The Rolling Stones: Bridges to Babylon Tour '97-98 [1998] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Amazon.co.uk Review

Like any good brand, the Rolling Stones know to preserve the formula even when updating the package, and this long-form concert video underscores that market strategy. As with each of their tours since the early 1980s, the quartet, augmented by a discreet auxiliary of backup musicians, gives the fans new eye-candy while dishing up a familiar set list spiked with Mick Jagger's lip-smacking vocals and Keith Richards's signature guitar riffs. The visual twists are at once spectacular and conservative: a cyclopean main stage design with massive pillars (presumably the Babylonian connection), a vast oval video screen (shades of Big Brother) and a hydraulic bridge enabling a mid-concert sortie into the audience, with the Stones playing a more stripped-down, intimate set on a small satellite stage.

That huge physical setting doubtless made the live shows eye-filling rock spectacles, but the video crew necessarily accepts the limitations of the small screen, focusing more on close-ups of the band, rapid cuts, and racing, hand-held tracking shots to convey excitement while keeping the viewer close to the action. The evening's repertoire sticks to the band's most familiar hits, and if the Glimmer Twins occasionally slip their masks to let the routine show, the real wonder is how effectively they keep the playing focused. During the first half of the program, the band's newest songs (especially "Saint of Me" and "Out of Control") elicit conspicuously higher energy from the band, if not the audience. But just as the show seems doomed to a certain anomie, the escape onto the smaller, no-frills stage pumps up players and crowd alike, particularly when they launch into "Like a Rolling Stone", a cover that winds up sounding like a great idea too long deferred. --Sam Sutherland

Amazon.co.uk Review

Like any good brand, the Rolling Stones know to preserve the formula even when updating the package, and this long-form concert video underscores that market strategy. As with each of their tours since the early 1980s, the quartet, augmented by a discreet auxiliary of backup musicians, gives the fans new eye-candy while dishing up a familiar set list spiked with Mick Jagger's lip-smacking vocals and Keith Richards' signature guitar riffs. The visual twists are at once spectacular and conservative: a cyclopean main stage design with massive pillars (presumably the Babylonian connection), a vast oval video screen (shades of Big Brother), and a hydraulic bridge enabling a mid-concert sortie into the audience, with the Stones playing a more stripped-down, intimate set on a small satellite stage.

That huge physical setting doubtless made the live shows eye-filling rock spectacles, but the video crew necessarily accepts the limitations of the small screen, focusing more on close-ups of the band, rapid cuts, and racing, hand-held tracking shots to convey excitement while keeping the viewer close to the action. The evening's repertoire sticks to the band's most familiar hits, and if the Glimmer Twins occasionally slip their masks to let the routine show, the real wonder is how effectively they keep the playing focused. During the first half of the programme, the band's newest songs (especially "Saint of Me" and "Out of Control") elicit conspicuously higher energy from the band, if not the audience. But just as the show seems doomed to a certain anonymity, the escape onto the smaller, no-frills stage pumps up players and crowd alike, particularly when they launch into "Like a Rolling Stone", a cover that winds up sounding like a great idea too long deferred. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

great concert.......2004-05-16

a wonderful concert jagger on top form as ever,the stones get better as they get older

five stars for the Stones, but ..........2004-01-12

The Stones are brilliant (even though they aren't really getting *all* the way down through most of it) but I'm frustrated by the filming, which seems pretty clueless as to who/what's worth focussing on. The eye candy gets a woeful overdose of attention - I found I was even closing my eyes at times in order to concentrate on the music, which kind of defeats the purpose of a DVD, doesn't it. Okay okay, Mick sure is something, but I want to see a *lot* more than just the front man.

Apart from that, and apart from the fact that the sound gets weirdly uneven in the last quarter of the disk, it's a fine show, and I'm glad to have it, but there have been much better-done Stones concert films before and since.

Buy this - get a whole lotta 'Satisfaction'!.......2003-11-06

AS a die-hard Stones fan (even though just 14 years old) I recently went to Twickenham to see them in concert and trust me, they are amazing, they truly lived up to there title as 'the greatest rock n' roll band in the world'.
Ofcourse, not everyone gets to see them live (I was very lucky) so to get the nearest experience to it possible Buy this DVD.
With fantastic camera work, stunning visuals and amazing sound this is ,in my opinion, the greatest live music DVD ever released. Jagger's vocals are excellent, Keith's just as cool as ever (if not cooler) and his playing is superb. Ronnie gives his usual energetic performance and Charlie (whilst still managing to keep a straight face) never misses a beat.
They play all their classics, 'Gimme Shelter' 'Brown Sugar' 'Honky Tonk Women' etc. and they are joined by Dave Matthews for an astounding version of 'Wild Horses'.
They also play some songs from the 'Bridges to Babylon' album including 'Saint of Me' and a larger than life version of 'Out of Control'. Keith does a fantastic version of 'I wanna hold you' from the 'Undercover' album.
The Stones give an umbelievably energetic and exciting performance for their ever increasing age (they were just the same when i saw them on the licks tour), in my opinion they get more and more cool as they get older.
With the best ever live recording of 'Satisfaction' to open up with,
just sit back, turn up the volume and let
the Rolling Stones rock your world!

An enjoyable concert.......2003-10-26

Great sound, great picture, superb performance. Jagger is in excellent form, and his vocals are very good.
Sometimes a singer will sound less than enthusiastic when doing a song for the 1000th time, but that is never the case here (well, almost never).

This fine two-hour concert recording includes Keith Richards doing a wonderful "I Wanna Hold You" (a non-album track) in a surprisingly strong voice, and a fine set list with "Satisfaction" as an energetic opener.
The band is excellent; Richards' guitar work is tight, and bass guitarist Darryl Jones and the other backing musicians help drummer Charlie Watts keep things in place.

A very enjoyable performance.

The Rolling Stones Keep Rocking Undeterred.......2002-12-03

Whoever says that the Stones in their Bridges to Babylon are tyred and trite must be suffering from personal problems, are not real music lovers and they're certainly not Stones fans. This concert recorded in St.Louis Missouri, during their 1998 Bridges to Babylon Tour is a masterpiece of technical ability, professionalism and raw rock music at its best. From the moment the star bursts out of the Oval screen with the opening chords of Satisfaction, you know that you're in for an entertating two hours of the highest magnitude. Even the new tracks from the same titled albums sound terrific, from Flip the Switch, a song that is a challenge and an affront to impending death, to Out of Control a fantastic and energetic anthem that shows Mick Jagger as a master of the harmonica and Ronnie Wood as the REAL stones guitarist that he is. For those of you who still argue that Mick Taylor was a better guitarist than Ronnie Wood, I beg you to listen carefully to what Ronnie has added to The Stones music. Sheer quality and drive. Saints of Me, will most certainly be the main track at my funeral, great lyrics, great song...electrifying performance. I could go on detailing every tracks on the DVD, but it would take too many superlatives and too much space to do justice to all of them. The highpoint of the concert is most certainly the masterstroke of having a small stage set up in the middle of the concert arena. This is where the Stones make their true statement of intent. Their absolute love and dedication to Rock 'n' roll. The ability to recreate the excitement of a small club in a huge arena with the focus 100% on the music. This is borne out in the upcoming 40 licks tour when the Stones will be playing small theatres for that more intimate and upfront experience somewhat lacking in big stadiums. The Stones once again confound their critics with a master performance of bravura and passion. Old? Geriatrics' Rock?...The Stones put to shame many young acts of today. Long Live Geriatric Rock. Long Live the Greatest Rock Band of all times. History in the making.

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