Bob Tulipan I was one of the people initially involved in the film's theatrical distribution. It's important to know that Dragonaire Ltd, the film's distributor should be recognized for their innovative plan and execution. The film premiered at New York's prestigious Zeigfield Theater and it was accompanied by a large Quadrophonic Concert Sound System mixed live for each viewing and often reaching 100 decibels in the theater. This provided an extraordinary experience for the theater goers who often times had to restrain themselves from jumping up and down in their seats and yelling for encores when the film ended. The Quad system accompanied the film to Boston, Miami, Pittsburg and a few other cities but soon became economically prohibitive and was replaced by a Stereo mix.Sensurround and other sound enhancers in theaters owe a lot to this movie.Bob Tulipan (1974) Former Director of Touring Operations/Distribution Dragonaire Ltd.

jf_moran49 "Ladies & Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones" (Directed by Rollin Binzer,1973) Although I would perhaps include The Rolling Stones' performance in "The T.A.M.I. Show" along with this, that was a different era and line-up of the group, still including the musically-versatile band founder, Brian Jones, on guitar, dulcimer, mandolin, maracas, recorder and whatever else warranted his talents.And although there are many great live or pseudo-live performances of the band, ranging from their half dozen or so appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (the earliest of which rank with the aforementioned "T.A.M.I" showcase) to "Hullabaloo," to "Ready Steady Go!," to "Shindig!," and even a full-set, 1971 videotaped show at London's Marquee Club, where they got their start as a blues cover combo, one really cannot count these as full-feature, theatrical documents of the group. Nor can one, I suppose, count the initially British-only TV performance (since made commercially available from a color print, after the Stones reacquired it from The Who) of "The Rolling Stones' Rock & Roll Circus." And besides, although riveting, lead singer Mick Jagger was apparently higher than a cut-cord, helium balloon for that one! But for a pure, near-cinema verite (conceding they rehearsed their music sets) concert film, you can't get any better than this, save for a front row seat at one of their gigs from either the 1972 or '75 tours, the latter of which was, sadly, not filmed (at least to general knowledge). That tour contained the infamous ride Jagger took on an inflatable phallus, musically just as tight, theatrically even more the spectacle, though not in support of as great a studio recording. This film, culled from footage at two Texas concerts in the summer of 1972, to promote their then-new Atlantic/Rolling Stones Records LP release, "Exile On Main Street," remains not only the best concert film of the band, but among the best, straight rock concert films ever! I saw this film in a theater only once, in re-release on a 1980 double bill with the then-newly-released "Rock 'N' Roll High School," starring The Ramones, and it has to rank as one of the greatest double bills I have ever seen in a commercial theater--while away at college in Amherst, Massachusetts. One, the best celluloid document of a world-famous rock & roll band, in their prime and playing one of their best sets; the other, the best re-creation of a rock & roll drive-in movie, starring the world's most famous, two-chord garage band.Of course, the theater in which I saw it didn't have the benefit of the quadraphonic sound included for the film's initial release, but was nevertheless an awesome experience to see larger-than-life images of Jagger and Keith Richards (with his streaked, rooster's mane shag) double-sucking the mike, the camera close up on Jagger in a blue jumpsuit one second, panning the stage to a shot of Mick Taylor on a lead solo or Bobby Keys blowing sax the next, or downstage, then back up to Jagger, shimmying the stage at the second show in a white jumpsuit! "Dead Flowers," "Happy," "Sweet Virginia" and "Tumbling Dice" are high points, but it's all excellent, if only a little too short.I don't know about the validity of information contained in a previously-posted review, that someone associated with the film's production said existing prints of this film were damaged? All I can say is that I saw what appeared to be an intact film in '80; have since acquired a bootleg VHS copy of it in the early '90s, which appears to be mostly there, though something seems weird about the very beginning of it versus how I recall from the theatrical screening. But that could also be just my impaired memory--like those notorious Twins of Glimmer, I too have done some chemical dabbling over these many years! In any event, if you get a chance ever to see this on a big-screen--do yourself a favor and go see it! Also, you may try cruising the Web and/or eBay for an illegitimate DVD/VHS copy of the film--at least will get a sense of what all the fuss is about here. I think you'll find the superlatives justified.The Stones are well past their prime these days, almost the equivalent of a very well-compensated, touring oldies act ("The Strolling Bones" as some have said), making records that don't matter but to their legions of fans numbering in the millions & spanning a few generations now. But this film captures them perfectly, when they were very much an in-the-moment, happening entity, still releasing records of reckoning, really worthy of their moniker, "The World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band!" But even Richards, the group's heart & soul, if not nominal leader, has said that dubbing given the Stones is overused, that on any given night the world's best rock & roll band is a different group; maybe that garage outfit playing their hottest set at some roadside shack in the boondocks is, on that night, the "world's greatest" rock act. For that humble admission alone, seeing this filmed recording of The Rolling Stones at the peak of their powers is an investment of time well worth spent!

