The Rolling Stones — Going To A Go-Go (Live) - OFFICIAL PROMO

JUL 01 1982 · 12:00

The Rolling Stones — Going To A Go-Go (Live) - OFFICIAL PROMO (1982) Director: Hal Ashby Era: MTV Launch Era / Early Music Video Age (1982) - One of the earliest Rolling Stones promotional clips produced for the nascent MTV format, drawn from Hal Ashby's 1981 North American arena tour footage and released to coincide with the Still Life live album and the band's 1982 European tour. High curatorial value as a confirmed-director (Hal Ashby) artifact from the inaugural MTV era, documenting one of the most commercially significant live rock tours of the 20th century. The clip uniquely merges New Hollywood documentary filmmaking aesthetics with early music video culture, offering a rare window into both the Stones' 1981 arena-rock visual language and Ashby's final significant creative output before his late-career decline. Its cross-genre Motown-to-rock-stadium narrative and Billboard chart performance make it a culturally layered research object. Context: Released in 1982 as a promotional vehicle for the Rolling Stones' Still Life live album, this clip arrived at a pivotal moment: MTV had launched in August 1981 and was reshaping how rock music was consumed. The Stones' 1981 American tour was the largest-grossing rock tour of that year, grossing $50 million in ticket sales and drawing roughly 2.5 million concertgoers. 'Going to a Go-Go' was a cover of the 1965 Smokey Robinson and the Miracles Motown classic, and the Stones' electrified stadium rendition crossed generational and genre lines, reaching the Top 25 in both the US and UK. The video's warm, underexposed arena-film aesthetic—contrasting sharply with the glossy, studio-constructed clips dominating early MTV—positioned the Stones as a live, authentic rock institution in a rapidly commercializing video era. The clip was notably featured in connection with the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards. Director notes: The 'Going to a Go-Go (Live)' promo was extracted from footage shot for Let's Spend the Night Together, Ashby's concert documentary of the Rolling Stones' 1981 North American Tour. The film was shot primarily at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey (November 5–6, 1981) and at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona (December 13, 1981). The live audio for the single was recorded at Capitol Center, Largo, Maryland on December 8, 1981. Ashby collapsed before the final concert shoot, reportedly suffering from illness, though he continued directing from a gurney. The concert film was released theatrically in February 1983, while the 'Going to a Go-Go' promo aired on MTV in 1982 to promote the Still Life live album and single. Ashby directed two Rolling Stones music video promos extracted from this footage: 'Going to a Go-Go' and 'Start Me Up.' The film was later released on DVD by Lions Gate Entertainment in 2010 and on 4K UHD Blu-ray by Kino Lorber in 2026.