How many more years can they keep it up? Indefinitely, if you ask them.
Saturday afternoon, I went with a couple of friends to the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center, an extended wing of the National Air and Space Museum. We saw, in IMAX, Martin Scorsese's new concert film Shine a Light documenting a Rolling Stones 2006 concert at the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It's no Last Waltz, but it's extremely entertaining.
I've seen Elvis Costello a couple of times at the Beacon, once way up in the back of the third balcony tier and later on the ground level not too far from the stage. It's a great venue for an intimate concert. I always enjoyed looking up at the marquee on my way back up Broadway when I worked in in Midtown back in the early '00s.
Seeing the band play in IMAX was such a visceral experience, it's honestly hard to describe. Imagine sixty feet tall musicians, and you'll begin to have some idea.
Speaking of giants, during the scene when Buddy Guy guests on the Stones' cover of Muddy Waters' "Champagne and Reefer", I smiled and recalled how, way back in 1965, they refused to play on an ABC show called Shindig unless the one and only Howlin' Wolf, a blues master with a tremendous influence on rock music, could peform, too. This was the Wolf's only national television appearance. Notice how the Stones meekly (and wisely) remain seated nearby in reverence.
He later went on to eat every one of those wiggling white girls alive.
2 comments:
Haven't been to many music gigs. But I did get to see the Stones in Prague a couple or so years ago.
Mick Jagger sings and dances around like a 25 year old still. Keith Richards not so much ... especially after a coconut landed on his head and he had to go to hospital (about a year or so ago).
Nice blog!
I've seen lots of concerts in arenas and smaller venues. Once I saw Springsteen in a football stadium, but I've never seen the Stones. I enjoyed Shine a Light quite a bit. Richards must be held together with paperclips and glue. (The guy looks like he'll just fall apart any second!)
If you haven't seen it, I recommend the movie Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll! where Keith Richards organizes Chuck's 60th birthday party. Shot in 1987 or so, they just released a fantastic DVD version last year.
Thanks for the comments about my blog! Yours is cool, as well. I'll blogroll it...
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