Tell Me :
Talk
I love this question!
Yes, tickets were a bit slow selling but it was pretty full in the end. I didn't know it was on again but am not sure atm I can make it.
If you are seeing it a second time, you might want to check out some of the shots of people on the rail in the earlier part of the film. I could be mistaken but I believe I spotted our friend and Room 1009 contributor Sandy a couple of times. Admittedly, her sign (Still love ya, Mick) was a bit of a giveaway!
"During the Rolling Stones Steel Wheels Tour in 1989, on their ground breaking stage set, they were flanked by two gigantic inflatable women - a blonde nicknamed Angie and a brunette nicknamed Ruby!" - [Facebook.com] .
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-12-12 17:09 by MAF.
There were quite a few faces I thought I sorta recognised but time plays tricks. I'll be sure to look out for Sandy - I'm not sure she was seeing many shows by that stage though? I hope to see some familiar faces on Thursday. If anybody recognises me from the podcast, please do say hello. I'm a little shy but would be delighted to say hello
Bummer, if it's true. They could release it then with black bars if this keeps the original aspect ratio without any cuts. And if there's not enough demand for a release on disc, they could release it digitally on streaming platforms and as download (e.g. iTunes Store).
Link to full article > [www.forbes.com]
In the new release of At the Max, there is a new edit of the video. I think they shortened the video when Mick was stabbing Skippy in the balls during Street Fighting Man.
[youtu.be]
Poor Skippy! Mick deflated his masculinity.
Talk about your favorite band.
For information about how to use this forum please check out forum help and policies.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
jason8903
()
Date: December 11, 2025 19:49
Micks dancing/movies are to regedit and choregraphed. Just one year early during his 88 tour of Japan he was just like he was on the 81/82.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
Room1009
()
Date: December 11, 2025 20:11
Quote
Chitown23
I'd estimate the Chicago showing had 25ish in attendance.
Fun to see the show with no phones.
Do we know any of the fans in the footage?
Did the blow-up ladies have names?
I love this question!
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
Beast
()
Date: December 11, 2025 20:30
Quote
Room1009
I went to the Waterloo screening in London last night. It seemed like a full house. I was at the 25th Aug 1990 show (the last one that tour) which formed part of this film. Last night I recognised why my memory still regards that show as my favourite from all the ones I've been fortunate to see. And now I know why - I think it was how Charlie held it all together.
Incredibly, for me at least, this was the first time I had seen that film. It was worth the wait after 35 years. The 90-minute film flew by. When the encore arrived I had to check my watch, and was disappointed only to get one song not two.
There's a repeat show next Thursday, I might return - if anybody else wants to meet up?
Yes, tickets were a bit slow selling but it was pretty full in the end. I didn't know it was on again but am not sure atm I can make it.
If you are seeing it a second time, you might want to check out some of the shots of people on the rail in the earlier part of the film. I could be mistaken but I believe I spotted our friend and Room 1009 contributor Sandy a couple of times. Admittedly, her sign (Still love ya, Mick) was a bit of a giveaway!
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
Irix
()
Date: December 11, 2025 20:40
Quote
Chitown23
Did the blow-up ladies have names?
"During the Rolling Stones Steel Wheels Tour in 1989, on their ground breaking stage set, they were flanked by two gigantic inflatable women - a blonde nicknamed Angie and a brunette nicknamed Ruby!" - [Facebook.com] .
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
Whale
()
Date: December 11, 2025 22:28
it was my first time to see the film
it's quite different from the video I have
it's quite different from the video I have
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
exilestones
()
Date: December 11, 2025 22:30
Did anyone get to see the 2025 At The Max on a big 70 mm, 40-foot (12 meters) round dome screen? I was disappointed with the flat screen. I don't know why they call the smaller flat screen version IMAX. Someone called it Laser IMAX. Another person called it Fake Max.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-12-11 22:43 by exilestones.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-12-11 22:43 by exilestones.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
exilestones
()
Date: December 11, 2025 22:42
How the Rolling Stones’ $260m ‘deal with the devil’ changed rock
Stoned comedians, record profits and the world’s biggest stage: the Steel Wheels tour was revolutionary (and is coming to cinemas)
By James Hall, December 9, 2025
It was during Street Fighting Man that the scale, ambition and absurdity of the Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels tour of 1989-90 really hit home for fans. Four multicoloured 40ft-tall inflatable dogs rose from the immense stage’s flanks, each with fangs bared and vast canine genitalia bobbing in the evening breeze. As the 1968 hit blasted out from the stage, Mick Jagger picked up a pole and started jousting with one of the hounds, first targeting its leg and then jabbing its jumbo air-filled testicles. The singer then walked around to its mouth and disappeared, as if swallowed by the hulking mongrel.
