Shine A Light

Well, something was likely to shake me out of my Joe Cocker phase — turns out it would be The Stones. Finally got to see Scorsese’s new Rolling Stones concert movie “Shine A Light,” and it is brilliant. I hereby promise to throttle anyone who says anything about the Stones performing with walkers — I’ve got fewer years under the belt than Mick, and I couldn’t begin to do what he does on stage (and definitely couldn’t walk the next day if I did). The filming is excellent — wonderful color, great use of depth of field — just beautiful work. The sound is unbelievable, with some very sly editing to match the visuals. And the boys — well, they really seem like they’re having the time of their lives up there. It’s hard not to like a band that likes to play as much as they do, and that does it so well. It’s a shame not to see Bill Wyman up there anymore — leaving just the three original Stones (Mick, Keith and Charlie) and long-timer Ronnie Wood as the focus of the film, but what a show they put on. The interplay between Keith and Ron is fascinating, and really reveals things about their sound you just don’t get from the records. I’ll be busy ripping the DVD into iTunes all morning. I just regret that I didn’t get to see it in Imax — that would have been unbelievable.