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Legendary Lost Rolling Stones Special With John Lennon Coming To WNED
I'm not sure if this is airing on the entire PBS network or just Channel 17, but it's a very rare glimpse at the Rolling Stones at their peak in 1968, along with the who's who of rock royalty.
It was called "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" and it was made by the BBC in 1968, and then locked away in the vaults for the next 30+ years. Now it's resurfacing and to me, it's not the Stones that are the true attraction. It features a group called The Dirty Mac, which consisted of John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Mitch Mitchell, who was with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
If that's not enough to get your curiosity up, check out this description of the show:
"In 1968, the Stones headlined "Rock and Roll Circus," a planned TV special that mated aerialists, fire-eaters, and acrobats with the day's top rock talent. Serving as both the show's hosts and featured attraction, the Stones performed a six-song set which climaxed with singer Mick Jagger writhing like a man possessed through "Sympathy For the Devil."
"The program also includes performances by The Who, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, Yoko Ono, and The Dirty Mac...
"The Stones chose to keep "Rock and Roll Circus" in the vaults for nearly three decades, making it one of the most elusive of rock artifacts. Songs include "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "You Can't Always Get What You Want," and "Yer Blues."
So when can you see it? WNED has it scheduled for Saturday night, Nov. 25th at 10 PM. It runs without commercials for roughly 90 minutes.
Replays of this rare and long-lost legendary artifact are on Nov. 28th at 2 AM, Dec. 1st at midnight and Dec. 9, at 1:30 AM.
Have to admit I'm not the biggest Stones fan, but this sounds so bizarre and so unusually historic, I will have to DVR it.
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Re: Legendary Lost Rolling Stones Special With John Lennon Coming To WNED
Here's a preview of the Dirty Mac segment. What an incredible array of talent - Lennon, Clapton and Richards all on stage playing together. Talk about an all-star band together for one time only.
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Thread Starter- Walter
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Re: Legendary Lost Rolling Stones Special With John Lennon Coming To WNED
I have seen Rock and Roll Circus, and it is remarkable. The Stones (especially Jagger) at their peak, with great perfomances of many of their hits when they were new, and the odd-ball assortment of guest stars (including Lennon) and spectators make it truly unique in the history of rock. Highly recommended!
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Re: Legendary Lost Rolling Stones Special With John Lennon Coming To WNED
Walter wrote:
I have seen Rock and Roll Circus, and it is remarkable. The Stones (especially Jagger) at their peak, with great perfomances of many of their hits when they were new, and the odd-ball assortment of guest stars (including Lennon) and spectators make it truly unique in the history of rock. Highly recommended!
This video may be of interest to you.
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Thread Starter- SpinningWheel
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Re: Legendary Lost Rolling Stones Special With John Lennon Coming To WNED
Thanks for letting everyone know about this coming up. I believe the story behind it is that it languished in the BBC archives up until the mid-90s and it was released on a video cassette in 1996. I have a copy that's on an mp4 file and I believe I got it from a friend who downloaded it using BitTorrent and it looks digital quality so I presume it was released on DVD. The quality is excellent. The show itself took 24 hours or so to shoot because of numerous complications, leaving the audience waiting hours between sets and performances of the circus people. If you look on the internet you'll find the story. It sure sounded like something you'd want to attend live, but once you hear the back story that sounds like it was Hell, you would probably reconsider.
(edit) And the reason it wasn't released after airing the first time was apparently because the Rolling Stones performance was considered by them to be substandard and The Who blew them off the stage. The Who had been on tour and were in 'shape' while the Stones were in between tours and rusty. The Who were really good, better than the Stones. (I'm going by a story I read years-ago not having watched the video link, so some details may differ)
Trivia: This is the only live performance of Jethro Tull with future Black Sabbath founder and guitarist Tony Iomi. Tull were fantastic as I recall.
Last edited by SpinningWheel (November 19, 2023 2:23 pm)
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Re: Legendary Lost Rolling Stones Special With John Lennon Coming To WNED
Thanks for letting everyone know about this coming up. I believe the story behind it is that it languished in the BBC archives up until the mid-90s and it was released on a video cassette in 1996. I have a copy that's on an mp4 file and I believe I got it from a friend who downloaded it using BitTorrent and it looks digital quality so I presume it was released on DVD. The quality is excellent. The show itself took 24 hours or so to shoot because of numerous complications, leaving the audience waiting hours between sets and performances of the circus people. If you look on the internet you'll find the story. It sure sounded like something you'd want to attend live, but once you hear the back story that sounds like it was Hell, you would probably reconsider.
(edit) And the reason it wasn't released after airing the first time was apparently because the Rolling Stones performance was considered by them to be substandard and The Who blew them off the stage. The Who had been on tour and were in 'shape' while the Stones were in between tours and rusty. The Who were really good, better than the Stones. (I'm going by a story I read years-ago not having watched the video link, so some details may differ)
Trivia: This is the only live performance of Jethro Tull with future Black Sabbath founder and guitarist Tony Iomi. Tull were fantastic as I recall.
Yes, Tull was great, and the Who was the best on stage by far. The Stones were very good, but watch to see how
uninvolved Brian Jones was. He looks out of it, and barely contributes anything musically.
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Re: Legendary Lost Rolling Stones Special With John Lennon Coming To WNED
Yes, Tull was great, and the Who was the best on stage by far. The Stones were very good, but watch to see how
uninvolved Brian Jones was. He looks out of it, and barely contributes anything musically.
The antics between Lennon and Jagger were pretty cool and funny as well.
I think I'm going to watch it tonight. It's probably been 8 years since I've last seen it.
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Re: Legendary Lost Rolling Stones Special With John Lennon Coming To WNED
That was definitely one of the most bizarre specials I've ever seen. It literally explodes a 60s vibe all over it. But it was fun. I wasn't expecting pledge breaks for a show that started at 10 PM, but yep, they were there. Another advantage of having recorded it!
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