Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones

This is my favorite Rock N Roll movie, as it is just a straight concert unlike the documentary without talking or opinions forced on the viewer. The film features the Rolling Stones live in Ft Worth Texas with two performances edited together. All other live recordings or films about the Rolling Stones take second place to this film. The primary difference other than their ages with other film is the great musicianship added by lead guitarist Mick Taylor. For once the Stones are shown with a five star guitarist in full bloom, Mick Taylor adds the musicianship to take the band to stellar levels of playing, i.e. Led Zepplin or Cream shows. Coupled with Jagger's first class stage antics and an excellent horn section, the band is highlighted in a raw format that is long gone from their highly polished and commercialized recent tours. The film is unreleased on video and DVD, but easily found via fan circles, trade shows, and down loadable bit torrents. Should appeal to masses of music fans.

This collection of numbers recorded over two nights in Texas, 1972 prove that the Stones, at least for a little while, really were the Greatest Band in the World. Here we have the Stones doing what they do best: Guitar fueled R&B with pop flair and youthful rebelliousness thrown in for good measure. The renditions of Gimme Shelter, Midnight Rambler, and Can't Always Get What You Want surpass anything recorded to date, live or studio. You have to love the acoustic performance of Sweet Virginia. The contributions from Bobby Keyes, Jim Price, and Nicky Hopkins make it clear the Stones were brilliant collaborators. Mick Taylor frankly steals the show, particularly with his slide work on All Down the Line. But there's no getting past the fact that this is Mick and Keith's band: their performances are consistently stellar. Mick's leadership and Keith's suspensions are what made this band great in the first place.

It's really a shame that this footage does not have a widespread release. Clearly, the 1972 tour was the nadir of their career.

Forget Hyde Park, forget Altamont: if you only buy one RS live performance, it must be Ladies and Gentlemen. Here is a band at the peak of their prodigous powers, consistently rocking on every number across a veritable feast of classic tunes. This 1972 film captures the band in fine fettle in Texas on their Exile on Main Street tour. It is a straight show, no backstage footage, no interviews, no filler, no lame alternate versions, just straight forward rock n roll.

Why this film has never been given an official release is beyond me. It is long overdue for release. Instead the public are treated to turkeys such as the Hyde Park show.

If you're a classic rock fan and haven't watched Ladies n Gentlemen, get a copy, you won't regret it.

i am from Houston Texas and in 1972 my husband then boyfriend spent the night at the pavilion on the university of Houston campus to get tickets to the stones...there were rumors they were going to break up and this might be their final tour...anyway we got 6 front row tickets and went to the concert with friends...the movie was filmed partically at the Houston venue because don branch rented a tux with tails and a top hat for this concert and during the set he thru his hat on stage and Mick put it on and after a while thru it back to don...at the end of the concert a massive amount of rose petals fell from the ceiling on the first few rows...i still have some of those petals and my ticket stub...but ya know what i saw this movie in san Diego in 1974...saw it about 7 times just to see Keith Richards...back then he was a very handsome fella...i have not been able to find the film from rentals or anywhere and no one i have come in contact with even knew it exist...thank you

It's great to have some good footage of the early 1970's Stones (during their "Exile On Main Street" tour), but it's probably best suited to hard core fans and other nostelgic types. Keith Richards is especially cool during this era, and many would agree that the band is pretty much at their peak here. Great rock and roll music, originally released in quadrophonic sound. Recorded live in Texas, with all on-stage footage and no backstage or interview shots whatsoever. The biggest problem is that you CAN'T BUY THE THING!!! Why has this never been released officially on VHS? Where's a new remastered DVD? Most likely Allen Klein is to blame somehow for this great footage not being (legitimately) available, but let's hope that someday we can actually go buy an official release of this classic. Stones fans HAVE to see this thing, but casual fans may want to stick with "Gimme Shelter," which you can at least go buy/rent.