Rolling Stones

Ladies & Gentlemen

Hong Kong Official R0 DVD

(New & Sealed)

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones is a concert movie featuring the British rock band The Rolling Stones that was first released in 1974.

Directed by Rollin Binzer and produced by Binzer and Marshall Chess, it was filmed in 16mm by Bob Freeze and Steve Gebhardt (Butterfly Films owned by John Lennon) during 4 shows in Ft. Worth and Houston, Texas during the band's 1972 North American Tour in support of their classic 1972 album Exile on Main St..

The film was blown up to 35 mm with a "fluid gate" process for theatrical release. The concerts were recorded in 32 tracks and the soundtrack was mixed in Twickenham Studios in England. In its initial U.S. theatrical run it was released in "Quadrasound" which was a variation of the four-track magnetic sound format. Instead of the usual right, centre, left and single surround tracks, Quadrasound fed right and left screen speakers and right and left (split surround) speakers.

The objective of the quadraphonic sound recording was to transform the 650 seat motion picture theatre auditorium into the auditory phenomenon of a 10,000 seat rock 'n roll arena. The film began before most audience members even realized it: a black screen and quadraphonic audience noise fooled theatergoers into accepting the recorded ambience as coming from their own venue, intensifying the aural intimacy when the Stones began to play.

The film was sold by The Rolling Stones as a tax-incentive based venture capital investment. Nine (9) separate investment groups competed to acquire the film, and the winning group formed Dragonaire Ltd., a one-film distribution company that was formed to "four-wall" the film throughout the United States.

In accordance with the Rolling Stones' contractual requirements, Dragonaire Ltd. proceeded to rent theatres on a "four-wall" basis for limited engagements in major markets (commencing at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on 15 April 1974) and sell tickets not only at the theatre but also through concert ticket vendors such as Ticketron for the limited engagements. The objective here was to create a limited access single venue event that fans could access from any ticket seller in town.

The Quadraphonic presentation of Ladies and Gentlemen... required a 44 JBL driver sound system (four systems were built and used by Dragonaire in its road show performances of the film). Each sound system was capable of generating 3300 Watts RMS, and was transported to each venue in a 14 ft. bed truck.

Played at 100 dbA in evening and midnight performances, the sound track had to be mixed by a sound engineer based on the number of people in the audience in order to achieve optimal clarity. Sound engineers accompanied the road show presentations.

The film was played in limited road show engagements during which advertising was stopped (want ads were used after the first two markets) because the word of mouth for the film increased attendance every day throughout the run.

Limited engagements were conducted in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, Miami, and Los Angeles before the picture was sold to Plitt Theatres which released the film in a "flat" screen monaural version.

The Rolling Stones re-claimed the film from No Moss Partners, the original investment limited partnership in the late 90s, and "Ladies and Gentlemen..." has not been seen since. As of 2010, the film has never had an official home video or DVD release anywhere in the world. In the early 80s it was released in Australia on VHS by Video Classics and is widely available on bootleg DVD versions.

On March 18, 2010 a statement on the internet announced that the film will see home release on DVD and Blu - Ray in November 2010. The actual DVD and Blu-Ray release date was revised and scheduled for October 12, 2010. Supplements to the concert footage will include tour rehearsal footage from the Montreux Jazz Festival, a 1972 Old Grey Whistle Test interview with Mick Jagger, and a 2010 interview with Mick Jagger

On September 16, 2010, a digital re-mastered version of Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones was shown in select theaters in the United States, presented by Omniverse Vision, Eagle Rock Entertainment and NCM Fathom. Re-mastered in HD digital, the film also features an introduction by Mick Jagger, interviewed in summer 2010 at the London Dorchester Hotel. This segment features Jagger reflecting on memories of the tour during this legendary time, and the status of The Rolling Stones. This film was released at selected Showcase Cinemas in UK the following day, on Friday 17 September 2010.

Setlist
The tracks in the film followed the running order of a typical setlist of the 1972 tour (with the exception of "Dead Flowers," which was played at one of the filmed shows in Ft. Worth and only occasionally elsewhere on the tour). The song "Rocks Off," which was played at all the 1972 tour shows, was notably absent from the film.

"Brown Sugar"
"Bitch"
"Gimme Shelter"
"Dead Flowers"
"Happy"
"Tumbling Dice"
"Love in Vain"
"Sweet Virginia"
"You Can't Always Get What You Want"
"All Down the Line"
"Midnight Rambler"
"Bye Bye Johnny"
"Rip This Joint"
"Jumping Jack Flash"
"Street Fighting Man"

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, harmonica
Keith Richards - guitars, backing vocals
Mick Taylor - guitars
Bill Wyman - bass guitar
Charlie Watts - drums
Nicky Hopkins - piano
Bobby Keys - saxophones
Jim Price - horns
Ian Stewart - "mystery piano"

It's a collector's item for Rolling Stones fans!

It can be played on all DVD players or with computer software.