The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang: Live on Copacabana Beach Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		1.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang: Live on Copacabana Beach Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 8, 2021

Years ago when I was getting ready to travel to a tiny Wisconsin town to get married because my soon to be wife had grown up there, I discovered the village was also home to the great Joel Whitburn, whose collections of Billboard chart data had been a regular reference item for me for years. Being a cheeky sort, I called his office when I arrived, and quickly found out that everyone there knew my wife's family and in fact some of Joel's employees had gone to school with my soon to be brothers-in-law. They invited me over to tour the premises, and one of the highlights was getting a peek inside Joel's vault of rare 45s, which I have since assumed to be the all time best "vault" experience available. Considering the glut of concert videos the Rolling Stones have been pulling out of their vault over the past several years, however, I think I may need to revisit my conclusion in that regard. The former Eagle Rock Entertainment, now rebranded as Mercury Studios, has long been the purveyor of various Rolling Stones releases, many offered in so-called "SD Blu-ray" format, which is once again the case with this fun performance from Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on February 8, 2006 (a recent enough performance date that some curmudgeons may be wondering why it wasn't captured in full high definition). This is an unusually exuberant performance for the Stones, which is of course saying a lot, but they seem to really feed off the almost palpable energy from the estimated million and a half people gathered outside, and the result is one of the more memorable live performances from this era.

The disc's tracklisting (which includes a few spoken moments, but which also includes at least a couple of unusual setlist items for the band along with the "usual suspects") is as follows:

1. Intro
2. Jumpin' Jack Flash
3. It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
4. You Got Me Rocking
5. Tumbling Dice
6. Oh No, Not Again
7. Wild Horses
8. Rain Fall Down
9. Midnight Rambler
10. Night Time is the Right Time
11. Band Intros
12. This Place Is Empty
13. Happy
14. Miss You
15. Rough Justice
16. Get Off My Cloud
17. Honky Tonk Women
18. Sympathy for the Devil
19. Start Me Up
20. Brown Sugar
21. You Can't Always Get What You Want
22. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang: Live on Copacabana Beach Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Rolling Stones A Bigger Bang: Live on Copacabana Beach is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mercury Studios with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.33:1. This is another in the now long line of so-called "SD Blu-rays" that the former Eagle Rock Entertainment released to help bring rarer filmed concerts by the Stones to their adoring public, and for anyone who has purchased previous offerings in this format, you'll know pretty much what to expect. As can be seen pretty easily in the screenshots accompanying this review, signs of upscaling are pretty rampant and include things like stairstepping and fairly noticeable edge enhancement (which tends to fade at least a little when things get suitably dark and halos can't be as readily discerned). Clarity and detail levels are often marginable, but are at least passable in close-ups. As tends to be the case with these upscales, the palette is reasonably suffused, and some of the blue lighting is actually quite vivid at times.

The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang: Live on Copacabana Beach Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Luckily, as tends to be the case with this SD Blu-ray releases, things are considerably better in the audio department, with both the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mixes sounding generally fine. The outdoor recording tends to offer a few challenges in the mix, and there were times, especially in the surround version, where I wished the vocals could have been thrust forward a bit more, as the swarming mass of the rhythm section and backups can momentarily bury Mick, as incredible as that may seem (given his general energy level). That said, fidelity overall is very good, though some may wish for a just a tad more actual clarity in the midrange. My score is 4.25.

The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang: Live on Copacabana Beach Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on the Blu-ray disc. Two bonus CDs featuring the entire concert are included and there's an insert booklet with a brief essay by Paul Sexton, some quotes from the boys, and lots of stills.

The Rolling Stones: A Bigger Bang: Live on Copacabana Beach Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is yet another SD Blu-ray of a Stones concert where fans may want to just keep their monitors off and simply listen to the audio. A cursory look at the screenshots accompanying this review should give at least some idea to the "uninitiated" as to what these SD Blu-rays tend to look like, but the good news is audio is generally great, for those who are considering a purchase.