In 2012, a resurrection no one thought possible took place when legendary band, The Stone Roses reformed after 16 years. With unprecedented access to previously unseen archive footage, Made of Stone is a revealing journey through the life of one of the most revered and influential bands in British music history. Acclaimed film-maker Shane Meadows brings his unique directorial style, humour and emotional depth to the film, capturing the band at work and in their everyday lives as the...
"It will make grown men cry."
This is the praise with which Shane Meadows' documentary, The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, was received upon its theatrical release. As a big fan of the British band's music, the film was naturally a must-see for me when it came out in cinemas over the summer, especially since I was present at one of the band's three shows on their home turf in Manchester last year.
And after watching it again this month, now it's been released on Blu-ray/DVD, I heartily agree with all of the overwhelmingly positive reviews that have surrounded it. It is surely one of the best documentaries I can ever remember seeing, and definitely one of the best music documentaries. Rare is a director's passion for the band so evident as it is with Meadows.
The writer-director has had a very interesting career, perhaps really earning the praise he'd long deserved with 2006's This Is England. The film launched him to new heights of recognition, and he's used that platform so well to get more interesting projects made, just like Made of Stone.
Fitting in neatly into three acts, with terrific use of old footage, including long-forgotten interviews with the band from their early years, Made of Stone charts the band's buzzed reunion, first announced towards the end of 2011, after a decade and a half of silence.
Part one takes in a free gig for die-hard fans, who were only accepted into the venue with proof of their love for the band - album liner notes, for instance. Part two goes on to their following tour in Europe, during which the band's drummer, Alan Wren, threatens to throw a spanner in the works and it looks like the long-awaited reunion might not be quite so long-lived. But then comes part three, which brings the band brilliantly home to Manchester, playing three sold-out dates at Heaton Park, the ticket sale for which put the band in the Guinness Book of World Records when the first two dates sold out in just 14 minutes.
It is in Heaton Park that Made of Stone really and truly soars. The atmosphere is absolutely electric, and Meadows captures it powerfully on camera. The band are just as energetic as their audience, fired-up from start to finish, and Meadows uses his incredibly talented eye to seek out the finest moments from their set.
The Stone Roses have had one of the most interesting careers of any British band in recent memory. They changed the face of pop music at the end of the 20th Century for good, and then disappeared almost as if into the night by '96. So when they called a press conference back in late 2011, the anticipation was understandably palpable. Their announcement that they would be going back on the road was amazing, and at the time, you just hoped that they would release a live concert DVD to mark the occasion. But nobody could have guessed that someone as skilled as Shane Meadows would be the one to helm it.
His work here really speaks for itself; he was by far the best director for the job, and the result is a fantastic documentary that very much holds up to that all-important test of the second viewing.
For fans of the band - which is pretty much anyone who liked rock/pop music back in the '90s - this release makes for a perfect Christmas present, and all the better if you can spring for the rather beautiful steelbook edition, which comes with both the Blu-ray and DVD. Along with the full feature, it also includes a hugely insightful audio commentary with Meadows himself, rarely-seen performances that include intimate rehearsals, and much, much more.
It is with baited breath that we should now all look forward to what could be Meadows' final instalment in his acclaimed series, This Is England '90, with many naturally speculating that it will include music from the classic British band themselves, The Stone Roses. He pushed back its production in order to complete work on The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, and it was well worth it. The documentary is one of the finest of its kind, and very much not to be missed now that it's arrived on Blu-ray/DVD.
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Documentary following the reunion of English rock band The Stone Roses. A product of the Madchester music scene of the late '80s and early '90s, The Stone Roses gained critical acclaim with their self-titled debut album and followed with a second album in 1994 before disbanding two years later. Fifteen years on, the band announced their reunion and plans of a world tour backed up by a potential third album. In this documentary, renowned British film director and long-term Stone Roses fan Shane Meadows follows the group as they prepare for the tour with an all access pass giving an insight into their past, present and future.
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