The mutts’ nuts were just one unforgettable detail of the 115-date world tour, the Stones’ first since 1982. Six million fans stood in front of the Blade Runner-like stage – the biggest ever built – that had taken 200 crew members to construct and 80 trucks to carry. Indeed, the 300ft-wide stage on the US leg was so large that a smaller version had to be designed to fit into most stadiums in Europe, where the tour was renamed Urban Jungle. The spectacular shows saw Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood augmented by 10 extra musicians who – at the show’s end – took their bows as $40,000 worth of fireworks exploded above them.
The late playwright Tom Stoppard even based Rock ’n’ Roll around the tour, which marked the start of the Stones’ latter-day rebirth as a global touring force. “The biggest circus yet,” was Richards’ take.
It wasn’t just onstage that the Stones were redefining stadium rock. Steel Wheels ripped up the rulebook and introduced previously unseen levels of corporate sponsorship, VIP ticketing, licensing deals and merch sales, thanks to the business brains of an upstart Canadian promoter called Michael Cohl.
The tour grossed a record $260m (£154m at the time). Not everyone was thrilled, mind. The Stones’ former long-term promoter Bill Graham, who was ditched for Cohl, admitted to feeling suicidal after he lost the band. “The Stones cut a deal with the devil,” Graham told Rolling Stone magazine. Still, Cohl was subsequently hired by U2 for their 1992 Zoo TV tour and Pink Floyd for their 1994 Division Bell tour. A new megabucks era of touring was born.
Now fans can see Steel Wheels again thanks to the re-release of an Imax concert film, directed by documentary-maker Julien Temple. The film itself was as innovative as the tour. Rolling Stones – At the Max was the first entertainment film ever shot in the Imax format, designed to be shown on bigger-than-usual cinema screens (surprise, surprise) in high definition. Six concerts were filmed across three cities (London, Berlin and Turin), which presented significant logistical challenges.
Temple remembers how the cameras were “the size of a baby rhino” and had to be carried by four men on two wooden planks. Speaking at a preview screening of the film last week, the director recalled how “lots of the Imax technicians had lost bits of their fingers” due to the perilous inner-motors of the clanking machines. Additionally, each of the eight cameras used could only hold enough film for three minutes of filming, says cinematographer James Neihouse. This meant that, until experimental larger rolls of film were provided, no song could be filmed in its entirety – so a “patchwork” of footage from different concerts was needed.
Watching the film, you feel like you’re on that monster stage with the band. The Stones’ outsize ambitions with Steel Wheels were entirely in keeping with the Imax format, argues Neihouse. “Imax really works best putting the audience in some place special: taking them to the Titanic, taking them to the top of Everest, taking them to space or putting them on stage with Mick Jagger during a concert,” he says.
Temple even broke an Imax taboo: taking close-ups of band members’ faces, something technicians told him the cameras weren’t good at. “Of course it was the first thing I did and it looked fantastic. Keith’s face looked like the canals of Mars to me at the time. Without close-ups this concert wouldn’t have worked.” However, so freaked out was Wood when he first saw his giant face at an early screening in Bradford that he ran out of the room, Temple says.
Steel Wheels – the tour and the film – captured the Stones at a crucial pivot point. Infighting and solo albums by Jagger and Richards effectively wiped out most of the 1980s and almost ended the band. But a truce meeting in Barbados in early 1989 laid the foundations for a reunion. Then Cohl came along and built the house.
Coinciding with the Jagger-Richards rapprochement, Cohl cold-called – via a mutual friend – the Stones’ financial adviser Prince Rupert Loewenstein with an outlandish offer: $40m for 40 shows by a reformed Stones. People thought he was mad. When Graham was unable to mount a viable counter-offer, the tour was Cohl’s, who then upped his financial guarantee to $65m for 50 shows, according to Dean Budnick and Josh Baron’s 2012 book Ticket Masters.
