There’s not many films, let alone documentaries, that’ll keep you watching right the way to the end of the credits, but in Shane Meadows’ The Stone Roses: Made of Stone DVD you got an absolute pearler from start to brilliant finish. Documenting the band’s resurrection reformation in late 2011, it’s packed with insight, great cinematography and even greater music, reiterating why the Roses are one of the greatest band’s in history and why Meadow’s is so incredibly well loved.
The Stone Roses were an integral part of the seminal Madchester music scene, creating some of the greatest songs ever recorded. However, their time together was relatively short and fraught with legal issues and management wrangles that halted their music production and led onto the band coming to an untimely end with just 2 albums under their belts.
However, they were two incredible albums and so in 2011 John Squire, Mani, Reni and Ian Brown put their differences behind them to reform the band for a series of comeback gigs including their 3 dates at Heaton Park in their home town of Manchester. It’s here that Shane Meadows’ documentary picks things up, starting with a snapshot of Brown greeting the crowds at Heaton park before backtracking nicely to the press conference at which they announced their comeback.
While Shane Meadows has made his name through breakthrough dramatic films like This Is England, he’s clearly got an eye for what makes a good documentary too. Constructed as a sort of fan doc of The Stone Roses’ reformation, he gives just enough if himself as a filmmaker and Roses fan to make it feel personal, while also getting under the media spin of the band to see what they’re like together, how they see the past and where they play to go next.
Made of Stone takes us from that surprise starting block of the return of The Stone Roses and Meadows’ move into documentarian mode and constructs a whirlwind return to form for both the band and filmmaker alike. It’s a stunning film to watch and while the music adds a huge amount to its genius the film’s visual interpretation of the events and little snippets of clever insight take this up to the next level.
For example, there’s an amazing old interview of Ian Brown and John Squire, which sees them talking about what makes them great back when they were just about to release their self titled debut album in 1989. The documentary is worth watching just for this one section alone, although there are plenty of other parts of the movie that we could say the same for, but it gives you a chance to see them back in the day, looking like the kids they were, with a combination of quiet surety and sheepish self-awareness that they’d just crafted something special.
It’s followed by an impressive section of cinematography from Meadows showing the announcement and build-up to a free gig at Warrington’s Parr Hall. The cut scenes between the band announcing and getting ready for a free warm-up gig and the public’s response and clamour to get hold of one of the 1000 tickets shows the connection between the band and its fans in a way that a thousand paid venue dates would struggle to achieve.
Equally, the coverage of the gig itself is superbly constructed focusing mainly on a full run through of their first live performance of Shoot You Down together sing Reni and John quit in 1994. It plays through like a stunning music video with window shots moving in time with the song featuring the shots of the band playing and the crowd you’d sort of gotten to know from the previous section loving every minute of it.
Along the way of the European tour, the resurrection takes a turn for the worse as Reni heads home out of nowhere after sound problems in Amsterdam. It’s a reminder of the fragility of the band, in spite of all their bluster, and their potential for implosion even now.
It leads in well, maybe a little too well, to a look back on the band’s 2004 breakup. It includes their take on where it fell apart and all of the complexities that came together to bring them down. Egos, management problems, a rejection of fame in Reni’s case, their slowdown in momentum because legal wranglings, the media response to their follow-up album, Second Coming, all of this gets cut up and laid down like some kind of cathartic band postmortem. It makes for interesting viewing and serves as perhaps the most personal insights in their troubles the first time around.
The Stone Roses: Made of Stone is a stunning documentary, especially for music fans, but undoubtedly for Stone Roses fans. Whether you look at it as an education in documentary filmmaking, a snapshot of music history, an in-depth profile of the modern day Stone Roses or a candid review of what made them so seminal, it’s a genuine pleasure to watch, and listen to all the way to the end.
If you’re thinking of picking up the DVD, you might want to check out the 2 disk special edition, which features a mass of extras. This ranges from audio commentary with director Shane Meadows and producer Mark Herbert, some additional performances including fan footage highlights of the Spike Island gig in 1990, and footage of their Manchester Premiere.
