Movie review: The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live In Texas
The Will Rogers Memorial Center became a steady stream of noise back in 1978; as one the greatest bands in rock-n-roll history came back to America with a stage show that focused on the music. And the spastic actions of Mick Jagger of course.
Fans of The Rolling Stones will be pleased with the 17 song set list that features a heavy dose of tracks from the album they toured on back then, Some Girls. The footage and sound were remastered from the original source but it still has that raw feel the band was going for on this short trek across the U.S.
When walking into a concert-movie, ideally one should be a fan of the performer or at least the music. Especially in this case, for this is a straight-up concert. There are no backstage chats or clips; the band is not reflecting on what was going on at the time. Again, it's a cinematic concert. Plain and simple...just like the stage show the boys from England put on here.
Clocking in at around 80 minutes, the flow of this is typical of any accomplished classic rock band. We have the high energy, bluesy riffs; a few slow tunes; and a cover song or two thrown in for good measure. The deeper you get into the show the crazier the charismatic frontman gets. Instances of him playing around with Ronnie Wood (he seems to leave Keith alone) and whipping the Texas arena crowd into a frenzy is always focused on by the multiple cameras every few seconds. That said, just like one would spend time watching each of the musicians, the array of cameras placed in the crowd does capture all the band members quite frequently. The viewer will definitely get plenty of action from all the pieces that comprise this rock-n-roll juggernaut.
Whether one is a fan or not, just seeing a band perform a full show - in a time period that some of us never saw - has an allure to it. Any artist should probably give this look for educational purposes alone. Even though there's a bunch a toys (over-producing) to mask an artist's shortcomings these days (Hi Britney Spears); seeing an act having to survive with just their instruments and their guile is kind of inspiring.
Overall, The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live In Texas 1978 is a buried treasure that was unearthed for their fans first; but can double as a nice educational tool for aspiring musicians. There will always be a lull while sitting in a theater yet the sharp editing on dated material can enable one to feel like they're almost right there getting wet as Jagger stares them down and then dowses them with water.
The concert film will be available in select theaters in Tampa as it builds up to its November 21st blu-ray and DVD release.
