The Rolling Stones’ December 11, 1968 Rock And Roll Circus event was memorable for a number of reasons. It featured Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi moonlighting (and miming) with Jethro Tull, it saw a one-night-only performance from barely-rehearsed supergroup The Dirty Mac – John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell – and it would prove to be guitarist Brian Jones’ last ever gig with the Stones.
And in a previously unreleased cut from the concert film which has now surfaced online, you can now spot John Lennon getting his groove on as the Stones give Sympathy For The Devil its live debut.
Watch Lennon get his ya-yas out at the 4:54 mark.
“The first time I performed without The Beatles for years was the Rock And Roll Circus, and it was great to be on stage with Eric and Keith Richards and a different noise coming out behind me, even though I was still singing and playing the same style,” Lennon later commented. “I thought: ‘Wow! It’s fun with other people’.”
The Rock And Roll Circus film was initially conceived as a BBC special, but was delayed for release until 1996. In addition to The Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull and The Dirty Mac performances, there were also sets from The Who, Yoko One, Marianne Faithfull and Taj Mahal.
“I got the feeling Mick [Jagger] was the driving force, but the others thought it was all a bit embarrassing for the Stones to be presented in that kind of environment, dressed up as circus clowns,” recalled Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson. “It was Jagger’s energy that got it going. It was impressive to watch how he dragged the rest of the band with him.”
“It was an incredible shoot, I think, 36 hours or something,” Keith Richards later remembered. “I remember not remembering everything towards the end… but it was fun… we went through two audiences… wore one out… it was great!”
