How a Concert Film Showcased the Rolling Stones’ ’80s Excess

In lots of methods, the Rolling Stones had been constructed for the large display.

Efficiency after compelling live performance efficiency discovered Mick Jagger’s larger-than-life persona paired alongside Keith Richards’ suave lead guitar enjoying, with Ronnie Wooden, Charlie Watts and Invoice Wyman weaving in between. Take 20 cameras, practice them on this band and an viewers, and also you’re certain to seize one thing magical.

That is roughly the premise behind Let’s Spend the Night time Collectively. Launched on Feb. 11, 1983, this stay Stones live performance movie accommodates virtually nothing however straight efficiency footage from two live shows that occurred on their 1981 American Tour.

Let’s Spend the Night time Collectively begins with footage shot on Dec. 13, 1981 on the Solar Satan Stadium, an enormous enviornment in Tempe, Ariz. Because the suns units behind the venue, tons of of multi-colored balloons carry into the air and the band performs “Below My Thumb.” A stage painted in shades of pink, purple, yellow, purple and blue was purposefully designed to retain as a lot of the viewers’s consideration as potential. Footage from a special live performance, shot on Nov. 5 and 6 at the Brendan Byrne Enviornment in East Rutherford, N.J., follows later.

“Most live shows that occurred open air on the time had been performed throughout the day,” Jagger mentioned in In line with the Rolling Stones, “in all probability as a result of it was cheaper, I do not know. So we had the intense, shiny major colours … and we had these monumental photographs of a guitar, a automobile and a file — an Americana concept — which labored very effectively for afternoon exhibits.”

Band members aligned their wardrobes with the colour scheme, too: Jagger wearing a cotton candy-blue jacket and shiny white football-style pants, Watts in a blue and pink striped tank and Richards with a flash of purple suspenders.

The present was big primarily as a result of it merely wanted to be. “Once you’re on the market on this huge stadium, you might be bodily tiny up onstage,” Watts added in In line with the Rolling Stones. “And when the present will get that huge, you want just a little additional assist. You want a few gimmicks, as we’ll name it, within the present. You want fireworks; you want lights. You want a little bit of theater.”

The flowery spectacle was made all of the extra spectacular contemplating that not every part was easy crusing at that time within the Rolling Stones’ profession. It was the start of what would change into a tumultuous few years within the relationship between Jagger and Richards, and in addition a second the place it was abruptly unclear simply which Rolling Stones would really hit the highway. Wooden was scuffling with dependancy, too.

Someway, none of this rigidity is palpable within the movie. “Everyone had wished Ronnie off the U.S. tour — he was simply getting too out of it,” Richards mentioned in his memoir, Life, “however I mentioned, no, I am going to assure him. … Something to get the Stones on the highway.”

They’d launched live performance movies earlier than, starting with Gimme Shelter in 1970, however nothing of this magnitude: The Stones’ 1981 tour was the best grossing of the 12 months, attracting roughly two million attendees.

Watch a Trailer for ‘Let’s Spend the Night time Collectively’

Let’s Spend the Night time Collectively was directed by Hal Ashby, a multi-Oscar nominee whose resume then included movies like 1971’s Harold and Maude, 1973’s The Final Element, 1975’s Shampoo, 1976’s Sure for Glory and 1979’s Being There. However Let’s Spend the Night time Collectively represented the primary foray into musical movie for Ashby, a longtime Rolling Stones fan. He’d go on to direct the Solo Trans challenge by Neil Younger, a number of years later.

Regardless of this preliminary inexperience, Ashby captured each the large parts of the present — like a seemingly endless line of magnificence pageant ladies who take over the stage, or the second Jagger darts into the viewers himself and seems to be swallowed up by followers — in addition to the extra private particulars: There was Wyman’s sheepish grin as he watches Jagger carry out a very loopy dance transfer, and Jagger’s direct eye contact with the digicam.

In one other spot within the movie, whereas the Rolling Stones play “Time Is on My Facet,” boyhood pictures of the band members and photographs of their earliest performances is proven. Extra materials is intercut, displaying the group gearing up backstage. In a single memorable scene, Wooden will get his eyeliner utilized; in one other, Jagger checks his look ahead to the time and encourages these round him to get a transfer on.

Most of Let’s Spend the Night time Collectively, nonetheless, is rightfully reserved for straight footage of the live performance. The set record contains earlier hits like “Beast of Burden,” “Miss You,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “(I Cannot Get No) Satisfaction” and, in fact, “Let’s Spend the Night time Collectively” – plus a number of songs from the Stones’ then-new album Tattoo You, like “Little T&A,” “Cling Fireplace” and “Begin Me Up.” Ian Stewart, Ian McLagan, Ernie Watts and Bobby Keys are featured along with the core Stones.

The movie pulled in $3.8 million on the field workplace, whereas incomes reward for its vibrant colour and top quality. A New York Instances critic deemed it “in all probability the handsomest rock ‘n’ roll film ever made.”

On the finish, Jagger seems in a large crane above the viewers, nonetheless gyrating to the music beneath him. When he comes down, he disappears backstage for a second earlier than returning draped in a multi-national flag honoring each the U.S. and Nice Britain. Extra balloons are launched as the gang cheers and Jimi Hendrix’s model of the “The Star Spangled Banner” performs over the credit.

For individuals who missed the ’81 tour, do not fret: As Jagger later promised, Let’s Spend the Night time Collectively offers “a really feel of what it’s wish to be there.”