TV REVIEW : Stones Aerobic as Usual

Like theater actors, the Rolling Stones really aren’t playing to the front row, so TV isn’t their ideal medium. It’s more fun seeing the band and its massive funhouse-cum-jogging-track of a stage set from a bit of a distance in the stadiums they call home, than it is to have close-ups of Mick Jagger’s expressionless exhortations and grandiloquent gestures.

That said, Friday’s live, pay-per-view of a Stones concert in Dade County, Fla., pretty well delivered the figurative and literal workout that is the band’s current trek. Early on, TV made all the athleticism look contrived, but by midway through the 2 1/2 hours there seemed to be a legitimate head of steam.

The set list was much the same as that of last month’s Rose Bowl shows, with the addition of a three-song “unplugged” segment and three numbers involving guest stars.

The acoustic stretch, while seemingly a move toward the early-’90s requisite, was nonetheless a highlight, not simply because “Angie,” “Dead Flowers” and “Sweet Virginia” recall a particularly productive time in the catalogue, but because the format locked Jagger into one undistracting place for a few minutes.

Starting with Whoopi Goldberg’s introduction, the guest shots were no big whoop: Sheryl Crow, a great match on paper, traded some prodigious but awkward-seeming vocal licks with Jagger on “Live With Me,” while Bo Diddley and Robert Cray took brief, predictable turns at bat.