The Rolling Stones - Live at the Wiltern Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Rolling Stones - Live at the Wiltern Blu-ray Movie Review

The Rolling Stones may or may not be the greatest rock band of all time, depending on your point of view, but my hunch is they have a near lock on having the greatest amount of archival video of any legendary band, culled from the seemingly countless performances they've amassed over the many decades of their performing life. Eagle Rock and then the rebranded Mercury Studios have released an almost insane number of live concert videos featuring the Stones, and they've provided a rather remarkable document of how consistent the band was in live settings over the years, even if their set lists could be a bit predictable at times, no matter what album they may have been promoting at the time of any given concert. And while this Los Angeles performance has the added star sighting benefit of offering glimpses of folks like Tom Petty, Carrie Fisher and Neil Young (see screenshot 9) in the audience, it's probably the somewhat unusual list of songs the Stones perform that will be of most interest to longtime fans. The performance is typically high energy, with Mick strutting, jumping and twitching all over the place, but kind of interestingly Keith Richards gets his own "solo spot" to strut his stuff (much less manically than Mick, it should be added) partway through the show.

1. Jumpin' Jack Flash
2. Live With Me
3. Neighbours
4. Hand of Fate
5. No Expectations
6. Beast of Burden
7. Stray Cat Blues
8. Dance, Part 1
9. Everybody Needs Somebody to Love (with Solomon Burke)
10. That's How Strong My Love Is
11. Going to a Go-Go
12. (Band Introductions)
13. Thru and Thru
14. You Don't Have to Mean It
15. Can't You Hear Me Knocking?
16. Rock Me baby
17. Bitch
18. Honky Tonk Women
19. Start Me Up
20. Brown Sugar
21. Tumbling Dice

The Rolling Stones - Live at the Wiltern Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Rolling Stones: Live at the Wiltern is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Mercury Studios with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. Fans who collected the older Eagle Rock releases of Stones material may remember that label's kind of commendable use of "SD Blu-ray" branding to designate upscaled material, which was more often than not the resolution case with regard to a lot of Stones concert videos. There's no similar branding on this release, but this sure looks like an upscale to me, and as can be seen in screenshots of some of the wider framings I've uploaded to accompany this review, things can be downright blurry with relatively little detail in such moments. Even midrange shots tend not to fare much better, but some of the passing close-ups offer moments that at least approach more traditional high def qualities, though they can still have that somewhat processed digital appearance that often accompanies upscales. Combing artifacts on Charlie Watts' drumsticks are a recurrent feature, and there's quite a bit of banding in evidence as lighting values change.

The Rolling Stones - Live at the Wiltern Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Rolling Stones: Live at the Wiltern fares much better in the audio department, with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 options offering generally great fidelity and some unexpected dynamic range as the band segues from full blown boogie numbers to some intermittently more intimate moments. The surround track offers good separation and directionality, and is well prioritized, with vocals penetrating through sometimes dense band accompaniments. An energetic brass section adds some punch, as do the backup vocalists.

The Rolling Stones - Live at the Wiltern Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on the Blu-ray disc. The DigiPack also includes two CDs featuring the entire concert as well as an insert booklet with some interesting writing on the background of this tour and this particular performance.

The Rolling Stones - Live at the Wiltern Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Rolling Stones: Live at the Wiltern is yet another live Stones performance on Blu-ray where the video quality is less than optimal, but that still may not be enough to dissuade fans from checking out this release. As is discussed in the writing in the insert booklet, this was a "very special" concert for the band, in an at least relatively more intimate setting than some of their arena dates, and you can feel their connection to their starry audience. The good news here is the performance is stellar and the audio is fine, and so with video caveats noted, The Rolling Stones: Live at the Wiltern comes Recommended.