Cohl did this by making three changes to how concerts worked. Tours were, until then, arranged by a network of local promoters who worked with a band’s team. But rather than making 50 separate deals with 50 local concert promoters, Cohl, as “tour director”, offered the promoters a flat fee for putting on the Stones – and if they opted out, he made a deal with the stadiums directly.
Secondly, he took all aspects of the touring ecosystem under his wing: merchandising such as T-shirts, sponsorship, travel packages, TV deals and the like. He also pioneered higher-priced premium tickets; a norm today. Jagger later admitted that Cohl’s strategy was a “gamble”. But it gave the band a far bigger slice of the takings. In his 2010 autobiography Life, Richards claimed that, until Steel Wheels, the band would get $3 from a $50 ticket. This new paradigm saw the band take 99 per cent of the revenue, according to New England promoter Don Law, quoted in Ticket Masters.
Cohl’s company Concert Productions International was later bought by live music behemoth Live Nation, which Cohl would chair. Disruptor no more. The insurgent became the chief; his approach became industry practice (Cohl and Jagger were approached for comment).
“We never realized just what the scale of this thing would become,” Richards wrote, admitting there were “shocked murmurings” among the fandom that they’d become “a corporate enterprise”. Yet Rolling Stones Inc. were just responding to market forces in a new way. “You could say that Michael Cohl was the one who expanded things to this scale, but he did it by judging the demand – after eight years without a tour – and taking a risk,” said Richards, who even ended up enjoying the corporate meet-and-greets before each show.
In eight separate years since 1989 the Stones have been behind that year’s highest-grossing concert tour worldwide, according to industry figures. They have toured in all but 13 of the last 36 years – all following the template that Steel Wheels set.
One anecdote from Temple underscores how deliciously ludicrous Steel Wheels was. During filming at Wembley Stadium, the director was backstage with the late comedian Peter Cook and Jagger. Keen for some alone time pre-show, Jagger suggested that Temple take Cook up a 150ft scaffold tower that had been erected on the stage for the singer to ascend during Sympathy for the Devil. Temple and Cook duly rode the lift to the top of the tower whereupon Cook produced a pre-rolled joint.
“He lit up and we were taking in this extraordinary sight of thousands of people below and enjoying the breeze and suddenly there was this horrible moment when we realized the show had started,” says Temple. “There was this big clunking sound of the lift descending and we were literally stuck up there, high as kites.” When Jagger eventually arrived on the tiny platform to sing Sympathy for the Devil he was shocked to find Temple and Cook sitting there. “You should have seen the look on his face. But the professional that he is, he just swung into the song. Peter was making up hilarious words to Sympathy for the Devil and goosing Mick’s bum as he was gyrating in front of the crowd. It was the most surreal experience. Mick, God bless him, was really nice about it, he could have been really angry,” says the director.
Steel Wheels. Stoned comedians, record profits, fingerless cameramen and the world’s biggest stage. Quite the tour. It showed the world that the Stones were – in more ways than one – the dog’s b-----s.
Rolling Stones – At the Max is released in Imax cinemas on December 10
[archive.ph]
Stoned comedians, record profits and the world’s biggest stage: the Steel Wheels tour was revolutionary (and is coming to cinemas)
By James Hall, December 9, 2025
It was during Street Fighting Man that the scale, ambition and absurdity of the Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels tour of 1989-90 really hit home for fans. Four multicoloured 40ft-tall inflatable dogs rose from the immense stage’s flanks, each with fangs bared and vast canine genitalia bobbing in the evening breeze. As the 1968 hit blasted out from the stage, Mick Jagger picked up a pole and started jousting with one of the hounds, first targeting its leg and then jabbing its jumbo air-filled testicles. The singer then walked around to its mouth and disappeared, as if swallowed by the hulking mongrel.
