"You've heard of Oxford Circus, you've heard of Piccadilly Circus, and this is the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, and we've got sights and sounds and marvels to delight your eyes and ears, and you'll be able to see the very first one of those in a few moments."
— Ringmaster Mick Jagger
The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus was a circus-themed concert film made in December 1968, but did not see the light of day until 1996.
In the center ring were, of course, the Stones, who performed their then-current hits in the second half of the show; in the first half, they stood off to the side as they introduced their fellow rock'n'rollers including Jethro Tull, The Who, Taj Mahal and Marianne Faithfull. But the biggest surprise was the only performance of a Supergroup known as The Dirty Mac–which consisted of John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell and Keith.
This was the last recorded performance of Brian Jones before his death several months later.
The Rock And Roll Circus provides examples of:
- Circus Episode: The theater is set up to look like a big top, the audience is dressed accordingly, and circus performers like trapeze artists and fire eaters appear in between the musical acts.
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Deleted Scene: Additional songs from Taj Mahal and a piano performance from Julius Katchen were filmed, but did not make the final cut. - Grand Finale: The special closes out with all the performers gathered together on the bleachers surrounding Mick and Keith, Mick announcing "There's nothing left for us to say really, but to sing you one last good night-ly song and wish you all good night," then they sing "Salt of the Earth".
- Happy Circus Music: Two traditional circus standards appear–"Entry of the Gladiators" at the start of the show, and "Over the Waves" during the trapeze interlude.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: By their own admission, the Stones' set was a bit underwhelming (in no small part because Brian Jones was pretty clearly not in a good mental state at that point), but it's long been rumored that one specific reason the special wasn't publicly released till 1995 was because of The Who's amazing performance of "A Quick One While He's Away", and they couldn't take being upstaged by a rival band in their own show. Similarly, The Dirty Mac's performance was heavily bootlegged and much more commented on than the Stones'.
- Production Foreshadowing: The show was meant to promote the Stones' latest album, Beggars Banquet, and their set also includes the song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" from their next album, Let It Bleed.
- Supergroup: The Dirty Mac, combining members of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones (Band), Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, with John Lennon on lead vocals singing "Yer Blues".
- That Syncing Feeling: Jethro Tull and Marianne Faithful sung over pre-recorded instrumentals of their respective songs.
