Steel Wheels Live – The Rolling Stones (Blu Ray Edition)
Introduction…
The Rolling Stones have been recently jumping on the same bandwagon as The Beatles when it comes to remixes and remasters of their studio albums and packaging them in expensive Box Sets. To be honest these things I do tend to avoid and the only real thing that entices me about most studio albums is the 5.1 surround mix. Although these types of bands are the big sellers and tend to get GREEDY! by not releasing the surround mix in a smaller package so the only way you can get your hands on them is to fork out for the extravagant price tag of the box set.
Surprisingly enough though most of the studio albums from their back catalogue they have put out so far in box sets were only in mono, and that is a bit like going back to the land of the DODO’S! and is never going to interest a surround FREAK! such as myself in a million years 😁😁😁. However, just recently they did release a 5.1 mix of their 1973 album Goats Head Soup in a box set.
Though it’s £110 price tag put me right off and, in all honesty, it looks like you are getting very little here for your money. They did also release a double CD and vinyl packages at more of a respective price point and has to why these BIG GUNS! cannot release the 5.1 release in a smaller package like many other artists and bands do for around £20 – £30 is beyond me and at the end of the day it is nothing more than GREED!
Luckily for myself it’s just as well that they never because after watching this review I would of been extremely disappointed just like this reviewer was who has his own channel on Youtube entitled Life In Surround.
Mike’s Tube channel is a very reliable source especially for surround FREAKS! and what I admire about this guy is his honesty. I can genuinely see that by the many reviews of some of the surround albums I have in my own collection, he’s generally spot on with how he describes both the mix and the packaging.
However, this latest live release of the band playing live in Atlantic City on their Steel Wheels tour back in the late 80’s is not going to cost you an arm and a leg and comes at a more respectable price to suit everyone’s pocket.
I have a lot of admiration for The Rolling Stones and have always been into their music since the 60’s. I was also more of a Stones fan than Beatles and even though I can appreciate The Beatles more so today I have still never brought any of their music. I guess it never ROCKED! enough for my own personal taste, though I could also say to a certain degree that neither did the Stones in relation to the heavier side of rock and prog-rock that I prefer the most. However, their music had a hook and sat well in the groove and that is what really drew my attention to them.
I never brought every Stones album although I did buy a good few and I did buy their Steel Wheels album when it was released back in 1989. I’ve never seen the band live either and by the time I did want to see them I could never afford the price of the ticket which in some cases were around £300. I do have quite a few of their live concerts on DVD and this is really a band that impressed me as they got a lot older.
As old as the guys are today in their ripe old age. This is a band that no doubt still has got what it takes to put on a live show and that is what I admire a lot about them. This concert captures the band when most of its members were in their mid-40’s to which some people might of already have been questioning back then if the band still had the energy and what it takes to take on such an extensive live world tour. But where they really any better back then? Before I delve any deeper let’s take a look at the packaging and artwork.
Packaging & Artwork…
The Blu Ray comes in a standard plastic blue case and this type of case is commonly associated with this format. Although it does an ample enough job of protecting the disc they do feel a bit flimsier than most Amaray DVD cases. These type of cases don’t do a lot in the way of a good presentation like the cardboard Digipaks they now do in the same size. To be honest I was quite surprised that there was not a Steelbook Edition to coincide with the title.
The good thing is that is does come with a 16-page booklet unlike buying a film on DVD & Blu Ray and as well as the usual glossy pictures, credits and linear notes, it does also come with some very good informative information that is really good to have.
I pre-ordered my copy from Amazon UK on the 8th August and it arrived a day after its release. I got it slightly cheaper than its retail price of £18.99 and ended up paying £16.75 which is perhaps a bit pricey but reasonable enough for the single Blu Ray Edition.
Artwork.
The artwork design was done by Mark Norton who has worked on much of the design work for the bands live shows and DVD & Blu Ray releases and even designed the bands logo. Here you can plainly see that he’s re-coloured John Warwicker’s original design for the Steel Wheels album which fits in nicely with the concept of the live tour.
Release Editions…
Counting the Limited 6 Disc Box Set the live concert was released in 7 physical formats that range from various prices. The cheapest being the one-disc editions such as the DVD & Blu Ray retailing at around £14 & £18.99 respectively. You can also get both of these formats that come accompanied with 2 CD’s at around £23.19 & £26.50.