The mutts’ nuts were just one unforgettable detail of the 115-date world tour, the Stones’ first since 1982. Six million fans stood in front of the Blade Runner-like stage – the biggest ever built – that had taken 200 crew members to construct and 80 trucks to carry. Indeed, the 300ft-wide stage on the US leg was so large that a smaller version had to be designed to fit into most stadiums in Europe, where the tour was renamed Urban Jungle. The spectacular shows saw Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood augmented by 10 extra musicians who – at the show’s end – took their bows as $40,000 worth of fireworks exploded above them.
The late playwright Tom Stoppard even based Rock ’n’ Roll around the tour, which marked the start of the Stones’ latter-day rebirth as a global touring force. “The biggest circus yet,” was Richards’ take.
It wasn’t just onstage that the Stones were redefining stadium rock. Steel Wheels ripped up the rulebook and introduced previously unseen levels of corporate sponsorship, VIP ticketing, licensing deals and merch sales, thanks to the business brains of an upstart Canadian promoter called Michael Cohl.
The tour grossed a record $260m (£154m at the time). Not everyone was thrilled, mind. The Stones’ former long-term promoter Bill Graham, who was ditched for Cohl, admitted to feeling suicidal after he lost the band. “The Stones cut a deal with the devil,” Graham told Rolling Stone magazine. Still, Cohl was subsequently hired by U2 for their 1992 Zoo TV tour and Pink Floyd for their 1994 Division Bell tour. A new megabucks era of touring was born.
Now fans can see Steel Wheels again thanks to the re-release of an Imax concert film, directed by documentary-maker Julien Temple. The film itself was as innovative as the tour. Rolling Stones – At the Max was the first entertainment film ever shot in the Imax format, designed to be shown on bigger-than-usual cinema screens (surprise, surprise) in high definition. Six concerts were filmed across three cities (London, Berlin and Turin), which presented significant logistical challenges.
Temple remembers how the cameras were “the size of a baby rhino” and had to be carried by four men on two wooden planks. Speaking at a preview screening of the film last week, the director recalled how “lots of the Imax technicians had lost bits of their fingers” due to the perilous inner-motors of the clanking machines. Additionally, each of the eight cameras used could only hold enough film for three minutes of filming, says cinematographer James Neihouse. This meant that, until experimental larger rolls of film were provided, no song could be filmed in its entirety – so a “patchwork” of footage from different concerts was needed.
Watching the film, you feel like you’re on that monster stage with the band. The Stones’ outsize ambitions with Steel Wheels were entirely in keeping with the Imax format, argues Neihouse. “Imax really works best putting the audience in some place special: taking them to the Titanic, taking them to the top of Everest, taking them to space or putting them on stage with Mick Jagger during a concert,” he says.
Temple even broke an Imax taboo: taking close-ups of band members’ faces, something technicians told him the cameras weren’t good at. “Of course it was the first thing I did and it looked fantastic. Keith’s face looked like the canals of Mars to me at the time. Without close-ups this concert wouldn’t have worked.” However, so freaked out was Wood when he first saw his giant face at an early screening in Bradford that he ran out of the room, Temple says.
Steel Wheels – the tour and the film – captured the Stones at a crucial pivot point. Infighting and solo albums by Jagger and Richards effectively wiped out most of the 1980s and almost ended the band. But a truce meeting in Barbados in early 1989 laid the foundations for a reunion. Then Cohl came along and built the house.
Coinciding with the Jagger-Richards rapprochement, Cohl cold-called – via a mutual friend – the Stones’ financial adviser Prince Rupert Loewenstein with an outlandish offer: $40m for 40 shows by a reformed Stones. People thought he was mad. When Graham was unable to mount a viable counter-offer, the tour was Cohl’s, who then upped his financial guarantee to $65m for 50 shows, according to Dean Budnick and Josh Baron’s 2012 book Ticket Masters.
Cohl did this by making three changes to how concerts worked. Tours were, until then, arranged by a network of local promoters who worked with a band’s team. But rather than making 50 separate deals with 50 local concert promoters, Cohl, as “tour director”, offered the promoters a flat fee for putting on the Stones – and if they opted out, he made a deal with the stadiums directly.
