The Rolling Stones at U.S. Bank Stadium 2021

 

The Rolling Stones in concert at U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 24, 2021. (Photo by Mark C. Taylor)

The Taylor family, ready to rock and roll!

Ronnie Wood's illustrated set list for the show.

The Rolling Stones were scheduled to return to Minnesota on their No Filter tour in May of 2020. Obviously, covid changed all that, and the concert was eventually rescheduled for October 24, 2021.

By the time the Stones got close to getting back on the road, the band announced in early August of 2021 that drummer Charlie Watts wouldn’t be joining them on tour, and that Steve Jordan would be filling the drum kit. Three weeks after that announcement, Watts passed away at the age of 80.

The Rolling Stones have never toured without Charlie Watts, so it’s weird and more than a little emotional to see them live without him. Watts joined the Stones in February of 1963, and he never missed a concert. I think about how emotional it must be for Mick and Keith and Ronnie to play the shows on this tour—they’ve never played these songs without Charlie. The show on Sunday opened with a moving video tribute to Charlie. Watts’ passing has been more emotional for me than I had anticipated it would be. I’ve long appreciated Watts’ talent as a drummer—like Ringo Starr, Charlie found the perfect pattern to fit each song. Charlie wasn’t about flashy playing—he was all about what would fit the song. I didn’t think that I would be so emotional about Charlie’s passing, since I didn’t see him as being the center of the Stones, the way Mick and Keith are. But Charlie’s death has made me think that he was more the center of the Stones than I realized.

Sunday night was my 5^th Rolling Stones show, and it was my son Miles’ first Rolling Stones show. And his first rock concert, proper. (Although he was insisting that seeing a Beatles tribute band at Little Canada’s “Little Canada Days” was his first concert.) Miles turns 7 next month, and he’s been a huge fan of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones since he was about 2 and a half. If the Stones had come in May of 2020 as originally planned, I wouldn’t have taken him along, but fast forward a year and a half, and my wife and I decided we should take Miles along. It’s most likely going to be his only opportunity to see the Rolling Stones live. (I say most likely, just in case I have to delete this sentence when he sees the Stones on their 2025 tour.) We got him noise-canceling headphones, since he’s not the biggest fan of loud noises. We stayed for more than half of the show, and afterwards Miles said, “I was surprised that I knew the first 5 or 6 songs.” I wasn’t that surprised since I’ve been looking at the setlists and they’re jam-packed with hits that he’s very familiar with.

The Stones still sounded great, of course. Mick Jagger’s voice hasn’t lost anything over the years, and Keith and Ronnie’s playing is still spectacular. Ron Wood looks a lot older than the last time I saw him live, in 2015, but man, he can still play. Live in concert is the best way to appreciate Ron Wood’s playing with the Stones, since on the records it’s so hard to tell who plays what.

Jagger had a lot of funny, playful banter, as he name-dropped all kinds of Minnesotan things. He even joked about the “Juicy Lucy” a burger stuffed with cheese that is a local delicacy. Two different bars have a fight about who invented the “Juicy Lucy,” Matt’s or the 5-8 Club, and Jagger claimed he had one burger at each bar. Looking at Jagger’s svelte, lithe figure, it’s hard to imagine that he was telling the truth. (Oh, and yes, Matt’s does spell it “Jucy Lucy,” an inadvertent misspelling that has caught on.)

I was pleased that Stones played “19^th Nervous Breakdown,” since I haven’t heard them play it live before. The song that won the fans’ vote was “Monkey Man,” a hidden gem from Let It Bleed with a great guitar riff. I had voted for “She’s So Cold,” since that’s one of Miles’ favorite Stones songs. When you look at the setlists from the Stones’ 2021 shows, it’s amazing to see how many huge songs they have. Simply put, there’s no other band like the Rolling Stones, and we’re lucky they’re still rolling, close to 60 years after they started.

Movie Review: La Piscine, (The Swimming Pool) starring Alain Delon and Romy Schneider, directed by Jacques Deray (1969)

 

Cover of the Criterion Collection 2021 Blu-Ray of La Piscine

Romy Schneider and Alain Delon make an attractive couple.

Alain Delon as Jean-Paul, Maurice Ronet as Harry. Both actors give impressive performances.

Jane Birkin as Penelope.

A tense dinner between the four main characters of La Piscine.

Movies always make swimming pools seem more magical than they are in real life. In the movies, pools never need cleaning, and they don’t get full of leaves and debris. The French film La Piscine, from 1969, released in the US as The Swimming Pool the following year, makes an attractive argument in favor of pools. Much of the attractiveness is thanks to the two leading actors, Alain Delon and Romy Schneider. Delon, regarded by many cinema aficionados as one of the most handsome men ever to grace the silver screen, had thick, black hair, piercing blue eyes, high cheekbones, and a terrific sense of sartorial style. Schneider had gorgeous blue eyes, high cheekbones, and a figure that is very well accentuated by the swimsuits that Andre Courreges designed for the film.

Delon and Schneider were a couple in the early 1960’s, and were even engaged for a while, but never married. By the time La Piscine was filmed, they were both married to other people. Delon and Schneider have incredible chemistry together, which adds greatly to the sensuality of the film.

Delon and Schneider play Jean-Paul and Marianne, a couple on vacation on the French Riviera. They’ve rented a gorgeous house with an amazing swimming pool. Then their friend Harry (Maurice Ronet) and his daughter Penelope (Jane Birkin) stop by to stay for a few days. And complications ensue. To say more would be superfluous. La Piscine unspools slowly, much like a long day at the beach. (Don’t read the Google plot summary, which gives away far too much of the plot.)

All four actors give excellent performances, and they’re fascinating to watch. Ronet gives Harry the necessary charm, and it’s easy to understand why people would be drawn to him. Delon gives a moody, naturalistic performance. Schneider is fantastic—like Delon, she gives the role a naturalistic feel. Birkin looks gorgeous and stylish, and casting her was an excellent choice. Birkin’s first language is English, so having her speak French adds a layer of slight discomfort that fits Penelope very well.

The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray of La Piscine features a gorgeous transfer of the film, and it adds some fascinating extras as well. There’s a short documentary from 2019 made by Agnes Vincent-Deray, widow of the director Jacques Deray. It’s touching to watch Delon speak about his love and respect for Romy Schneider. It was Delon who fought for Schneider to be cast, telling Deray and the producers, “Use Romy or it won’t work.” Delon was right. To see the connection and chemistry between Delon and Schneider, all you have to do is watch the brief archive footage of Delon greeting Schneider at the Nice airport in 1968, just before filming began. Delon is the very picture of the suave European movie star, all smiles as he embraces Romy as she walks down the stairs onto the tarmac.

One of the most fascinating extras is the English-language version of La Piscine, filmed at the same time with the same cast. It’s a bit crazy to think of Deray yelling “cut!” during a sexy scene of Delon and Schneider making out together and then filming it again in English.

La Piscine was a huge hit in France when it was released in early 1969, and it was the first of 9 films that Delon and Deray made together. La Piscine has slowly gained a cult following in the United States over the years, and the film has made headlines this year as it’s run at the Film Forum in New York City, originally supposed to be 2 weeks, was extended by popular demand to 18 weeks. Perhaps the languid summer of 2021 is the perfect time for the languid rhythms of La Piscine.