The Vinyl Editions are the most expensive and both of these packages come with 4 X 180-gram vinyl LP’s. The standard black edition retails around £45 and the orange & blue vinyl £50 though currently ridiculously a lot more on Amazon UK right now.
The 6 Disc Limited Box Set retails around £47 and this set includes 3 CD’s. 2 DVD’s and a Blu Ray. The extra DVD contains the complete full show from their ten-night residency at the Tokyo Dome in February 1990, exclusive to the box set. The extra CD is also exclusive and contains rare performances.
Steel Wheels Live In Review…
Steel Wheels Live Atlantic City New Jersey was released on the 25th of September 2020. This is a previously unreleased live concert from 1989 to which the band put on in support of their 19th studio album Steel Wheels. It was actually their 21st studio album in America at the time and both 12 X 5 and December’s Children (And Everybody’s) were only officially released in the states. Though they were more or less compilation albums and us Brits were not really missing out on anything.
This was very much the tour were the Stones had returned to full commercial power after a seven-year hiatus in touring marked by well-publicized acrimony amongst its band members. It was also notably the final tour for the bands bass player Bill Wyman who eventually retired a few years later in 1993.
The band decided to make it one of their biggest ever tours and made it much longer than they ever had at this stage of their career by taking on twice as many shows than they had ever done before.
Money was no object in putting it on either and they had a special stage built for the shows costing around 40 million US dollars to make. The British architect Mark Fisher designed the stage with the participation of both Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts. It was the largest ever touring stage ever built back then and stood 82 feet-high and 236 feet wide.
The official Steel Wheels Tour was launched in North America and they kicked it off right at the end of August back in 1989 at the Veterans Stadium (now demolished) in Philadelphia. By the time the band had reached Japan in February 1990 to play ten shows at the Tokyo Dome they had already grossed 140 million US dollars back in revenue.
They renamed the tour to the Urban Jungle Tour for the European leg of the tour and travelled with a smaller stage at some of the smaller venues. They ended off the tour by playing 2 nights at London’s Wembley Stadium on the 24th & 25th August 1990. They were originally supposed to of played these two shows on the 13th & 14th of July but had to reschedule them due to Keith Richards cutting a finger.
Before I go on any further and onto the show. Let’s take a look at what you get and what you don’t get on the Blu Ray and see if it was actually worth paying any extra for it in comparison to the DVD.
The Blu Ray.
The main menu of the blu ray looks quite pristine and sharp with the album cover design used for the background picture it. The shafts of the wheels have also been animated and you can see them turning around which is a nice touch. You have the choice of 3 options to choose from “Play”. “Song Selection” and “Audio Options” and its navigation is simple enough and your choice is highlighted in orange so that you know where you are.
The “Song Selection” menu (above) is split into 3 screens and the good thing about the menus interface is that it was most likely done in Flash so there is no waiting for another screen to load. In total there are 27 songs to choose from split over the 3 screens with “Next” and “Previous” buttons to navigate through them. The “Close” button simply closes them and returns you to the main menu.
The “Audio Options” give you the choice of 2 audio soundtracks both of which are lossless 48K and by default its set to LPCM Stereo. The DTS-HD Master is the 5.1 surround mix. Unfortunately the concert is all you do get and there is no bonus content. Which is a shame considering the amount of film footage they do have of this tour.
Picture, Editing & Sound Quality.
As with the biggest majority of live concerts from 30 odd years ago and beyond it’s very rare you are going to get anything spectacular or anywhere near the standards we have seen over the last decade. Technology has moved on and they never even had HD cameras back then and regardless of whether you purchased this live concert on DVD or Blu Ray there is going to be no significance whatsoever in the picture quality of the both formats.
Though the picture quality is still very good and better than most old concerts that were captured on video cameras instead of TV Cameras that used 35mm film. Both Simon Marbrook & Pete Lynch at Final Frame have done a good job on the restoration and grading of the film footage. The concert was captured by 14 camera operators coordinated by Ron Sheldon,
The biggest downside regarding the actual picture is that it’s in a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of 16.9 as to be expected for back then. Because of the 4:3 aspect ratio not capturing the width of the stage you do have to rely on the editing of the footage a lot more. However, the editing is very well done and was done by Kyle Smart.
