. It's filmed lovely and all that, but the music ?. Jesus wept

How did they get that past Jagger before releasing it ?

The guitar playing, or lack of it and the mix is absolutely @#$%& horrendous. At times Keef and Ronnie seem to be playing different songs, that's when they haven't stopped playing completely.

Jagger does hold it together, but it does make it all a bit of a sad cabaret with Chuck's cheesey keyboards and the unecessary backing musos.

Maybe it is a good thing that there's no new tour planned.

I've always rather liked it.

I can't be more diisagree

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You hit the nail on the head andy, it's an embarrassing, over produced karaoke show. The very fact that the first few rows were hired bimbos is bad enough but the songs and filming is just horrendous. A real waste of an opportunity if you think what Scorsese did with the Last Waltz !

I remember seeing this at cinema in 2008; I tried to walk out, but the people I went with refused me to go, so I forced myself to stay - and just barely made it through

two words: bloody awful.

I don't hate it but The Last Waltz it is not. More a sad and frustrating reminder of what could have been. Personally I wish Scorsese had done this for the Licks tour, if not an earlier one. But I am also one the few who wishes that had called it a day w/the Licks tour.

There some good moments - Jagger's frenzied dancing toward the end of 'She Was Hot', a charging version of 'Brown Sugar' and, corny version that it is, it's hard not to smile a little during "Far Away Eyes". Best is probably Mick and Buddy Guy's harp/guitar toasting.

As for the rest - a wasted opportunity. Ronnie holds his own, and Charlie is terrific. Keith is ... well, there I guess. And Mick is good but a little over the top.

Very disappointed with Shine a Light but felt I had to buy the Blue Ray.

Watched it once but since then it's been gathering dust.

Shine A Light, another Big Disappointment...

Luckily we do have "Some Girls Texas 78" and of course the Amazing Legacy 1963-1981.....

Part of the intimacy of The Last Waltz is that the cameras remained on stage. There were no crowd shots. You were drawn to and on stage. You shared the glances between musicians, you felt their support and admiration for each other. That is why I find the stacking of the deck (so to speak) of the front rows in SAL so inexplicable. Do we have to be reminded that the band is (or was) sexy? Are we to ignore the fact that the band is old? If so, that seating decision was a mistake. It had the opposite effect.

I've said before, after all these years, Scorcese could not find anything about the band to shine a light on. The band at this time in its career was not ready for its close up. The tone for the performance part of the film was set very early. You are really beating the odds when a performance of JJF falls flat. That is not easy to do.

One song I deplore (especially live) is "Imagination." In the theater I was surprised to enjoy the SAL performance of that song. I think the song found a groove with the horns. The song was not over powered by the pedestrain and droning guitar parts. But when I watched that performance on TV, the guitars were in the mix, to my disappointment.

"over-produced karaoke show" is an apt description. A documentary it is not. True documentaries are not staged events. I've watched it a few times, and it does have its moments. But it really is a documentary of a wasted opportunity.

There's only one shine a light to me.

Like any Stones project, it is not entirely bereft of magic. I actually like the Christina Aguilera number. Buddy Guy steals the show. As Tears Go By is poignant. She Was Hot is fun. But it's really not representative of anything. The tour it happened in the middle of was much better than this one night at the Beacon. I saw them a few weeks later and they were magnificent. This was a high definition reminder of how old they are. It's like a Stones reality show that's entirely scripted and wrung dry of spontaneity. The gamble was to catch them on a really good night, and you never know when that will happen. It adds nothing to the legacy of the band. Hey, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

i thoroughly enjoyed it, and still enjoy it, but keith is the embarassment!

marty missed the boat on this one

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melillo
marty missed the boat on this one

the boat should have never set sail, though...

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andy js
Give or take a few clips i've seen online over the years, last night was the first time i've actually sat and watched the film as a whole (it was on TV)

The reason i'd never bothered before was simply that having seen the band on the last tour, I just thought 'well it wont be worth watching'

How right I was. It's filmed lovely and all that, but the music ?. Jesus wept

How did they get that past Jagger before releasing it ?

The guitar playing, or lack of it and the mix is absolutely @#$%& horrendous. At times Keef and Ronnie seem to be playing different songs, that's when they haven't stopped playing completely.

Jagger does hold it together, but it does make it all a bit of a sad cabaret with Chuck's cheesey keyboards and the unecessary backing musos.

Maybe it is a good thing that there's no new tour planned.

sad cabaret indeed.

I think it's f'n great. People on this site are whiners. Outta here.

Ahh I thought it was good. The Buddy song rocked, and well, I'm young, but it will always remain special to me as it was the first blues I ever heard. She Was Hot, Just My Imagination, Connection, Little T & A - thats quality, but could do without the backing vocals I thought though.
Yeah its not Ladies and Gentlemen, but you guys are exaggerating its awfulness.

You got the Sun, You got the Moon,
and you've got
The Rolling Stones

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StonesTod

Quote
melillo
marty missed the boat on this one

the boat should have never set sail, though...

Marty should have caught the boat that left the dock 10 years previous.

Quote
Erik_Snow
I remember seeing this at cinema in 2008; I tried to walk out, but the people I went with refused me to go, so I forced myself to stay - and just barely made it through

We walked out when Keith made an attempt to a solo on Sympathy. We couldn't bare it anymore, and went to cry in our beer at the bar.

Mathijs

I totally agree, andy. A huge disappointment. More posing than playing - a Las Vegas act. Even Jaggers singing is dreadful. Listen to Faraway Eyes for example, he ruined it completely. And all the girlies in the front row are just embarrassing and ridiculous. Extras (is that correct english?) in a Stones concert film. Who decided that shit? Jagger I guess.

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Mathijs
We walked out when Keith made an attempt to a solo on Sympathy.

i guess you'll never know how it ended. i won't spoil it for you in case you ever attempt to watch it again...but, let's just say, nobody ever could have expected wyman and taylor to sound so good with this band....

The first night at the Beacon was a fun night, but the audience was a bit stiff. All the democrats in the 2nd deck stayed seated for most of the time, the top tier was on their feet rocking out (peanut gallery, common fans), and the floor was a mixed group of people. Those of us fans luck enough to get picked were in the first rows all over. No bimbos.

BUT, with the audience being stuck in their seats, it didn't feel right.

The second night when we arrived they had taken out all of the seats in the pit, which was awesome! Only negative, they had hauled in all those models. I imagine while directing and looking at all the cams Marty said to his assistant 'we gotta get those ugly common folk out of there!'...

The performance was fun, agree about Keith, film was garbage.

The performance part of the film almost had a claustrophobic quality. I thought all the guests contributed a much needed breath of fresh air.

It's terrible.

Let's be honest most peeps on here just resent the fact that attractive young ladies were given pole position in the audience instead of a bunch of grizzled old farts. They've had a downer on SAL ever since.

Django, yes "extras" is the correct term for the hired, non-speaking crowd parts.

Nothing is worst than LSTNT.

The small setting of the Beacon added zilch to the film. Marty would have done better by filming one of their mega-outdoor shows. I believe the Stones wanted him to do the Rio thing, but he insisted on a more intimate setting.