November 23rd, 2009 
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Unavailable at all for nearly three decades, then issued in a VHS edition in 1996, the Rolling Stones’ legendary Rock and Roll Circus finally gets the full treatment with this DVD release documenting the 1968 event. The Stones were reportedly unhappy with their performance (hence the long delay), and it isn’t their finest moment; performing “Jumping Jack Flash” and a variety of songs from their then-new Beggars Banquet album, Keith Richards is game, but Jagger’s preening (especially on “Sympathy for the Devil”) is over the top, and guitarist Brian Jones looks dissolute and well on his way to his death the following year. A certain weirdness permeates some of the other musical acts as well: Jethro Tull lip-syncs unconvincingly, Taj Mahal and band were obliged to perform before the circus set was completed and the audience had arrived, and John Lennon’s outing with impromptu supergroup the Dirty Mac (with Richards, Eric Clapton, and drummer Mitch Mitchell) is hampered by Yoko Ono’s caterwauling, although their version of the Beatles’ “Yer Blues” is cool. Still, the Who are brilliant, Marianne Faithfull is beautiful, the various circus acts are fun, and the crowd clearly loves it.
The DVD comes with some fascinating bonus features, including three extra songs by Mahal, some lovely classical piano by Julius Katchen, and a “quad split-screen” version of “Yer Blues.” Best of all are a new interview with the Who’s Pete Townshend and the various commentary tracks added for the DVD–especially those by Tull’s Ian Anderson, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and Stones Jagger, Richards, and Bill Wyman (who dryly attributes Jagger’s reluctance to issue the show to his dissatisfaction with his own performance, not the band’s). Flaws notwithstanding, this is a treat. –Sam Graham
The Rolling Stones – Rock and Roll Circus
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This DVD was highly recomended and we were disappointed. It was pretty old and seeing some of the performers at an early time in their careers was interesting but overall it doesn’t match the quality of today’s music DVDs.
Rating: 3 / 5
This is dated material. I prefer the later dvd’s like Bridges to Babylon. I rented this a went thru it in about 15 minutes. Not a keeper.
Rating: 2 / 5
Sorry, potheads, but the ’60s have not aged well and this hilarious curio of England’s loudest bands is a hoot a minute. The Stones never wanted it released because they felt their performance was not up-to-snuff. Mick really looks weird in this one, so full of himself it’s painful to watch, and doing his “sexy,” herky-jerky movements like he really was possessed by the devil, only one without any real groovy dance moves. (Brian Jones REALLY looks stoned.) There’s John and Yoko, of course, about the time they posed nude (YECH!) for their Two Virgins LP. Yoko does some incredibly annoying banshee screaming. (No wonder she drove McCartney nuts.) The movie’s worth watching, of course, not only for the campy “Austin Powers” humor, but to see how “classic rockers” looked before they became greedy old men playing massive stadiums for incredibly high ticket prices, milking their fans. Yes, they were young at one time, the Stones, Tull, The Who, Eric Clapton. Slip this doozy in the VCR before the Glimmer Twins charge you $300 for the next Stones concert, just to see how truly idealistic the rock “counterculture” was, suckers.
Rating: 3 / 5
I really find it mystifying that Jagger was upset with his performance & that was the reason for the hold-up. He is the same little prancing fairy here that I saw in concert in 1975 & 1978, only he sings better here.
As for so many reviews being so impressed by the Who, the material that they do has NOTHING to do with Rock n Roll, I HATED it!They should have done “Magic Bus” gotten off the stage & let John Lennon & Eric Clapton, 2 guys who can definately ROCK, do their thing.Lennons voice is amazing here. If pete Townsend wanted to do something good 4 rock, he would have gotten on stage with “dirty Mac” & smashed his guitar all over Yoko, maybe her screams would have sounded better that way.But, for the 3-4 min that “Yer Blues” lasts, It is MAGIC,probably Lennons last real moment as the ROCKER he could be when he wanted- the guy who played 8 hours a night in Hamburg – it is only too bad that none of THOSE shows exist on film!!! The Beatles in 1961 with Pete Best. The closest thing is Aug 1962 at the cavern doing “some other guy”, 2 nights after Ringo joined. That is my favorite piece of rock on film, a close 2nd would be ANY film of Buddy Holly & the Crikets.
Rating: 4 / 5
i can understand why people are banging on bout the who..
the stones were fantastic!
the who were terrible listen to townsends interveiw
great dvd.
Rating: 5 / 5