However, I do think they could of improved the way it looks by putting borders on the side like in the picture above. But unfortunately, this screen shot is taken from the bit of footage that plays on the blu ray’s main menu and the borders have been removed for the actual concert.
The sound quality is also very good and the only real reason I decided to buy the blu ray instead of the DVD was to be sure of getting a lossless stereo mix. Old concerts like this are certainly not going to attract surround FREAKS! like myself and I would go as far as to say that over 90% of them that come with a 5.1 mix are a JOKE! 😁😁😁.
The 5.1 Mix.
As expected with all concerts that go back this far you are going to be getting practically nothing in the 5.1 surround department though I have heard a lot worse than this 5.1 mix where the surround channels are practically or completely non-existent. To be perfectly honest this is not a proper 5.1 mix at all and all the engineer has done is mirrored the stereo sound from the 2 front channels and placed them very low in the rears to work in the way of a reflection and nothing more.
I very much doubt that audio engineer Sam Wheat who done the mix even had a multi-track recording to work with in the first place and if he did, he certainly never knew how to utilise it for a 5.1 mix.
Even if you could of just had the audience coming out the rears it would of been better. Instead all you get is practically everything from the stereo mix shoved in the rears set at a level that low that you will have to put your ears close up to the rear speakers to be able to hear anything coming out. However, by doing what he has done with the mix does tend to give you a fuller overall sound in relation to the stereo mix.
The DTS Decoder perhaps would have more of a bearing has to why the 5.1 mix does present you with a fuller sound and regardless, both mixes sound good. Although this is not a 5.1 mix by any means that is going to give you an immersive experience or make you feel you are at the concert itself and in reality, it’s perhaps an insult to even call it a 5.1 mix which is why it only gets 2 out of 10 from my rating.
Musicians & Credits…
Original 1989 Production Produced by Gregory Sills. Directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Executive Producer Lorne Michaels. Associate Producer Jeff Ross. Lighting Design by Patrick Woodroffe. Set Design & Art Direction by Mark Fisher. Tour Director Michael Cohl.
2020 Production Executive Producers for The Rolling Stones. Joyce Smyth. Jane Rose & Dave Trafford. Executive Producers for Eagle Rock Entertainment. Geoff Kempin. Lindsay Brown & Simon Hosken. Audio Mix by Sam Wheat. Audio Mastering by Mazen Murad @ Katara Studios. Camera Coordinator Ron Sheldon. Video Editor Kyle Smart. Picture Restoration by Simon Marbrook @Final Frame. Grading by Pete Lynch @ Final Frame.
Tour Photography by Mikio Ariga. Richard Bonenfant. George Chin. Mark Fisher. Kevin Mazur. Paul Natkin & Dimo Safari. Sleeve Notes by Anthony Decurtis. Design by Mark Norton.
Musicians.
Mick Jagger: Vocals/Guitar/Harmonica.
Keith Richards: Guitar/Vocals.
Bill Wyman: Bass.
Charlie Watts: Drums.
Ronnie Wood: Guitar.
Additional musicians.
Chuck Leavell: Keyboards/ Backing Vocals.
Bobby Keys: Saxophone.
Matt Clifford: Keyboards/Backing Vocals/Percussion/French Horn.
Lisa Fischer: Backing Vocals.
Bernard Fowler: Backing Vocals.
Cindy Mizelle: Backing Vocals.
The Uptown Horns.
Arno Hecht – Saxophone. Paul Litteral – Trumpet. Robert Funk – Trombone. Crispin Cioe – Saxophone.
Special Guests.
Eric Clapton: Guitar.
John Lee Hooker: Vocals/Guitar.
The Concert In Review…
This particular concert was captured on the 19th December 1989 at the Convention Centre (more profoundly known as Boardwalk Hall) in the county of New Jersey in Atlantic City, America. It was the second of three concerts they played at the Convention Centre in that month and their North American tour ended the very next day on the 20th at the same venue.
The Convention Centre held a capacity of around 16,000 people and it was the smallest venue the band had played at on their Steel Wheels Tour. It was also the venue that staged many of Mike Tyson’s fights and many other sporting events took place at the venue besides many other bands and artists who played there. Even The Beatles played there on their very first US Tour back in the early 60’s.
