Atheists looking for a religious experience need look no further than the Martin Scorsese Rolling Stones concert film, Shine a Light, on IMAX.
Returning from the bathroom midway through the film and staring up at a 60 foot image of Mick Jagger strutting and flailing his arms like a mad hummingbird, I was reminded of the time I first gazed on the Duomo in Florence. Struck unexpectedly by the magnitude of the structure and its profound beauty, I thought to myself, this is it, this is how people come to believe in God, this is why people go looking for an explanation to the otherworldliness of things infinitely greater than themselves. Comparing an IMAX film to a century’s old landmark and postcard staple may seem like sacrilege, but both that ancient cathedral and the Rolling Stones convey an energy far surpassing their physical limitations, both a product of the genius of their masters, both years beyond their time, all the while maintaining the power to render a loud-mouthed atheist speechless and looking towards the heavens.
To borrow a phrase from the grey-haired biker behind me, “this film kicked ass, man.”
And kicked ass it did. No matter if you side with the Beatles, listen to Britney Spears, computer made music or only NPR, there is no denying the intensely spiritual energy of this concert. I recommend seeing the film only on IMAX – if any experience deserves this over-the-top treatment it is the Stones. The film is that the type of entertainment that inspires you to hold your 48 ounce Cherry Coke in so as not to miss an instant (although this was unnecessary, thanks to a Keith Richards’ sung ballad, or as Stones fans call it “intermission”)
From the punch you in the face intro of “Jumping Jack Flash” to the bone shaking encore the film is aces on all fronts. The preamble to the concert shows Scorsese worriedly trying to obtain a set list which, in a clear attempt to fuck with his director, Mick had narrowed down to a couple hundred choices. Marty gets his hands on the list only ten minutes before the show, but this little insertion of Rock n Roll does nothing to diminish the director’s work. Scorsese is brilliant – the camera work is itself an art, matching the musicians in furious intensity, constantly swinging, always keeping up. The quality of the picture and engineering of the sound only amplified and prolonged my parking lot high. Clips were only sparsely inserted - welcome tidbits of old interviews.
When a young, black and white Mick Jagger states that he can definitely see himself playing Rock n Roll at age 60 you believe him; not in retrospect but in an overriding sense that what you are watching is truly transcendental. The Stones are no circumstantial band burning on egos, drug use and lucky hit songs. You can sense that somewhere in their worship of Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and old blues, somewhere in their journey from humble kids to mega stars, and somehow from their intense, believing energy, they have found the wellspring of Rock n Roll.
“Is Keith Richards still alive?” one might joke. Yet a more appropriate question might be “Can Keith Richards be killed?” I suspect not. After viewing this film I am convinced the only way would be if all the Stones simultaneously died onstage after playing an encore of “Sympathy for the Devil.” While Keith may look like a corpse, his boyish grin playing the guitar still makes him the most entertaining guitarist on a stage, and only hints at the profound joy that has been oozing from his guitars for forty years. And Mick? He may be 67 but he has more energy than an eighteen-year-olds prick at the Playboy Mansion. I’m not sure you can call what Mick does dancing – that insane prancing around, running, waving him arms furiously, pouting his fishlike mouth in sexual anomaly – but you cannot deny that it is an art form in itself.
Shine a Light shows the Stones from all worn and well-aged angles. Modern day stars Jack White and Christina Aguilera make cameos. Although still a pupil to great masters, White’s ability to engage young people in the Blues proves his worth in sharing the stage with the Stones, and Aguilera’s appearance is actually a high point, from her soul-filled singing to Mick’s chance at maintaining his crown as the great Sexy – a 67 year old man dry humping a twenty something pop star on stage is a scene only Mick could pull off. The real crux of the show is Buddy Guy’s appearance on the Muddy Waters cover “Champagne and Reefer.” Keith waddles around Guy, widely grinning, acting like a teenage fan - an established legend worshiping another, the American roots and British interpretation coming together in a full spectrum painting of Rock n Roll.
The last 30 minutes of the show are pure out-of-body, flying societal freedom-the answer to the question when are they going to play Sympathy when are they going to play Satisfaction? And Mick and Keith are into it, playing these tired old songs as if they had never played them before and as if you had never heard them. You don’t know whether to nod your head or hold your breath, you don’t know whether to stomp you foot or clutch your arm rest. There is this extended moment where you can see the wellspring, where you can hear Robert Johnson and Hendrix at the same time, you can see youth and old age together, and you can almost see something - it’s in Mick’s voice and Keith’s guitar, it’s beyond the screen, it’s under the music, it’s over the whole audience, - you could almost call it…
And then it’s over, instantaneously, like great sex you only remember in that one jumbled instant. And Scorsese takes us out; over it all, until we can see a bight moon with a little Rock n Roll twist.
****
This film is the truth, the map Ponce de Leon neglected to give us, our generation’s link to the psychopathic peak of all music that we call Rock n Roll. Jimi and Janis may have left us, but Mick and Keith stayed and are showing the world, on IMAX, the elixir of the blues, the energy of eternal boyishness, and the spirituality for a godless society.
I left the film in a daze, not high on the remnants of my pre-film joint, but on the power those giant geezers had just shown me. I left understanding only two things - that I was a just a monkey man, and that The Rolling Stones were, are, and always will be the greatest Rock n Roll band of all time. For the second time of my life I found myself looking towards the heavens. But perhaps I should have been looking down to the ground…
Please allow me to introduce myself…
