When dinosaurs walk the Earth

GRAHAM REID considers some rock DVDs and comes away concerned about the old folk


Mick Jagger once said, when he was half the age he is now, that he couldn't imagine singing Satisfaction at 40. Sir Mick is 61 and still doing it.

The Who sang "I hope I die before I get old", but half of them are still here and even the late bassist John Entwistle made it into his late 50s. Fleetwood Mac, on the other hand, sang, "Don't stop thinkin' about tomorrow".

Now, you don't go to shows by these old codgers for new material - and if you went to the Stones you could reasonably demand your cash back if they didn't play Satisfaction, Jumping Jack Flash and Start Me Up, which fortunately they did in July 30 last year when they played a huge gig in Toronto. Otherwise 490,000 paying punters (the biggest ticketed open-air show in rock history, apparently) could have queued for their refund.

The event was "for a city, a country, deeply offended by the events of 2003" according to the booming voice-over on the concert DVD Toronto Rocks. (That referred to when there were Sars cases in Toronto and the city was declared a danger zone for tourists.)

The economy nosedived and so the Stones rallied a bunch of friends to do a gig to prove the place was okay. A nice gesture, especially since the city was where Keith Richards was busted for drug trafficking in the late 70s.

But the line-up of guests guaranteed a memorable show and the heavily edited highlights DVD opens with the uplifting Flaming Lips, complete with stage dancers in bunny suits, inflated balls bounced into the crowd and liberal scatterings of confetti.

The Isley Brothers offer their ancient hits Who's That Lady and Shout with guitarist Ernie going the whole Hendrix, and a dancer in something she slithered into - and just about out of again.

Then Canadian veterans Guess Who (as in "guess who ate all the pies?") rumble out for a couple of numbers. Their timely Vietnam-era, anti-US hit American Woman goes right past the blonde in the stars'n'stripes bikini on her boyfriend's shoulders. Then there's the inexplicable Rush, also Canadians.

AC/DC make their falsetto-cum-concrete mixer rock noise for Back in Black and Thunderstruck, Justin Timberlake pops up and between times Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd do not-quite-Blues Brothers old soul to great indifference and considerable embarrassment.

So it all comes down to the Stones. Jagger is in a hand-fluttering camp mood while the band get on with enjoying themselves behind him.

Timberlake joins Jagger for Miss You and Richards and Wood ignore them until Keith notices people throwing empty water bottles at Justin. Enough. He stomps down and gives 'em a piece of Keith-threat then high-fives Justin on the way back.

It's a strange show and Jagger seems like a man removed from the group, no more so than on a meandering Rock Me Baby. Here, a couple of Akker-Dakkers join them and the guitarists fall over each other laughing while Mick flits about waggling his skinny hips and taking bows like a diva.

The Who seemed to have survived remarkably well if the Live in Boston DVD is to be believed. With Zak Starkey on drums, Rabbit Bundrick on keyboards, and bassist Pino Palladino and Simon Townshend on backing vocals and guitars, they power through the expected repertoire and go out with the highlights from Tommy.

They sound great, but there's not much stage banter. Those with only a passing interest in the band should head to the brilliant Kids Are Alright set reviewed in these pages in July.

Finally, back to the Mac attack, who were also filmed Live in Boston. Stevie Nicks looks less like a witchey-woman than the humourless mother of a Wilson Phillips member. I'm told the reason she doesn't smile anymore is simply because she can't. Botoxed from the hairline down, apparently.

In fact, they all seem a bit stolid - aside from madman Mick on drums, who goes goggle-eyed and introduces every song with a drum pattern. Bassist John McVie is all but invisible and Lindsey Buckingham is looking increasingly like the John McEnroe of rock.

But, as a concert, it is an excellent blend of old material and the better moments from their recent Say You Will, and there's even a few moving moments when Lindsey directs his personal songs towards the frozen-faced woman on the other side of the stage. She might have been smiling, she might have been tearful. It was hard to tell. The double-disc DVD also comes with a 10-track live CD.

So there you have it: old people finding their satisfaction, some now hoping not to die before they get any older, and a band which really still is thinking about tomorrow.

Rock dinosaurs all of them, and some faces which have aged disgracefully. And one frozen in stone.


Various: Toronto rocks

(Herald rating: * * * )

Label: Warners

The Who: Live in Boston

(Herlad rating: * * * )

Label: Warners


Fleetwood Mac: Live In Boston

(Herald rating: * * * * )

(Reprise)