Right next to the Convention Centre stood one of the former president’s empires the Trump Plaza which was an hotel and casino owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts. Donald Trump tried to wrestle his way into many of the events that took place at the Convention Centre including the WrestleMania IV and WrestleMania V events that took place in 1988 and 1989 respectively. Although in reality Trump was only the sponsor of both events and nothing more.
He even managed to weasel his way into being part of the promotion of the three nights that the Stones played at the venue which did not go down particularly well with Keith Richards. None of the Stones liked Trump even back then and they were not too pleased when they arrived in Atlantic city and was greeted by a sign reading “Donald Trump Presents The Rolling Stones” with Trump’s name appearing in a larger font than the band’s.
The Canadian concert promoter Michael Cohl nicknamed the so-called Howard Hughes of rock ‘n’ roll was in charge of handling the Steel Wheels tour and was the tour director. Cohl is most famous for having overseen the tours and related ancillary businesses for more than 150 artists, including Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd, U2 and so on.
Part of the deal to play the concert in Atlantic city was that they needed a venue where they could stage a pay per view concert to generate more money from the tour. Trump owned many properties and had a lot of holdings in the city and was their back door into staging such an event. He also appeared to be the only one interested.
However, the Stones didn’t want to be associated with Trump. So, they cut a deal with him through Cohl, stipulating he wouldn’t be involved in any promotional capacity outside of Atlantic City and wouldn’t be allowed at the show itself.
But on the day the Stones arrived at the venue and was about to give a speech in the press room. Trump was giving his own speech in the room which did not got down to well with Keith Richards resulting in him coming to blows with Cohl pulling a knife out of his pocket and slamming it on a table telling him that either Trump leaves the building or we will.
Apparently according to the story Cohl had to evict Trump out of his own building by force by signalling his head of security, who “got 40 of the crew with tire irons and hockey sticks and screwdrivers” effectively sending off Trump and three of his goons who he had noticed two them putting on gloves and the other brass knuckledusters. As to if that’s true or not I could not tell you and for all I know it could of been Michael Cohl who started all this FAKE NEWS! 😁😁😁.
The only reason the concert footage still exists is that the band were able to set up a pay-per-view deal to broadcast the concert live on Television which also helped to generate a lot of revenue from the concert. They also roped in a few special guests to attract further attention and pull in the viewers and pundits to pay for it.
It’s also widely remembered by fans for a mishap where viewers were cut off from the performance during the song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction“, as well as the performance of “Miss You” in some countries. Oddly enough they have advertised this official new release as coming with 100% satisfaction guaranteed most likely due to that mishap on the night it was screened back then.
On With The Show…
Like many of the bands live shows they tend to roll out a few songs from their latest album along with many of their big hits from the past. In general, that is very much the norm with most bands and for the biggest majority of people it is their old classic hits that they go to see them play. However, the one thing I have noticed about the Stones is that they like to mix it up and throw in something from all their albums where they can and even play an odd album track, they have never played before and this show is no exception.
What you are getting here is full show that was played on the night in question and the band rolled out 27 songs over the 2 hours, 37 minutes and 48 seconds you do get. They also included 5 of the 12 songs from their latest Steel Wheels album and often mixed up some of the songs from their new album for some of their other shows on the tour.
The band kick off the show with a song from their 1981 Tattoo You album “Start Me Up” which really is a GREAT! song to get you in the mood and the swing of things. They keep things moving with “Bitch” which is one of three songs they play from their 1971 Sticky Fingers album, they then roll out one of their new songs from the Steel Wheels album which is actually the first track on the album “Sad Sad Sad“.
“Undercover of the Night” from their 1983 album Undercover is up next and there is no doubt the Stones still have what it takes to be ROCKING! things up still in their 40’s. They continue to do so has they fire up a cover of Bob & Earl’s “Harlem Shuffle” that found it’s way on their 1986 album Dirty Work and was more of a commercial success for the Stones than it was for Bob & Earl and they really ROCK! this one out.
