Shine a Light is a 2008 documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese documenting the Rolling Stones 2006 Beacon Theatre performance on their A Bigger Bang Tour. The Scorsese film also includes archive footage from the band's career and marked the first utilisation by Scorsese of digital cinematography for his films with it being used for the backstage sequences. The film takes its title from the song of the same name, featured on the band's 1972 album Exile on Main St. A soundtrack album was released in April 2008 on the Universal label.
Scorsese filmed the Rolling Stones at New York City's Beacon Theatre on October 29 and November 1, 2006, but the film generally depicts one complete concert performance. The music was recorded, mixed and co-produced by Bob Clearmountain. The concert footage is preceded by a brief semi-fictionalised introduction about the preparations for the shows, and is intercut with historical news clips and archival interviews with band members. The shows, which were added to the tour schedule for the purposes of the film shoot, featured a different set list than was typical of other shows on the tour. The film also shows Jack White, Buddy Guy and Christina Aguilera performing with the Stones.
Prior to the October 29, 2006 show, 83 year old Ahmet Ertegün, a co-founder and executive of Atlantic Records and chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum, was in a back stage in a VIP social area that was known on the Rolling Stones, A Bigger Bang Tour, as the "Rattlesnake Inn", when he tripped and fell, striking his head on the concrete floor. Ahmet was rushed to the hospital after the fall, which ultimately led to his death on December 14, 2006. Shine a Light is dedicated to the memory of Ahmet Ertegün.
According to Rolling Stones' keyboardist, Chuck Leavell's Tour Diary, Mick Jagger had been ill with throat problems, forcing a postponement of the Stones scheduled Atlantic City concert and the October 31 Beacon Theater show was moved to November 1, in order to Jagger to recuperate. According to Leavell, he had worked closely with Jagger on the "theater style" set list and had campaigned for the inclusion of such songs as "Rip This Joint", "Too Much Blood", "19th Nervous Breakdown", "Dear Doctor", "Moonlight Mile", "Let Me Go", "Crazy Mama", and some of the new tunes like "Laugh, I Nearly Died" and "Sweet Neo Con", but there was not enough time to try out these songs for possible incorporation into the Beacon Theater shows.
Shine a Light was initially scheduled for release on September 21, 2007, but Paramount Classics postponed it until April 2008. The world premiere was at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival on February 7, 2008. The film is also being screened in some IMAX cinemas. The IMAX version of the film was the second IMAX Stones concert film, the first being Live at the Max, released in 1991.
The MPAA gave the film a PG-13 rating (the film was edited from an R) for brief strong language, drug references, and smoking, and has been released on both DVD and Blu-ray Disc by Paramount Home Entertainment, a division of Paramount Pictures. The Blu-ray Disc release is recorded in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround (48kHz/24-bit) audio.
