Catalogue information

LastDodo number
1000047
Area
DVD / Video / Blu-ray
Item title
Bridges to Babylon
Original title
The Rolling Stones: Bridges to Babylon Tour '97-98 (1997)
Series / hero / subject
Collection / set
Number in collection / set
Addition to number
Carrier / medium
Label / publisher
Film studio
Release year item
1998
Release year of movie
1997
Genre
Scenario
Cinematography
Composer
Playing time (min.)
120
Number of discs / tapes
1
Article number packaging
Z9 36440
Barcode / EAN / UPC packaging
7321931364409
Screen format
Sound format
Language on cover
Spoken language
Language subtitles
Colour / black and white
Details

Like any good brand, the Rolling Stones know to preserve the formula even when updating the package, and this long-form concert video underscores that market strategy. As with each of their tours since the early '80s, the quartet, augmented by a discreet auxiliary of backup musicians, gives the fans new eye candy while dishing up a familiar set list spiked with Mick Jagger's lip-smacking vocals and Keith Richards's signature guitar riffs. The visual twists are at once spectacular and conservative: a cyclopean main stage design with massive pillars (presumably the Babylonian connection), a vast oval video screen (shades of Big Brother), and a hydraulic bridge enabling a midconcert sortie into the audience, with the Stones playing a more stripped-down, intimate set on a small satellite stage. That huge physical setting doubtless made the live shows eye-filling rock spectacles, but the video crew necessarily accepts the limitations of the small screen, focusing more on close-ups of the band, rapid cuts, and racing, hand-held tracking shots to convey excitement while keeping the viewer close to the action. The evening's repertoire sticks to the band's most familiar hits, and if the Glimmer Twins occasionally slip their masks to let the routine show, the real wonder is how effectively they keep the playing focused. During the first half of the program, the band's newest songs (especially "Saint of Me" and "Out of Control") elicit conspicuously higher energy from the band, if not the audience. But just as the show seems doomed to a certain anomie, the escape onto the smaller, no-frills stage pumps up players and crowd alike, particularly when they launch into "Like a Rolling Stone," a cover that winds up sounding like a great idea too long deferred. With guest appearances from Dave Matthews and Joshua Redman. Chapter Index: 01: Opening 02: (I can't get no) Satisfaction 03: Let's Spend The Night Together 04: Flip The Switch 05: Gimme Shelter 06: Wild Horses 07: Saint Of Me 08: Out Of Control 09: Waiting On A Friend 10: Miss You 11: I Wanna Hold You 12: Across The Bridge 13: It's Only Rock'n'Roll (but i like it) 14: Like A Rolling Stone 15: Sympathy For The Devil 16: Tumbling Dice 17: Honky Tonk Woman 18: Start Me Up 19: Jumping Jack Flash 20: You Can't Always Get What You Want 21: Brown Sugar 22: Applause and Final Genetics

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Guest director
Guest producer
Guest writer
Guest actor
Guest composer

References to other categories

Vinyl records and CDs / Artists/bands