Another of the bands smash hits “Tumbling Dice” is fired up next and strangely enough this is one of only two songs they chose to do from their 1972 album Exile On Main St. This is followed up by another sure fire hit from their 1978 album Some Girls with “Miss You” and I quite like this song though I personally think they have performed it better than they do here. It’s then back to the second of the songs from their new album Steel Wheels as they roll out “Terrifying“.
Speaking of terrifying the performance of this beautiful ballad of a song “Ruby Tuesday” of theirs is not to my liking. It’s really down to how low-key Mick Jagger sings it and it’s perhaps understandable because many singers do tend to lose a lot of the higher notes as they get on in life.
Jagger still very much has certain aspects of his voice for the harder edge songs however, quite often his voice no longer reflects the finer qualities it had when he was much younger. It does show whenever he sings ballads has you will see in this official video release from the concert the band posted on their Tube channel.
To be fair it is far from terrifying and I was being harsh by even suggesting that it was 😁😁😁. Really it is down to me comparing how his voice was much sweeter back in the 60’s to give the song more of the justice it deserved because it really is such a GREAT! song. In all honesty this is still a good performance.
I can also remember hearing Julian Lennon cover the song on the radio back in 1992 and I thought he gave it more justice with the sweeter tones of his voice than what Jagger does here. I even brought the 4-track CD single release of “Get A Life” Lennon had released just for his version of the song. I thought he done quite a GRAND! job of it but I personally don’t think you will never beat the original version from the 60’s.
Next up we have “Salt Of The Earth” which is one of the two songs they decided to do from my all-time personal favourite Stones album Beggars Banquet released back in 1968. They also drag out the first of the special guests who get to accompany them on the song who happens to be Guns N’ Roses front man Axl Rose and the bands rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin.
Both Guns N’ Roses and Living Colour were the opening acts for the Stones earlier on the same North American Tour and played over a few days at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in October 89′. The latter of the two bands Living Colour also supported them on the tour longer and played at a good few other venues, although there was no support act for the shows they put on in Atlantic city.
What did surprise me about this performance was Axl‘s voice and it sounded entirely different to his husky growly voice that he sings with his own band and much more refined and sweeter. I would not say it was one of the highlights of the show but it’s a GREAT! song.
It’s back to the Steel Wheels album next and this time they roll out a couple of the singles they released from the album “Rock and a Hard Place” and “Mixed Emotions” the latter of the two being the more successful hit from the album reaching number 2 in the UK and 3 in the US respectively. They knock both of these songs out of the ballpark has you can see in this other video of the latter of the two songs the band put on their Tube channel.
To be honest I am surprised the Stones never put out a video of this next song from the show on their Tube channel and “Honky Tonk Women” is certainly one of the highlights from the show. During the performance a couple of hooker dolls get inflated and blown up and they must be about 50 – 60 feet high. It surprised me even more when they deflated them and only used them for this song only. No expense was spared whatsoever and they must have cost a fortune to have made.
The band continue to roll out numbers from the same time period and up next, we have a couple of three songs they chose to do from their 1969 album Let It Bleed. Which is another of my personal favourite Stones albums. You can certainly see that the band were well fired up after their 7-year hiatus from playing live with this excellent performance of “Midnight Rambler” they also posted on their Tube channel.
I love Jagger’s (Gob Iron) harmonica playing on this one and he is such a GREAT! player of the instrument he’s always been so energetic too and that’s what makes him such a good front man. Which is more than I can say for Bill Wyman who is that stiff at times and he looks like a cardboard cut-out 😁😁😁. The band really knock this song out of the ballpark though and also do the same with the classic “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” that follows.
The other couple of special guests that take the stage for the next couple of numbers though it’s only Eric Clapton who plays on two of them and he does a GREAT! job on Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster” with the band. John Lee Hooker then proceeds to join them and they roll one of his songs “Boogie Chillen” and both these songs are amongst my personal highlights from the show too and are really GREAT! to see.
The next couple of songs “Can’t Be Seen” and “Happy” gives Keith Richards a chance to take on vocal duties whilst Jagger exits the stage for a change of clothes. Unfortunately, he’s not the best of singers and his voice does sort of murder the first of them which happens to be the final song they do from their new album Steel Wheels. I would have loved to of heard them do “Hearts for Sale” or “Almost Hear You Sigh” which are amongst my favourite tracks from that album. However, Richards voice is not to bad on “Happy” which is the final of the songs Exile On Main St and his voice does suit some songs.
