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Created Sep 11, 2010 11:40PM PST • Edited Jan 05, 2019 09:13PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   The world’s greatest rock & roll band – at the peak of their powers – glimmers brightly in Hal Ashby’s awkwardly titled movie documenting their massive 1981 stadium tour. Promoting a just released Tattoo You, the 25 song set draws six tracks from that kickass album, along with three from the under-appreciated Some Girls and a pair from the exalted Exile on Main Street, not to mention the usual suspects from the Stones’ deep well of immortal rockers, plus a handful of well chosen covers.

   Not a benchmark like Shine a Light, Let’s Spend the Night Together is nonetheless a better party movie than Martin Scorsese’s celebrated 2008 concert film. Ashby’s early 80s movie captures shows that didn’t bear the burden of career retrospective, instead focusing on a handful of albums and the delivery of a good time to stadiums full of partiers.

   Oh yeah, Mick, Keith, Ronnie and Charlie were near fortysomethings oh those three decades ago – rock & roll athletes in their prime. Witness Keith huffing fags while slithering into deep knee bends.

   Ashby splices in some old-time Stones footage from their then two decade career. But mostly the movie is rock & roll burlesque. Mick, Keef and crew do it well enough for the Devil to get his due. “You kint always git wit you want.” When it comes to rock concerts, with these guys you can.

   Random highlights. Full set-list down in Music commentary.

   • All Down the Line: tough, tight, titillating
   • Speaking of tough, how about the dual lead in Hangfire?
   • Even their craven disco single sounds great, speaking of course about Miss You.
   • “If you wanna, you can LEAN on me.” When? “When you need a little coke and sympathy.” No band sexes up decadence better than the Stones.
   • By the time they get to Start Me Up, they’ve been going for over an hour. Start Me Up – now a stadium standard – made its stadium debut on this tour.
   • The Stones ease into a song better than any other band. Witness Tumbling Dice.
   • Every Stones fan holds particular affection for Charlie Watts. His double-timing on Satisfaction is a special treat.

   Now about that title: Let’s Spend the Night Together has a singular pedigree as the song they bowdlerized on The Ed Sullivan Show and is the second song here. However it’s too long a title, especially for a movie largely shot in the daylight of the blazing Arizona sun. Why not Start Me Up instead? Never stop!

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   Ladies and gentlemen, the Bird-Legged Rockstars. Four of ’em.

   Mick’s cockette routine gets most of the attention, but Keith holds his own, as his solo strut and head toss on Tumbling Dice proves.

   Notice how Keith wears his jeans high and tight. This is worth mention because he was about to marry Patty Hansen, whose legendary Calvin Klein Jeans ad became the archetype of denim clad ass-fection. Everybody thought: What’s she doing with a ravaged rockstar like Keef? Well, he demonstrates here that both members of the couple had perfect denim clad asses.

   Whatever deal Keef made with Lucifer must of had a ton of vig on it by then, let alone now.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Track list immediately below in Music.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

13. Music Perfect 5.0

    Track list from Wikipedia

    1. Under My Thumb – Tempe, Arizona, 13 December 1981 (outdoor stadium show) [Wick: 1960s chestnut]
    2. Let’s Spend the Night Together – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: A second 60’s chestnut to open the show]
    3. Shattered – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: First Some Girls song, tight and unforgiving]
    4. Neighbours – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: First Tattoo You song, about Keef getting evicted from his NYC apartment. Who can blame his neighbors?]
    5. Black Limousine – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: Second Tattoo You song. Ronnie shines.]
    6. Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: Second Some Girls song, a masterful cover of The Temptations.]
    7. Twenty Flight Rock – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: Eddie Cochran song. Love hearing the Stones do covers, whether Motown or an important early rock-n-roll song like this.]
    8. Let Me Go – Tempe, 13 December 1981
    9. Time Is on My Side – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: Early 60s chestnut.]
    10. Beast of Burden – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: Second Some Girls song, one of the best from that glimmering album.]
    11. Waiting on a Friend – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: Third Tattoo You song. Sweet.]
    12. Going to a Go-Go – Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 6 November 1981 (indoor arena show) [W: Hard ass cover of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles]
    13. You Can’t Always Get What You Want – Meadowlands, 5 November 1981 [W: Rock ballads get no better.]
    14. Little T&A – Meadowlands, 5 November 1981 (indoor arena show) [W: Fourth Tattoo You song, sung by Keith as the unrepentant rockstar.]
    15. Tumbling Dice – Meadowlands, 5 November 1981 [W: Exile makes an appearance with this nonpareil honky-tonk song.]
    16. She’s So Cold – Meadowlands, 5 November 1981 [W: One of the few songs worth playing from Emotional Rescue.]
    17. All Down the Line – Meadowlands, 5 November 1981 [W: Second Exile song. Rock-n-roll perfection.]
    18. Hang Fire – Meadowlands, 5 November 1981 [W: Fifth Tattoo You song.]
    19. Miss You – Meadowlands, 6 November 1981 [W: Third Some Girls song, this the big single from the album.]
    20. Let It Bleed – Meadowlands, 5 November 1981 [W: Big hits take over from here on out with this demented late 60s classic.]
    21. Start Me Up – Meadowlands, 5 November 1981 [W: Sixth Tattoo You song, this the big single.]
    22. Honky Tonk Women – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: One of their most memorable songs, performed here with over a hundred women invited on stage as dancing girls.]
    23. Brown Sugar – Meadowlands, 5 November 1981 [W: Another cultural touchstone given its scandalous lyrics.]
    24. Jumpin’ Jack Flash – Tempe, 13 December 1981 [W: Iconic Stones]
    25. Satisfaction – Meadowlands, 6 November 1981 [W: The most famous guitar riff in rock combined with clever lyrics makes for a concert classic.]

    Cue the massive fireworks, played over Jimi’s Star Spangled Banner. Subversive to the end.

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 1.6

    Enthusiastically Risqué. They’re the Rolling Stones after all.

17. Sex Titillating 1.7

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Salty 2.0

21. Reality

    Natural 1.0

22. Circumstantial Natural 1.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0