The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (1996)

Directed by

Michael Lindsay-Hogg

Genre

concert film, music documentary film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 06m

Rating

7.4 of 10 from 39 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A concert film from 1968 features the Rolling Stones performing on a circus stage with guest acts like the Who and John Lennon. It was meant for TV broadcast but shelved by the band for years. The film captures a unique live collaboration and marks the final appearance of original Stones member Brian Jones.

liverawenergeticnostalgicintimatepsychedelicspontaneoushistoric

What happens

The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is a British concert film hosted by and featuring the Rolling Stones, filmed on 11–12 December 1968. It was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who proposed the idea of a "rock and roll circus" to Jagger. The show was filmed on a makeshift circus stage with Jethro Tull, the Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and the Rolling Stones. John Lennon and his fiancee Yoko Ono performed as part of a one-shot supergroup called the Dirty Mac, featuring Eric Clapton on guitar, Mitch Mitchell (of the Jimi Hendrix Experience) on drums, and the Stones' Keith Richards on bass. The recently formed Led Zeppelin had been considered for inclusion, but the idea was rejected. (As the Who's Pete Townshend recalled, an earlier idea for a circus-themed concert tour had been floated; it would have featured the Stones, the Who, and the Small Faces.) The film was meant to be aired on the BBC, but the Rolling Stones withheld it, contending that they did so because they felt their performance was substandard; they were clearly exhausted after 15 hours of filming (and some indulgence in drugs). It was Brian Jones' last appearance with the Rolling Stones; he drowned some seven months later while the film was being edited. Some speculate that another reason for not releasing the film was that the Who, who were fresh off a concert tour, upstaged the Stones on their own production. The show was not released commercially until October 1996. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Stones in the Park (1969)
• Charlie Is My Darling (1966)
• Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (1996)
• The Last Waltz (1978)
• Gimme Shelter (1970)
• Queen at Wembley (1990)
• The Stones and Brian Jones (2024)
• The Song Remains the Same (1976)