The band go back to the 60’s and roll out a few more classics starting with “Paint It Black” which is followed by a song from their 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request and “2000 Light Years from Home” gets its first live airing as the band have never played it live before. I have to confess it was an album I was never fond of but it’s not too bad hearing it here.
Mick Jagger then makes good use of one the higher platforms of the stage for other classic from their Beggars Banquet album “Sympathy for the Devil”. Speaking of the stage the 4:3 aspect ratio does not entirely let you get to see all of it and widescreen is really missed for a concert like this. However, the editing is quite good but it does not capture all of Jagger’s antics of running around the stage like you will see on their much later concerts like Voodoo Lounge and Bridges To Babylon.
It’s then back to the final song from their Let It Bleed album and they really are running through some classics and do another GREAT! job of “Gimme Shelter“. They then belt the only song from their 1974 album It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll and “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)” always goes down a treat at most of their shows and there is no exception here.
The band finish of the show with 3 MASSIVE! classics the first of which is the final of the three songs from the Sticky Fingers album “Brown Sugar” and is followed up by “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” the only song from their 1965 album Out of Our Heads and for an encore they belt out “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and finish the show off in GREAT! style.
Summary…
To sum up Steel Wheels Live At Atlantic City New Jersey by The Rolling Stones. There is no doubt the band were well oiled and fired up by the time they played at this venue after their 7-year hiatus from playing live and they certainly put on a GREAT! show. But as I posed in my question in my introduction. Where they really any better back then?
Judging by the performance it’s very difficult to really say and for me the Stones have always been a GREAT! live band regardless of the members that have been in it and are no longer in it over the past 5 decades. They certainly know how to put on a GREAT! show too and I would say that as they got older their shows became even more SPECTACULAR! and BIGGER!
Though I will admit that I certainly get a bit more more of a kick out of their much earlier live performances when Mick Taylor was in the band in the early 70’s. The Ladies and Gentlemen live DVD that was released in 2010 captures the band very well back in 1974 on their Exile On Main St tour.
But if you want more of a pristine picture and sound quality you will only really get that from their much later concerts from 1996 onwards on the live DVD’s & Blu Rays of their Voodoo Lounge, Bridges to Babylon and The Biggest Bang live shows and so on. Those live shows really amaze me with how well the band can still perform so well and they are also better suited for the Blu Ray format as well being filmed in HD and have fairly decent 5.1 surround sound too.
My personal highlights from the show are as follows: “Honky Tonk Women“. “Midnight Rambler“. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want“. “Little Red Rooster“. “Boogie Chillen“. “Gimme Shelter” and “Brown Sugar“.
Conclusion…
To conclude my review of The Rolling Stones live concert captured at the Convention Centre in Atlantic City back in 1989. I am going to mainly focus my attention on whether this release offers any real value and is worth buying in relation to what has already previously been released from their 1989/90 Steel Wheels Tours.
Parts of the bands Steel Wheels Tour was also released on DVD and later on Blu Ray such as Live At The Max originally released on VHS & DVD back in 1992. Although this captures the band in 1990 on their Urban Jungle part of the tour in various parts of Europe. It was also shot with 8 IMAX cameras and basically this concert has been stitched together by using footage from the shows they played in London, England. Turin, Italy and in East Berlin, Germany. What you have here is not a complete live show like what was captured at the Convention Centre.
However, what you do get here is way more visually STUNNING! in that it captures not only the band a lot better in their performance but also the massive stage they had built. You can also see everything far more clearly in relation to this Atlantic city concert. It’s also in 16.9 widescreen and not in a 4:3 aspect ratio and even sounds better. In terms of quality this is by far the best footage that has ever been captured of their Steel Wheels Tour and it’s been very well stitched together to make it look like it’s from one show.
Though despite the visual 4:3 aspect ratio to which no doubt will put off a lot of people from buying this new release. This is still very much a quality release and is much better quality than Live At The Tokyo Dome they released earlier on DVD & Blu Ray.
The footage from this particular concert is really what the Stones even called themselves an official bootleg release. You will instantly notice the difference in the quality between the both shows if you watch the video clips I have posted in my review of this concert and the footage from the Tokyo Dome DVD on the Tube.
