The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

1968/96. Great Britain. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Unseen for decades, Rock and Roll Circus lived up to its reputation as the holy grail of omnibus concert films when it premiered at the New York Film Festival in 1996. Staged over two exhaustingly long days and nights to look like “a tatty European traveling circus” (Lindsay-Hogg), the film captures the Stones during one of their most creatively fertile periods, performing “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and songs from Beggars Banquet with stunning intensity, while Brian Jones is seen in one of his last public appearances, playing slide guitar on “No Expectations” in what feels today like a woeful coda to his life and career. A sinuous and sly Mick Jagger, meanwhile. stepped up as Master of Ceremonies when Brigitte Bardot was unavailable, ushering in an electrifying musical lineup of The Who, with Keith Moon on drums, in a fierce rendition of “A Quick One, While He’s Away”; Jethro Tull, introducing their troubadour style with “Song for Jeffrey”; Taj Mahal; Marianne Faithfull; and the once-in-a-lifetime superband Dirty Mac, featuring John Lennon (aka “Winston Leg-thigh”) and Yoko Ono in their first public performance together, fronting Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Jimi Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell. Lindsay-Hogg was a deft hand at producing such carnivalesque jam sessions, having at the age of 24 directed virtually every major British band for the premier rock-n-roll TV show Ready Steady Go!, and later The Beatles’ Let It Be and more than 20 Rolling Stones music videos. Courtesy ABKCO Music & Records. 63 min.

Music promos for “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” (make-up version), “Child of the Moon,” and “Neighbours”

1968/1968/1981. Great Britain. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. 8 min.