The Rolling Stones have always been my group. Mick had me at Satisfaction. I really appreciated the pure sexual energy and raw rock and roll that they introduced during my formative years. I have seen the Stones live four times and nothing beats the excitement of being in the Coliseum or Rose Bowl with 100,000 fans and drug vendors where you get high just by breathing the air. They are electrifying and in my opinion, no other group will ever compare.
In my youth, I never thought the Stones would live this long, let alone still be performing, but Mick is like the energizer bunny - keep on keepin on. I still love them, they dominate my IPOD, and I would love to see them in person one more time before they retire. (I said the same exact thing 20 years ago.)
When I heard about this movie, I knew I had to see it. I talked my friend Joe into taking me to the IMAX instead of a regular theater and it was so worth it. I had originally thought it was a documentary by Scorsese, but instead it was a live 2006 concert at the Beacon Theater in New York interspersed with clips from the past, which I wish there were more of. They sang all the favorites: Jumping Jack Flash, Satisfaction, Sympathy for the Devil, Start Me Up, Brown Sugar and of course, Shine a Light.
The movie started out with Bill Clinton introducing the group to his entourage of thirty people. Seeing Bill next to Mick proved that excess drug use really does make your face look like an apple that was left in your lunch bag for two weeks. Keith Richards, Ronnie Woods and Charlie Watts were in their glory and between the four of them, the accumulative age was 255 years. Their faces showed every mile of the long hard road they have traveled throughout the years, but their body fat was that of nineteen year old boys. In another life, Mick must have been an aerobics teacher or an acrobat.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it brought back so many memories of my youth. I can't hear a Stones song without associating some life altering moment to it. To some people this movie will look like a bunch of wrinkly faced geezers living off the fumes of the past, but to those of us who have been there from the beginning, fine wine and the Stones age magnificently. This movie was the next best thing to being there and I can't wait till the DVD comes out.
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