The Rolling Stones: Sweet Summer Sun - Hyde Park Live Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

The Rolling Stones: Sweet Summer Sun - Hyde Park Live Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 18, 2013

They say that timing is everything, and if that’s true, my wife and I seriously blew it this summer. We took a trip to Europe with our teenage sons (and lived to tell the tale), and we were actually in London staying at a hotel right around the corner from Hyde Park when The Rolling Stones were slated to perform. Unfortunately, we hadn’t done our homework before we planned our itinerary, and our flight back to New York City was in the middle of the night the night The Stones greeted a throng of several thousand, and so we were unable to see the show, even if we did see the rather mammoth preparations for it spread out over the course of several days. The Stones are still going strong despite the fact that Mick is 70, Keith is 69 (but doesn’t look a day over 90), Charlie is 72 and Ronnie is a relatively youthful 66. Sweet Summer Sun – Hyde Park Live finds the band in surprisingly energetic shape, obviously loving the fact that they’re once again performing in front of London crowds.

There are admittedly a few rough edges on display here. Mick's voice occasionally can't quite find the right note and Keith frankly seems kind of lost on a couple of occasions, but considering their age and the length of this concert, the boys prove that these Rolling Stones have gathered little if any moss. The track list for this concert is:

1. Start Me Up
2. It's Only Rock and Roll
3. Street Fighting Man
4. Ruby Tuesday
5. Doom and Gloom
6. Honky Tonk Woman
7. You Got the Silver
8. Happy
9. Miss You
10. Midnight Rambler
11. Gimme Shelter
12. Jumpin' Jack Flash
13. Sympathy for the Devil
14. Brown Sugar
15. You Can't Always Get What You Want
16. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

The Rolling Stones: Sweet Summer Sun - Hyde Park Live Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Finally we have a concert video that takes place in natural lighting, and it makes a world of difference, making this AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 2.35:1 sharp, well defined, and free of even minor combing artifacts. The concert is caught with a variety of great angles, including a lot of cameras which are right up on stage with the boys. The video does feature a few archival snippets which are in markedly worse shape than the bulk of the live concert outing.

The Rolling Stones: Sweet Summer Sun - Hyde Park Live Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and the LPCM 2.0 tracks sound vibrant and accurate, delivering the somewhat chaotic sound of the concert with very lifelike acuity. The mix is well prioritized, with Mick's gravelly vocals rising above the din of the band and (especially) the omnipresent crowd noise). Some of the guitar solos sound just slightly brittle and bright, but otherwise this is a spectacularly well done set of mixes.

The Rolling Stones: Sweet Summer Sun - Hyde Park Live Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Tracks (1080i; 14:54) include Emotional Rescue, Paint It Black and Before They Make Me Run.

The Rolling Stones: Sweet Summer Sun - Hyde Park Live Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are occasional interstitials here that have Mick revealing a bit of the inner turmoil the band has gone through over the past decades, and what being in front of an audience again means to the Stones. The guys may have been a little nervous, but they come through here with mostly flying colors, delivering a hugely energetic and enjoyable performance. Highly recommended.