Secondly, he took all aspects of the touring ecosystem under his wing: merchandising such as T-shirts, sponsorship, travel packages, TV deals and the like. He also pioneered higher-priced premium tickets; a norm today. Jagger later admitted that Cohl’s strategy was a “gamble”. But it gave the band a far bigger slice of the takings. In his 2010 autobiography Life, Richards claimed that, until Steel Wheels, the band would get $3 from a $50 ticket. This new paradigm saw the band take 99 per cent of the revenue, according to New England promoter Don Law, quoted in Ticket Masters.
Cohl’s company Concert Productions International was later bought by live music behemoth Live Nation, which Cohl would chair. Disruptor no more. The insurgent became the chief; his approach became industry practice (Cohl and Jagger were approached for comment).
“We never realized just what the scale of this thing would become,” Richards wrote, admitting there were “shocked murmurings” among the fandom that they’d become “a corporate enterprise”. Yet Rolling Stones Inc. were just responding to market forces in a new way. “You could say that Michael Cohl was the one who expanded things to this scale, but he did it by judging the demand – after eight years without a tour – and taking a risk,” said Richards, who even ended up enjoying the corporate meet-and-greets before each show.
In eight separate years since 1989 the Stones have been behind that year’s highest-grossing concert tour worldwide, according to industry figures. They have toured in all but 13 of the last 36 years – all following the template that Steel Wheels set.
One anecdote from Temple underscores how deliciously ludicrous Steel Wheels was. During filming at Wembley Stadium, the director was backstage with the late comedian Peter Cook and Jagger. Keen for some alone time pre-show, Jagger suggested that Temple take Cook up a 150ft scaffold tower that had been erected on the stage for the singer to ascend during Sympathy for the Devil. Temple and Cook duly rode the lift to the top of the tower whereupon Cook produced a pre-rolled joint.
“He lit up and we were taking in this extraordinary sight of thousands of people below and enjoying the breeze and suddenly there was this horrible moment when we realized the show had started,” says Temple. “There was this big clunking sound of the lift descending and we were literally stuck up there, high as kites.” When Jagger eventually arrived on the tiny platform to sing Sympathy for the Devil he was shocked to find Temple and Cook sitting there. “You should have seen the look on his face. But the professional that he is, he just swung into the song. Peter was making up hilarious words to Sympathy for the Devil and goosing Mick’s bum as he was gyrating in front of the crowd. It was the most surreal experience. Mick, God bless him, was really nice about it, he could have been really angry,” says the director.
Steel Wheels. Stoned comedians, record profits, fingerless cameramen and the world’s biggest stage. Quite the tour. It showed the world that the Stones were – in more ways than one – the dog’s b-----s.
Rolling Stones – At the Max is released in Imax cinemas on December 10
[archive.ph]
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
MAF
()
Date: December 12, 2025 00:25
The fans in the first row? Yes, met some of them at quite a lot of shows in the 90s.Quote
Chitown23
Do we know any of the fans in the footage?
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-12-12 17:09 by MAF.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
gastonl74
()
Date: December 12, 2025 02:26
In Buenos Aires, the venue was absolutely packed!
We all screamed when Start Me Up! started and applauded when each song ended. We chanted YCAGWYW at the top of our lungs as if we were right there in the concert! We shouted the Uh-Uh from Sympathy and the Yeah Yeah Uhh! from Brown Sugar!
...and well, the sound is as you all say, low-volume guitars, and in my opinion, Bill's bass sounded incredible! Ronnie's guitar disappeared during Street Fighting Man, which is a shame because that acoustic guitar was the best part!
Now there are two more shows because they added one more for Sunday the 14th, and it's completely sold out!!
That's right, Argentina is a "Stone" country! Cheers!
We all screamed when Start Me Up! started and applauded when each song ended. We chanted YCAGWYW at the top of our lungs as if we were right there in the concert! We shouted the Uh-Uh from Sympathy and the Yeah Yeah Uhh! from Brown Sugar!
...and well, the sound is as you all say, low-volume guitars, and in my opinion, Bill's bass sounded incredible! Ronnie's guitar disappeared during Street Fighting Man, which is a shame because that acoustic guitar was the best part!
Now there are two more shows because they added one more for Sunday the 14th, and it's completely sold out!!
That's right, Argentina is a "Stone" country! Cheers!
