The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus -a 1968 event put together by The Rolling Stones. The event comprised two concerts on a circus stage, and included acts such as Eric Clapton, The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and Jethro Tull. John Lennon and his fiancee Yoko Ono performed as part of a supergroup called The Dirty Mac, along with Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards. It was originally meant to be aired on the BBC, but the Rolling Stones withheld its airing and release.
The Stones contended that they withheld its release due to their substandard performance because they had taken the stage early in the morning and were exhausted. Many others believe that the real reason for not releasing the video was that The Who, who were fresh off a concert tour, upstaged the Stones on their own production. The Stones had not toured in a while and were not in top playing condition, as the Who were. At one point Stones manager Allen Klein apparently considered re-editing the footage in an attempt to sell it to The Who as The Who's Rock and Roll Circus featuring The Rolling Stones, such was their far superior performance. This however never became more than an idea and thus never saw the light of day.
(Rocksoff.org)
