Rolling Along Nicely (from The Northern Echo)

Steve Pratt joins the satelite audience at York to witness the premier of the Rolling Stone's new movie

He sounds incredibly posh in the archive interviews that feature in the new Rolling Stones concert film Shine A Light, directed by Martin Scorsese of GoodFellas, The Aviator and Gangs Of New York fame.

The movie is why Jagger is addressing me - along with hundreds of other cinemagoers around the country - via a satellite link to the London premiere in Leicester Square. People in 100 cinemas nationwide watched the Stones walk the red carpet, flanked by a posse of photographers, reporters and autograph-hunting fans.

It's fitting that Jagger should take the time to say hello to his satellite audience as he's obviously the brains of the outfit and the one who keeps the Stones, one of the most successful brands in the world, rolling along. You suspect a keen business brain as well as amazing energy and swivelling hips for a man of bus pass age.

He's been talking to Scorsese about a movie project set in the music industry for some time. The Oscar-winning director has used Stones tracks in his movies since Mean Streets in 1973. As both a film-maker and a fan, he's the ideal candidate to chronicle the band in concert in Shine A Light, a record of their appearance at New York's Beacon Theatre, intercut with archive footage.

That includes Jagger being asked if he can see himself on stage at 60 doing what he was doing back then, 30 or so years ago.

Cut back to the 2006 concert to old snake hips gyrating like a man obsessed on stage.

Back at the premiere, PRs attempt to steer the Stones towards the microphone of Radio One presenter Edith Bowman, who's posing questions on behalf of the satellite audience, including the one I joined at City Screen in York.

She has a thankless task. Only Jagger seems fully aware of his promotional duties, evidence perhaps that he's the motivating force behind the band's longevity. Music trends come and go but the Stones roll on forever.

Jagger is also the Stone with a solo movie career of sorts with films like Performance and Ned Kelly, although Keith Richards is immortalised on screen in Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, which the actor based on the Stones' guitarist who made a guest appearance in the third Pirates Of The Caribbean film.

Jagger stopped acting for one simple reason. "As you get older, you don't get many great parts," he says. "But I got a good part yesterday, so you never know." No, he won't elaborate on details of that role.

He admits to Bowman that it's "always strange" seeing yourself on film "but you get used to it", before being moved along with a final message for us. "Hope you enjoy the film and enjoy your evening,"

Ronnie Wood, next at the mike, wants to enjoy people enjoying themselves watching the movie. He admits there was a lot of pressure making the film, as they were halfway through a two-year world tour.

The world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival was an odd affair. The last time Scorsese was in Berlin, he reminds us, was with his acclaimed boxing film Raging Bull. "It's kind of wow, what a juxtapositon',"

he says. "And, of course, we don't do films. We're a band. So it was rather surreal, man. You're circling three times around and suddenly you're talking to Sky News and all your mates are seeing you.

Keith Richards' premiere outfit displays a fashion sense that brings to mind the phrases "down and out" and "through a hedge backwards". He seems to be on a different planet. How good to see him trying to live up to his reputation.

"Fine, dear," he says in reply to Bowman's inquiry about his well-being. He liked working with the Hollywood director.

"We didn't want to know there was a movie being made." Quite how you manage that with 18 cameras being employed to capture your every move from every conceivable angle is beyond me.

He's on record as saying he likes Shine A Light. "I didn't think there was another way of filming The Stones on stage that would actually make me want to sit through it," he says.

"I mean, it's just watching yourself, but Marty's turned it into cinema. It's like a ballet, with all the cameras and everybody's playing great. And I was very happy with it."

He enjoys his work. "I get right up there, baby," he says. "When it's good, I feel like I'm about a foot off the ground. My feet don't actually touch the ground. It's like there are electromagnets. Then suddenly, you see. I think you see that when Buddy Guy plays, the tempo is good and it feels like levitation. That's the only way I can get high."

"Enjoy the movie - and have a card," he says, handing Bowman one of his business cards. She's as mystified as the rest of us.

Last along the carpet is Charlie Watts, accompanied by grand-daughter Charlotte, who proves more talkative than the monosyllabic drummer. He lives up to his reputation as a man of few words and expressions.

An increasingly exasperated Bowman wonders how he found the film. "It was a bit much at first but it's all right." And the acting? "It was just playing, you know. It's what we do."

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