The Rolling Stones - Shine a Light

On a recent flght to China I watched this film three times from beginning to end. I have watched it again since and am still gripped.
Number one advantage of course is to have a Rolling Stones concert film made by a great film director - Martin Scorsese. But it is the concert that does the real work. See 'Champagne and Reefer' performed with Buddy Guy, 'As Tears Go By', and this performance of 'Satisfaction'.
To name drop, and reveal my age, I must confess that the first time I saw the Rolling Stones live at a concert they were not even top of the bill. I was gripped by them then and have been ever since. The reason is the relation they have kept with their original blues inspiration. Appearing with Buddy Guy at the performances Scorcese filmed was, of course, deliberate and the part of 'Champagne and Reefer' where Buddy Guy, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood are interweaving their guitar parts is one of its peaks. The Rolling Stones were also the people who got Howling Wolf his only national TV broadcast in the US - the fact that they had to do it being an indictment of US televison.
But the other reason for liking the Stones, and taking them seriously, is their directness. 'Satisfaction' has something which no piece of classical music does - realistic direct expressions of desire for sex (and other things) with no euphemisms. And that is why the performance of it here is for me the peak of the concert. The introduction of Ronnie Wood, well after the original classic 'Satisfaction' recording, of course changed the Stones balance. Wood and Richards meant the Stones had two guitarists of the highest calibre - the lighter playing and agility of Ronnie Wood offset against the unique darkness, rawness and savagery of Keith Richards. The two compliment each other but create something different to the original line up. The original relentless rhythm and riff of 'Satisfacion' is here used by Richards as the basis for what are, technically, a series of guitar variations. Indeed, strange as it may sound, the Stones use a totally standard technique of classical music in variation form - treating the base as sacrosanct and everything else as variable. What originally was a song notable for its totally effective simplicity and directness becomes here something musically far more complex and even more striking. Brilliant..As I am very far from having a detailed knowledge of Stones performances on DVD there may be even better ones - in which case could a reader suggest them? But this is a superb performance and worth anyone's attention.