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| Still best to remember them at their best |
I was swept up by the
euphoric atmosphere at the Made Of Stone premiere, but had a feeling
my music would turn up
when the story took a sour turn. Gravenhurst is kind of the
opposite of the Stone
Roses-euphoric and funky versus dour and
plodding. It was
certainly a fan's film, not the warts and all expose it could have
been,
but I think once Shane
Meadows had their trust he was anxious not to lose it; they are
volatile enough without prying and constant surveillance. An ugly
moment in Amsterdam demonstrates that the fact they got it together
to reform doesn't mean they've learned to deal with the tensions that
pulled them apart before. When Reni leaves the stage due to screaming
feedback in his in-ear monitors, someone
could have explained to
the audience that due to technical problems an encore was not
possible. Instead, full
of disdain., Ian Brown prowls the stage saying "the drummer...
has gone
home...the
drummer... has gone home". The drummer...
as though Reni is the lowest ranking band member and should know his
place, despite being the best musican (and singer) in
the band, and generally
recognised as the most naturally gifted drummer of his
generation. I'm just
glad they held it together long enough for Shane Meadows to finish
this joyful, celebratory and often very funny and moving film.
At the after-show party
the music was absurdly, larynx-shreddingly
loud for what was ostensibly an opportunity to network; I spied Chris
Morris, Alice Lowe, the entire cast of This Is England and a good few
other people I would have liked to talk to. I think I would have
found it hard to justify my presence there; “I wrote that
depressing bit of music they used when Reni left (again)”, so
perhaps it's for the best that my voice gave out after half an hour.
I wish it would come back now though.
