“Rolling Stones At The Max” Film Premiere report by Dawn Osborne

As close as you can get without getting arrested the New York Times said – a film made up of recordings of the Rolling Stones Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tour from 1990, shot with 8 IMAX 70mm cameras, giving 9 times the resolution of a standard film camera and re-mastered surround sound, updated and re-released for the 35th anniversary of these performances, filmed across five shows in three European cities including London, comprising sixteen tracks out of about the twenty five at each show and including most of the major hits!

“At the Max was always about bringing fans as close as possible to the energy of our live shows. With IMAX, that experience is bigger, louder, and more immersive than ever—we can’t wait for audiences to feel it all over again.” — The Rolling Stones

 

At the premiere of the film in London Julian Temple, the director of the film, recalled, by way of an extended audio recorded introduction to the film, that at the time the IMAX cameras were huge like oil tankers or baby rhinos with their own momentum and nearly ran Bill Wyman ‘the static Stone” over as he didn’t get out of the way. The cameras were pretty dangerous, took chunks out of the fingers of technicians and were notoriously as loud as machine guns. By way of instructions as director, Temple had been told no close ups, so that was “of course’ the first thing he did!  Ronnie Wood apparently left the cinema early when he first saw the film as a result, although Charlie Watts was above it all, Keith Richards “didn’t give a shit” and Mick Jagger “handled it”. Now that the band are around eighty, in fact, they look pretty sprightly in the film and I think they would not have a problem with it now that mid-forties is not considered old.

 

One other story that Temple recounted before the film started was that, showing Peter Cook around the Wembley set, they were both chilling out “high as kites” up a hundred foot tower before the show, when to their horror the lift that had brought them up descended, leaving them stranded high above the crowd as the show went on below. This meant that he had to direct filming remotely with a walkie-talkie. When Mick Jagger came up in the lift to perform ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ and saw them both up there his face was apparently a picture. Capitalising on the situation Peter Cook was making up alternative lyrics to the song and “goose-ing Mick’s bum as he gyrated for the crowd” – “Mick was really nice about it, when he could have been really angry”.

Technical excellence and great songs delivered by a band in its prime is a reason why a lot of people will want to see the film. Having experienced the film personally, the added advantage of the way the film is shot, is that it really does give you the feeling of being onstage with the Stones. You get shots from backstage, and the footage is as close as you can get to real vision in 2D, giving you a kind of telescope into what it felt like to be there. You can be close enough to see the brand of cigarettes in Bill Wyman’s pocket and silver detailing on a  headstock, giving an intimacy for a stadium performance that could never be achieved from the crowd. Personally I love clothes, and the ability to see the details of what the band wore, from the green damask tailcoat and silver braided pinstripe trousers on Mick, to the fact that Ronnie and Keith are each wearing one bootstrap, and the details of Keith’s skull ring will also appeal to those who idolise the band. Shots from the back of the stage allow you to see the screens with prompts on costume changes and stage directions. It gave me the feeling of being an insider into a rarified world. Moments such as when Mick dives into the jaws of a giant inflatable wolf can be clearly seen as can their giant genitalia. The film has not been sanitised, so, when Mick gets hit on the head by the rather large foot of a giant inflatable Honky Tonk Woman, it is left in, for a real sense of unfiltered access. Circumstances that would probably not be seen on stage now, such as Ronnie smoking while playing and Mick slapping the bottom of a backing singer are preserved for posterity, or should that be posterior-ty? The lady who took her top off in the crowd has a moment of fame that she no doubt cannot share with her grandchildren. A man in the crowd toots a horn and I swore I could hear it over the band.

Personally I was transfixed throughout and I saw no one else leaving to get refreshments or visit the loo. Judicial choice of songs and a slight abridging of the set means the film is just about the right length, with a good balance of the household-known songs and the lesser known. Undoubtedly for Stones fans, the film is also for anyone who is curious about experiencing what it’s like to be part of a stadium rock show.

The film will be shown nationwide in IMAX cinemas for a limited time after December 10th.

Dawn Osborne

Setlist of songs in the film:

·       Continental Drift

·       Start Me Up

·      Sad Sad Sad

·       Tumbling Dice

·       Ruby Tuesday

·       Rock and a Hard Place

·       Honky Tonk Women

·       You Can’t Always Get What You Want

·       Happy

·       Paint It Black

·       2000 Light Years from Home

·       Sympathy for the Devil

·       Street Fighting Man

·       It’s Only Rock ’n Roll (But I Like It)

·       Brown Sugar

·       (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction