My wife and I watched the 1968 “Rolling Stones Circus” tonight on PBS. We’ve learned never to watch PBS except during pledge drives, when they’re forced to pretend they’re not a half century behind the times. But every so often, 50 years behind the times is the right amount.
Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil by oggys
The first half of the show was dated and slow. Jethro Tull looking like Jethro Tull and the Who looking like geeks. Lennon dissed Jagger, handing him an empty dinner plate to dispose of. Jagger was humble about it. Then the Stones took the stage. The geezers at PBS insisted that this was the best live Stones performance ever.
Bullshit. But it’s historically significant as the moment the Stones took the crown from the Beatles. Lennon was done. Yoko performed with him. Just as the Stones launched their self-proclaimed reign as the “Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World.”
Which, apparently, they still are a half century later given this and this. But you’re allowed to decide for yourself here. And if you want a point of comparison, compare the video above to what happens at Glastonbury 23 minutes and 40 seconds in. Maybe the lyric “many a long year” will sound different. Suit yourself.
Me, I don’t need to see them anymore. Because I can listen whenever I want. I still have total sense memory. Do you?
Does he have lot of sense memory? Yeah. But what’s the point? His nose is a pitiful nubbin.
That was the show that had Yoko Ono caterwauling through a great jam, right?
That’s the one. Funny story. The PBS gray hairs promised a surprise superstar appearance during that song. When the violinist appeared, I was frantically looking him up and confessed to my wife that I’d never heard of him. She said, “We’ll, you sort of missed Yoko showing up, didn’t you?”
Superstar? Never occurred to me. The violinist was a virtuoso.