Scorsese and the Stones

I think the biggest question concerning the new Scorsese movie about a Stones concert (Shine a light) was why it took so long to make it. As every other reviewer of the movie has noted, the Stones have been a staple musical choice for Scorsese movies for years.

A packed Embassy theatre was an ideal venue to watch it, and they'd turned the volume up so it felt like a rock gig. Great stuff. The gig itself was in the rather nice Beacon Theatre in New York. Scorsese wisely choose to not interrupt the gig too much using the occasional old (rare or amusing) interview footage between songs. Beginning with a long discussion about what the set list would be with little Marty getting upset cos he couldn't plan shots as the Stones (well Jagger) wouldn't tell him what they were playing. Nice touch that. I'm sure you can find the set list out there in web land, so I won't bother about it. But it was good, nice collection of the tracks they *have* to play and some rare stuff. The guest spots were excellent, Jack White (white stripes) was a perfect choice and Buddy Guy was fantastic - allowing Jagger the opportunity to play his harmonica - which he should do more of... If there was one aspect of the music that really came through it would be the blues side of the Stones is very much underrated. Given the level of Blues fanaticism within the band, it's not surprising, but most people call them a rock band whereas Blues might be more appropriate. Even Christina Aguilera was good. Not stunning, but good.

Scorsese does do music gigs rather well doesn't he?! He'd obviously decided the band were the focus of the show and therefore the audience were hardly shown at all - which given the number of celebs presumably there, was a nice touch. Although in true rock n roll style, the entire front row consisted of hot babes which came across as a bit cliched, but still funny. The cameras were well placed, with many of them at crowd height so peoples heads would occasionally float across the lower portion of the screen. All adding to the feeling of a real gig.

Music: it's the Stones. It's good, dirty blues rock. I've always been a fan of Keith's singing so thoroughly enjoyed the two tracks he sang on. And it's worth going for his intro... The band appeared to be having a lot of fun, which came through in the playing too.

All in all, great movie, I loved it and the brunette I went with, who later admitted she's not a big Stones fan but went cos Scorsese was involved, came out of it more a fan of the Stones than she went in as.
Recommendation: see it 9/10 (although I have no idea wot a perfect 10 for a music movie would be...maybe The devil and Daniel Johnston or Scott Walker: 30th Century Man).