As to if they have cleaned it up for the box set package you can also buy of this concert, I could not tell you, and I avoided buying the box set due to the footage I had seen on the Tube a few years back. Though if it’s a full concert you are looking for both of these will give you that.
The beauty about any live concert is that no performance is ever the same and each live performance can give you something different even if they are more or less playing the same set of songs like on all three of these releases. The good thing is that their career has been very well documented and there are plenty of live concerts you can go out and buy on DVD & Blu Ray plus in audio only on Vinyl & CD.
Even though this concert of the band playing live in Atlantic city has been advertised as previously unreleased. Parts of it have been released in audio only and a couple of the songs from it found their way onto their live Flashpoint album back in 1991. I dare say other songs from it have appeared as bonus tracks on remastered albums over the years too.
Steel Wheels Live At Atlantic City is not my personal favourite show of the band and I would recommend both the Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon concert releases over this. However, it still provides GREAT! entertainment for the buck in my honest opinion. Though if this is something you are interested in buying, I would personally recommend you save yourself a few bucks and go with the DVD.
The Rolling Stones are highly entertaining no matter what decade they played in and I can get a lot of pleasure from all their concert releases on DVD & Blu Ray that have been released over the years. They maybe only rock n’ roll but I do like them and I am sure many others do as well.
It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But I Like It…
The Blu Ray track listing is as follows:
01 Intro
02 Start Me Up
03 Bitch
04 Sad Sad Sad
05 Undercover Of The Night
06 Harlem Shuffle
07 Tumbling Dice
08 Miss You
09 Terrifying
10 Ruby Tuesday
11 Salt Of The Earth (featuring Axl Rose & Izzy Stradlin)
12 Rock And A Hard Place
13 Mixed Emotions
14 Honky Tonk Women
15 Midnight Rambler
16 You Can’t Always Get What You Want
17 Little Red Rooster(featuring Eric Clapton)
18 Boogie Chillen (featuring Eric Clapton & John Lee Hooker)
19 Can’t Be Seen
20 Happy
21 Paint It Black
22 2,000 Light Years From Home
23 Sympathy For The Devil
24 Gimme Shelter
25 It’s Only Rock n Roll (But I Like It)
26 Brown Sugar
27 (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
28 Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Lee Speaks About... 
An interesting read, though I am not a big Stones-Fan, but I have a few of their essential albums in my collection. I looked at the Vinyl-edition and think the black edition is okay, while the colored edition is certainly overpriced (around 100 Euro at amazon.de). I stopped reading your review, when you told, that you prefer the Stones over The Beatles and that you have never bought a Beatles-album, really? The work of The Beatles is very versatile, but they have definitely written some songs, which rock. Some songs ecen rock hard like “She’s so heavy”. Back to the Stones live I remember, that most fans would rate “Get yer Ya’yas out” as their finest live-document. The second story, which comes to my mind is “The Rolling Stones’ Rock’n Roll circus” and I read, that they felt upstaged by the high-enbergetic The Who 🙂
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I’ve always preferred the Stones over the Beatles and for me the Beatles were mostly pop even the record they went out with “Hey Jude” is pop. I admit they were more innovators but very rarely did they ever rock unless you are talking about songs like “Revolution” and that is never gonna set me on fire. My favourite songs of the Beatles are their Ballads more than anything they were never like the Stones or the Kinks when it came to rock and none of those bands rocked like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin when it came to rock which is really what I call rock and I do prefer the heavier side of it over the likes of all those bands.
Get Yer Ya’yas Out was a live album and the music on it did not all come from one venue so it’s not a concert like this were everything was filmed from the one show. I also have a DVD of the concert and film footage mostly captures Jagger more than anything else and is not as good as this or the film footage caught of them in 74 on the Ladies and Gentlemen DVD. I have also heard and seen them on DVD perform some of those songs a lot better later than that concert too. Especially “Sympathy For The Devil”..
The Who might have upstaged the Stones back in the 60’s but have not got a chance of doing that in any of the other decades and certainly not today. The Stones are one of the biggest money earners in the world when it comes to putting on a live show their ticket prices can be as high as Barbara Streisand’s 😁😁😁..
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