The Rolling Stones “Rock and Roll Circus” is quite the rock and roll bonanza that was been hindered by egos. The idea of an all star Rock and Roll show is great, and the idea for the concert involved a circus aesthetic and a mix of other artists that would culminate into an extended set by the Stones, who’d not only open the show but close it. The show, conceived by Mick Jagger as a way to promote the Stones’ album Beggars Banquet, was shot on December 11th, 1968 – and into the morning of December 12th but never hit the airwaves, oddly. It was shelved for decades by the Stones, only to appear on VHS and Laserdisc, remaining the obscure gem for such a long time that we didn’t get to see it until 1996.
The apparent reason why the movie never went out to more viewers was because of vanity. Apparently Mick Jagger was so angry at The Who and felt as if they upstaged everyone on the show including the Stones. Although some have said Mick Jagger shelved the movie out of respect for Brian Jones, the former rumor seems to make so much more sense. Although The Who don’t really do much that upstages the Stones, they’re a hell of a lot more energetic than the Stones who, throughout the entire concert, look lifeless and laconic. The “Rock and Roll Circus” is a mixed bag of performances and the Stones do a damn good, unlike some of the performers here.
Among the line up there’s Jethro Tull doing an energetic performance of “Song for Jeffrey” which is powered by Ian Anderson’s fluting skills. They’re followed by the admittedly show stopping performance of The Who who perform “A Quick One While He’s Away.” It’s probably the best performance of the whole line up. We then get Tah Mahal performing “Ain’t That A lot of Love,” followed by Marianna Faithful who belts out “Something Better.” She’s probably the least energetic performance as she remains stationary throughout her set. The worst is The Dirty Mac, the super group of John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell and Ivry Gitlis who perform to the screeching sounds of Yoko Ono on vocals. If there’s one set you can skip, it’s this one.
Finally there’s the Rolling Stones, all of whom belt out some of their all time classics including “Jumping Jack Flash,” “Parachute Woman,” “No Expectations,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” “Sympathy for the Devil,” and finally “Salt of the Earth,” which they close the whole show on. For 1968 this concert is a great idea that not only manages to entertain the audience but bring in interest in the Stones’ newest album. Whether or not The Who steals the show is subjective, but it’s a worthwhile concert deserving of an audience, if only because it’s a great piece of rock and roll history.