To time with the upcoming North American leg of The Rolling Stones’ No Filter tour, the band’s 1968 film The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus will screen in theaters during the first week of April.
The list of theaters screening the film (and the dates of each screening) can be found here.
The Circus soundtrack will also be released as a triple LP, the first time the music will be available on vinyl.
The program, which features the Stones (with Brian Jones making his final appearance with the band), the Who, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal and Marianne Faithfull, was intended for television broadcast in Britain at the time it was made, but the Stones reportedly nixed the release because they felt that they were overshadowed by the Who. Twenty-eight years later, in 1996, it was finished, with the Stones’ blessing, by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg (who also directed the Beatles’ Let it Be); it premiered at the New York Film Festival and was released on video in 1996.
According to a press release, “The live concert special’s restoration has been sourced from the 35mm internegative and will be presented in both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos sound. The Dolby Vision laser projection system delivers astonishing brightness, incomparable contrast, and captivating color that more closely matches what the human eye can see. Dolby Atmos places and moves sounds anywhere in the Dolby Cinema, including overhead, to make audiences feel they are truly attending The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus. Together, Dolby Cinema’s combination of powerful image and sound technologies creates an engaging, multi-sensorial cinema, and concert, experience for viewers. Through 2019 technology, the audience is whisked back to 1968. The 4K restoration beautifully captures and recreates this historic event, creating a truly unique and immersive experience that fans won’t be able to get anywhere else.”
Related: The Stones are releasing a new hits collection, titled Honk
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, performed in front of a live audience, includes the Stones—Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman—who serve as the show’s hosts and featured attraction performing tunes from their then-new Beggars Banquet album. The Who perform “A Quick One While He’s Away” and the program includes a one-time-only performance by the Dirty Mac, an impromptu collaboration of Lennon and Ono, Keith Richards (on bass guitar), Clapton, Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and violinist Ivry Gitlis. They perform Lennon’s “Yer Blues” and then Ono takes over to do her thing.
It’s believed to be Lennon’s first performance before an audience outside the Beatles. It is also the only time Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath performed with Jethro Tull.
John Lennon and Mick Jagger in Rock and Roll Circus (Photo courtesy of ABKCO Films)
“I was thrilled by it anew, which I hadn’t been for a long time,” Lindsay-Hogg, now 78., told the Los Angeles Times. His credits also include directing several Stones videos, including “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Angie” and “Dancing With Mr. D.”
The Rock and Roll Circus soundtrack is set for 180-gram vinyl release by ABKCO this spring. The third disc in the set will reportedly feature previously unreleased material from the TV special.
The Rolling Stones will be touring the U.S. with their No Filter tour starting April 20, and are said to be recording tracks for their next studio album.
Buy tickets for the U.S. tour here and here.
Watch the new trailer for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationA Quick One, The Who not only overshadowed The Stones, they blew everybody away that night! Although Lennon and Clapton doing Yer Blues was pretty good too,