Watching this, all I can say is WOW. This is one badass concert film. Comprising of performances over four shows in Texas, this was taken from the '72 Exile tour in the States, the Stones' first shows since that tragic night at Altamont three years ago. Funny I was just watching the film Gimme Shelter just a week ago. That was some pretty dark, disturbing stuff; I've never seen so many people and so much chaos going on on a concert stage before.But on this Exile tour, the Stones once again reclaimed the title of 'greatest rock & roll band in the world'. There's that very sloppy yet tight quality to the Stones' musicianship, which makes them one of the hardest bands to cover properly. Most of the songs here are played with a faster tempo, and it's kinda weird hearing some of them without the backup singers, like Gimme Shelter and Tumbling Dice, but Mick Jagger did just fine filling in those missing parts. He seemed really into the show, strutting himself all over the stage like he's been doing it for the past forty plus years. Here are some great live versions of Bitch, Dead Flowers and Rip This Joint.
Charlie Watts has one of the simplest drumsets you'll ever see, but he still amazes me with his insane 'jazz' influenced licks; he's one of the all-time underrated drummers. Now if you listen to Exile, you'll know how incredible Mick Taylor is as a guitarist. Again I was blown away by his playing on this film. Just phenomenal on Love In Vain and Midnight Rambler. Quality wise, the picture on blu-ray is surprisingly good, the sound mix is just average. But that's not too much of a problem. And like I've said about Keith Richard's book before, don't think about wearing that tongue shirt till you've owned this film.
Video: 3.5/5
Sound: 3/5
Performance: 5/5
