The Stone Roses: Made of Stone

As Shane Meadows (This Is England) himself says near the start of The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, the Mancunian quartet are his favourite band; and that is abundantly clear in the ensuing 96 minutes of rockumentary. The Stone Roses were a psychedelic rock band of the late Eighties and early Nineties who released one stunning album then lost it, becoming completely overwhelmed by incessant popularity, media pressure and creative inertia. This picture was filmed before and during the Roses’ long-awaited comeback tour of 2012 that culminated in massive shows at Heaton Park in Manchester; it’s an affectionate look at a quintessentially English band and the unique characters contained within – singer Ian Brown, guitarist John Squire, bassist Mani and volatile drummer Reni.

This film is really about that reunion and the weeks and months preceding those Heaton Park shows – including the European warm-up tour and an eventful gig in Amsterdam – and not an exploration into the bands history like Cameron Crowe’s Pearl Jam Twenty, which the trailer seemed to imply. A study into the rise and fall of the Roses before their comeback redemption (or resurrection) would have been fascinating though a narrative arc like that can feel contrived or inauthentic, something that Meadows was probably desperate to avoid. There is archive footage and stills of some very young Browns and Squires, and some of the issues they had with management and the music press but these segues are supplementary to Made of Stone’s primary purpose: showing the absorbing backstage scenes from the 2012 shows. Like Crowe’s homage to Pearl Jam the tone is fawning rather than journalistically incisive – this is a tribute rather than a documentary – with precious little time given to the reasons for their original disbandment or whether the issues have been genuinely resolved. One-on-one interviews were conspicuously absent. Though the members are notoriously resistant to that kind of exposure, it does feel like a missed opportunity to really delve into the individuals psyche. Meadows is loath to really interfere with the fragile internal mechanics of the band – when the European tour takes a turn for the worse for instance, he pulls back from his observational role as filmmaker rather than press for details. It’s understandable that he had no wish to upset the delicate harmony that precipitated the comeback by heaving up once more some of the hidden ghosts of yesteryear, but nevertheless it is somewhat frustrating.

For many people – and most of the fans featured in the film – the Roses are a nostalgia band. Interviews are conducted with ordinary middle aged people harking back rose-tintedly to the debauched world of their youth in the early 90s. That may sound like the snooty cynicism of one brought up in the glossy world of the 00s but it isn’t intended to be. Those bits are really heartfelt beautiful moments – particularly the shots of the queue lining up for the free Warrington gig (which included an ecstatic Liam Gallagher). Those were people who had been waiting decades to see their favourite band play live again, and the sentimental heft was tangible even to those far removed,  watching in a cinema one year on – also a testament to the editing and cinematographic skills of Meadows himself.

Made of Stone ultimately lives or dies on the quality of the music which, because it’s the Stone Roses, is never going to disappoint. It may be a little light in some areas – like the length, because it was only 96 minutes long (15 of which were a Heaton Park live version of song ‘Fool’s Gold’) – but it will be a winner for fans, just maybe not quite as intriguing as it could have been for the unconverted.