daniel-1178 Yes ladies and gentlemen this is the best live concert footage ever of the rolling stones. You see what the stones are all about. The band at it's peak, the songs are played the way they should be played, Mick and Keith sing Dead Flowers, Happy and You Can't Alway's Get What You Want, together on the same microphone which you never see and they work together brilliantly. Also, with Mick Taylor on board what can I say......He really completes the band. The albums he made with the band are easily the best ever and this concert shows just how good he is and how he made the band complete. Take nothing away from Brian and ronnie, but I think Mick Taylor was the best. I have a copy and this concert is a must for stones fans and I hope soon they will remaster and release it as we all eagerly await.

mrdeddy911 Like so many other Stones projects which involved onetime financial mastermind Allen Klien, 'Ladies & Gentlemen...' remains commercially unavailable due to the heaps of legal red tape tying it up, which is too bad because the film documents the immortal Rolling Stones at or near the very height of their powers.With the violent Altamont debacle still fresh in everyone's memory, the band had fled England for the Cote' d'Azur in southern France as rock & roll's first tax exiles. It was there, in Keith Richard's £2,400-a-week seaside rental property, that the band created 'Exile on Main Street', their first and only double album, recorded in a sweaty, humid basement amid a hazy, narcotic swirl of Bacchanalian excess.Dubbed the 'STP Tour', the band barnstormed across North America during June and July of 1972 selling out arenas everywhere, partly on the strength of their then-newest release and partly due to rising speculation that this would be the band's last road trip ever. The STP Tour was one of the first to usher in now-commonplace practices such as using dozens of semi-trailers to haul around a custom-made stage, a massive construct of rented lights, speakers and cables, not to mention a small army of technicians, security goons and bean counters getting it from place to place. The band themselves were attended to by a crew of hairdressers, luggage handlers, and other personal assistants, including Richards' own cadre of substance procurers, as he was in the throes of heroin addiction.None of this seems to affect the band, however, who consistently deliver a powerful evening of spectacle; feeding off the fanaticism of the fans in the crowd and sending the energy back again, the concert builds to a fever pitch and ends so abruptly no one in the audience is aware than their wild cheers for an encore will never be answered, the band already en route to their hotel.The hit singles are all here, as well as a slew of classics-to-be from the new album. The band, at all times following the eye contact and body gestures of Keith Richard, are on top form, masters of their craft, while Jagger, as the visual focal point, draws upon his decade-plus of experience in manipulating large crowds, teasing, jiving, grinning and gyrating, his skinny, hairless body contorting into one gigantic pout.Unlike Stones tours of late, here it's just the band, along with two horns and a piano, much more authentic than the generic sweeteners heard in the last few years. The songs feel authentic, rather than watered down imitations of themselves, something the band has had trouble avoiding since bringing on their team of professional studio mercenaries. Even as mega-stars, once the music starts, it's not hard to tell they aren't necessarily there "for the money."The other great thing is that the film's sound was, thoughtfully, recorded in true stereo, and attention was paid to quality of signal resulting in a really decent hi-fi live sound. Turn it up!The STP Tour was marked by a new level of offstage debauchery, chronicled by Robert Frank in "C*cksucker Blues", the controversial cinema-verite film which was shot largely with hand-held cameras in various dressing rooms and hotel suites along the way. This film is yet another unreleased document of the summer of 1972, extremely hard to locate, but not impossible. Add to this the planned-but-never-released Decca live album from the same tour and there's enough bootleg material from the STP Tour to satisfy a Stones fan until, say, 1978 when 'Some Girls',their next great album and tour, came to be.The only weak link is new boy Mick Taylor, thought by others to be a kind of guitar hero, but careful examination of what he actually plays reveals that it hardly matters what song the rest of the band are playing, at any given time Taylor invariably noodles over top of it, soloing whenever he can, which is almost every time Jagger isn't singing.For my money, Ronnie Wood might not be half the pure musician that Taylor is, but he's got much more personality, and though the Stones are as strong musically as any other group might care to put up against them, at the end of the day it's the Stones themselves that attract the attention they've received all these years (To this day, many of their live versions of songs grind to an end in musical train wrecks). If it were different, guys like Yngwie Malmsteen would be cultural icons, too, and the satin jumpsuit would finally get more respect.T.C. Shaw, May '06