crazymanmichael

I have to say at the outset that this concert video, directed by veteran filmmaker Martin Scorsese (also a music documentary filmmaker of note: "The Last Waltz", "George Harrison: Living in the Material World", "Once Were Brothers", "No Direction Home" and others), evokes some real mixed feelings in me. On the one hand, I hope when I'm the age that these guys are I can still rock. But I suppose one question that the film poses is, can they? Frankly I was a bit shocked at Keith's guitar solos, which, to be charitable, were... well, let's just say, not exactly spot-on. He still has the feel, still has the snarl and the crunch, what he apparently lacked was timing. I wonder if, like me, Keith is experiencing some arthritis in his hands; which would account for it, I suppose. Even if it's not actually hurting at the moment, the arthritis-induced stiffness does have an impact, and it's a tricky thing to allow for in your playing. Once you're in the groove, your life-long instincts kick in: they're used to sending signals to your fingers that are supposed to be obeyed instantly. Sadly, that is sometimes no longer the case. Watching this video I came to suspect Keith may be confronting this exact issue.

And, I got the sense that the rest of the band was experiencing the same kind of slow-down. It was sad not to see Bill Wyman on bass, for sure, and Mick, Charlie and Ronnie were all moving just a little more slowly, just a little more deliberately, than in what was arguably the band's heyday. That's to be expected, I suppose, given that they were all in their early 70s when this one-off concert at the legendary Beacon Theater was recorded (2008).

Some have questioned the Stones' relevance today. This "what have you done for me lately?" attitude strikes me as a bit churlish. There is no question that for better or worse (mostly better, I would think) music today owes a lot to the Stones, as it does to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and many others of the era. To write them off as no longer relevant is very much part of what, in our present society, seems to have evolved into an almost fascistic veneration of youth at the expense of experience, wisdom, real chops and good ole hard-won authenticity. It's a bit like comparing Yngwie Malmsteen to B. B. King. Arguably, Malmsteen can crank out about thirty notes in the time it took B. B. King to play one. On the other hand, B. B. King can say as much with one note as Malmsteen can say with thirty. And no, I'm not slagging Malmsteen, I am simply pointing out that dazzling virtuosity isn't everything. For those of us who still believe it's what you say with your instrument, as opposed to plain showmanship and technical skill, that's still going to count for something. And from that perspective the Stones, in my humble opinion, still deserve to be cut some slack.

Frankly I'm a little shocked that after all this time there's only one review in here for this DVD. The Hip was, by any reasonable definition, probably the most iconic Canadian band ever, eclipsing Rush's claim to that title, in part due to their insistence on retaining Canada as their base of operations, while Rush pretty much moved to L. A. for the most of the band's active existence. The Hip also ensured that every song they recorded was credited to the entire band as songwriters so that every band member had an equal share of the royalties, embracing another typically Canadian democratic principle of fairness and loyalty. And perhaps even more so, because through the 37 years of the band's existence, they remained good friends.

This concert is a hard one to review dispassionately, because, as we all know, this was the band's last kick at the can, and Gord passed away less than year later. Nevertheless, I think it's not an exaggeration to say that it shows the band at their best, and the audience (filling the Kingston arena and outside in the parking lot, and by live video across the country as well) responds in kind.

Here they plow through virtually every major and minor hit they had in their three and a half decades, and they mean every note and every syllable. In other words, they kick ass... Still, it's sad to see that Gord, who wrote so many of the song lyrics, needed teleprompters scattered around the stage in order to remember the words, an indication of the toll his disease was already taking on his cognitive abilities.

Bur you'd never know just by listening. He sang every song with enormous conviction, the band rocked, the staging was impeccable, and they crowd (which included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) loved every second. Thanks, guys, for all the music, and RIP Gord Downie.