Danielle Solzman
Hal Ashby’s 1983 concert film, Let’s Spend the Night Together—starring The Rolling Stones—is now available on 4K Ultra HD, timed to its 43rd anniversary. The new 4K UHD comes by way of Kino Lorber Studio Classics. The brand new UHD SDR master is sourced from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative. The brand-new HD master is sourced from the same.
The 1983 concert film follows The Rolling Stones during their 1981 North American Tour, featuring performances filmed at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on November 5–6, 1981, and at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, on December 13, 1981.
The Rolling Stones have been the subject of numerous concert films and documentaries. Part of the British Invasion in the 1960s, they never stopped performing and touring. What we have in Let’s Spend the Night Together is the ability to see the band perform their greatest hits live on stage. In addition to the expected hits, we also hear several songs that were never performed before the tour.
Ashby cuts away from performances very rarely to show things like a complex indoor stage set coming together in a high-speed segment. But even when he cuts away, we’re still able to listen to the music, which is exactly what we’re here for. And honestly, this is what makes Let’s Spend the Night Together so entertaining. Every song in the film is allowed to be experienced in its entirety. It’s not like other documentaries or concert films where they show part of a song and then cut to a talking head or something.
The new SDR and HD masters of Let’s Spend the Night Together have been cleaned up, and the results are just astounding. I don’t know what the state of the original camera negative was going into the remastering and restoration process, but it’s just so beautiful to watch. If I’m being honest, I spent the past week and change doing so much emotional excavation that I needed the music as a release.
Ashby teams with Pablo Ferro as creative associate and sets up 20 cameras around the two venues while recording with what was the latest in 24-track audio in 1981. What Ashby and company have done is turn Let’s Spend the Night Together into one of the best concert films that I have ever experienced watching on a screen of any size.
Track Listing
- “Under My Thumb” – (Tempe, Arizona, December 13, 1981, outdoor stadium show)
- “Let’s Spend the Night Together” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Shattered” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Neighbours” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Black Limousine” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Twenty Flight Rock” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Let Me Go” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Time Is on My Side” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Beast of Burden” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Waiting on a Friend” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Going to a Go-Go” – (East Rutherford, New Jersey, November 6, 1981, indoor arena show)
- “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” – (East Rutherford, November 6, 1981)
- “Little T&A” – (East Rutherford, New Jersey, November 5, 1981)
- “Tumbling Dice” – (East Rutherford, November 5, 1981)
- “She’s So Cold” – (East Rutherford, November 5, 1981)
- “All Down the Line” – (East Rutherford, November 5, 1981)
- “Hang Fire” – (East Rutherford, November 5, 1981)
- “Miss You” – (East Rutherford, November 6, 1981)
- “Let It Bleed” – (East Rutherford, November 5, 1981)
- “Start Me Up” – (East Rutherford, November 5, 1981)
- “Honky Tonk Women” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “Brown Sugar” – (East Rutherford, November 5, 1981)
- “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” – (Tempe, December 13, 1981)
- “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” – (East Rutherford, November 6, 1981)
- “Outro: Star Spangled Banner” Trad. (arr. Jimi Hendrix, Woodstock)
Bonus Features
- NEW Audio Commentary by Justin Sosa, Host of Hang Fire: A Rolling Stones Podcast
- NEW Audio Commentary by Entertainment Journalists/Authors Bryan Reesman and Max Evry
- Theatrical Trailer
DIRECTOR: Hal Ashby
FEATURING: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Ronnie Wood, Ian Stewart, Ian McLagen, Ernie Watts, Bobby Keys
Embassy Pictures released Let’s Spend the Night Together in theaters on February 11, 1983. Grade: 5/5
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