Filmed just two days after the tragic death of guitarist Brian Jones, some 250,000 fans flocked to Hyde Park, London, on a pilgrimage to see the group described as “the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world” – The Rolling Stones. A free show, the band played their hits, including Satisfaction, Honky Tonk Women, Jumping Jack Flash, and Sympathy for the Devil, and released thousands of butterflies into the air in a tribute to their former guitarist.
Winner of The Best News Documentary at the 1969 Rank News Film Awards, The Stones in the Park has been lovingly restored in High Definition and has had its soundtrack remixed in Dolby 5.1 (including the additional song Mercy, Mercy) – this concert has never looked or sounded better. A fascinating documentary on the most successful band of their generation, captured at their most vulnerable, The Stones in the Park is a must for all fans of the legendary rockers.
Tracklist:
1. Midnight Rambler
2. Street Fighting Man
3. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
4. I’m Free
5. I’m Yours She’s Mine
6. Jumpin’ Jack Flash
7. Honky Tonk Women
8. Love in Vain
9. Sympathy for the Devil
Bonus:
• Three previously unseen songs which were filmed at the concert – Mercy, Mercy, Stray Cat Blues and No Expectations. The latter two are incomplete but are included here due to their uniqueness (HD).
• World in Action : Mick Jagger discusses his arrest for drugs possession, from July 1967 (SD).
• Mick Jagger press conference on his release from prison, from 1967 (SD).
• Rolling Stones news footage of their early fame, from 1964 (SD).
• Interview with Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts about their tour of France, from 1971 (SD).
• This musical documentary concerns the Rolling Stones and their tragic free concert at Altamont Speedway near San Francisco in early December 1969. The event was all but destroyed by violence that marked the end of the peace and love euphoria of the 1960s. The night began smoothly, with the supercharged Flying Burrito Brothers opening up for the Rolling Stones and performing the truck-driving classic “Six Days on the Road” and Tina Turner giving a sensually charged performance. But on this particular evening, the Stones made the fateful (and disastrous) decision to hire the Oakland chapter of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang as bodyguards and bouncers. It was a foolhardy, careless choice that turned the night into an unmitigated disaster; halfway through the Stones’ act, the Angels killed one black spectator, and injured several others who were present (including Jefferson Airplane’s lead singer Marty Balin). In the film, we watch Mick Jagger — ere an ebullient, charismatic performer of bisexual charm — reduced to standing on stage like a frightened child with his finger in his mouth in wake of the violence. Unsurprisingly, the Grateful Dead refused to perform after the violence erupted; the picture ends on a despairing note, with the Stones repeatedly watching a film of the murder. Celebrated documentarians Albert and David Maysles directed and Haskell Wexler shot the film, with heightened instinct and control; as a result, this film is considered one of the greatest rock documentaries ever made. Stones songs performed include “Brown Sugar,” “Under My Thumb,” and “Sympathy for the Devil.” –Dan Pavlides
• A dark counterpoint to the lovefest of the film Woodstock, this documentary about the Rolling Stones’ 1969 American concert tour centers on the hallucinatory nightmare of the Altamont Music Festival. The free rock concert attracted 300,000 fans. The Stones hired members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang to conduct security, but the gang ended up implicated in a fan riot which left one person dead. Cinematographer Haskell Wexler’s tremendous camera work captures the connections between The Stones’ hypnotic and provocative music and the drug-addled frenzy of the crowd. Directors David Maysles and Al Maysles take a hands-off approach, and the result is a disturbing look at the hellish side of the 1960s rock & roll counterculture. Gimme Shelter is one of the most gripping concert films ever made, and one of the very few to examine the dangerous interplay between performers and live audiences. –Michael Betzold
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