Review
Shane Meadows has been very disciplined. A lifelong fan charged with covering the Stone Roses reunion tour he could have made a film twice as long which would still have left the fans impatient for more.
Instead Meadows restricts himself to watching the band rehearse play a warmup gig in Warrington (the sweatstained heart of the film) and then on tour across the world. The film finishes with the promised Heaton Park date where slomo does real justice to the romance of the band's legacy. More than that Meadows also allows the full extended closing jam for which the band's EPs were held in such high regard from fan to critic alike.
It's just as well. The band were legendary because they were good not just because they spawned a fashion movement or behaved in the time honoured manner of charismatic outfits before them. The film captures many other things besides one of which is the age of the fans and shows just how long ago the late 1980s are now. For all the excitement & joy of a second coming it's impossible to hide the calcifying effect of time the film itself is already an anachronism with Liam Gallagher waxing lyrical about Manchester City winning the Premier League (Manchester United had won it back before the film's release).
I was saddened and moved ultimately for the best in equal measure. But I'd have liked Meadows to have been able to capture more real drama the footage of Ian Brown telling a Dutch audience that they're not getting an encore sparks with the belligerence which took the band to the very top. It's just a pity the flames didn't flare as they once must have done. 610