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
exilestones
()
Date: December 12, 2025 07:26
‘Rolling Stones-At The Max’ Remastered: The First Concert Shot On IMAX
By Benny Har-Even December 2025
Rock bands don’t come much bigger than the Rolling Stones and cinema doesn’t come much bigger than IMAX – so putting them together makes a lot of sense.
It’s fitting then that the concert movie, Rolling Stones - At The Max — which was shot with IMAX film cameras at Wembley Stadium in London in 1990 as part of the band’s Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tour and released in 1991 — has been remastered and, for a brief time, will be appearing on select IMAX screens this week.
The First Concert Shot With IMAX
IMAX 15/70 film is renowned as being the highest resolution film format available and Rolling Stones-At The Max was the first concert movie to be captured in the format. However, this digital re-release is unfortunately not getting a print release, so it’s a 1.90:1 aspect ratio only. While this was a slight disappointment, even so, there’s no denying the incredible clarity of the movie’s images, which, as the cliché goes, look as if they could have been filmed yesterday. The audio has also been remastered, and while surround is minimal, the bombastic style of the music works very well in IMAX sound.
The pin-sharp imagery on a huge screen conveys exactly what it’s like to be on a giant stage and is a fantastic time capsule that takes us back to the classic Wembley Stadium with its famous twin towers. The concert’s famously huge, provocative inflatables that accompany songs such as ‘Honky Tonk Women’, looked suitably oversized on the huge BFI IMAX screen.
The movie also did a great job at capturing the energy-laden performance of the band in its classic line-up, consisting of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Billy Wyman, and Charlie Watts.
Unpredictable Rocks Stars vs IMAX
Just as the famous 2011 Maroon 5 song attests, the band's legendary lead singer truly Moves Like Jagger, leaping around the stage as if possessing the energy of two men. In all likelihood, one of those was bassist Bill Wyman, who barely moves at all. That is, of course, except when you don’t want him to.
As renowned IMAX cinematographer James Neihouse, who was a camera operator on the film, told me in a Zoom conversation, because Wyman was always in the same place, he specifically planned a dolly shot that would move underneath the stage and then tilt up, to dramatically reveal Wyman playing the bass.
“So, all that was my shot, and what happens is that we go and then we tilt up and Wyman's not there! It was the first time he had moved!”
IMAX film cameras are known for having magazines that only hold three minutes of film, so multiple cameras were needed to capture a single song, staggering the rolls to cover each song completely: eight were used to capture the concert. However, longer magazines were developed making it easier to capture the longer songs. However, it still required cameras to overlap the performances.
By Benny Har-Even December 2025
Rock bands don’t come much bigger than the Rolling Stones and cinema doesn’t come much bigger than IMAX – so putting them together makes a lot of sense.
It’s fitting then that the concert movie, Rolling Stones - At The Max — which was shot with IMAX film cameras at Wembley Stadium in London in 1990 as part of the band’s Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tour and released in 1991 — has been remastered and, for a brief time, will be appearing on select IMAX screens this week.
The First Concert Shot With IMAX
IMAX 15/70 film is renowned as being the highest resolution film format available and Rolling Stones-At The Max was the first concert movie to be captured in the format. However, this digital re-release is unfortunately not getting a print release, so it’s a 1.90:1 aspect ratio only. While this was a slight disappointment, even so, there’s no denying the incredible clarity of the movie’s images, which, as the cliché goes, look as if they could have been filmed yesterday. The audio has also been remastered, and while surround is minimal, the bombastic style of the music works very well in IMAX sound.
The pin-sharp imagery on a huge screen conveys exactly what it’s like to be on a giant stage and is a fantastic time capsule that takes us back to the classic Wembley Stadium with its famous twin towers. The concert’s famously huge, provocative inflatables that accompany songs such as ‘Honky Tonk Women’, looked suitably oversized on the huge BFI IMAX screen.
The movie also did a great job at capturing the energy-laden performance of the band in its classic line-up, consisting of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Billy Wyman, and Charlie Watts.
Unpredictable Rocks Stars vs IMAX
Just as the famous 2011 Maroon 5 song attests, the band's legendary lead singer truly Moves Like Jagger, leaping around the stage as if possessing the energy of two men. In all likelihood, one of those was bassist Bill Wyman, who barely moves at all. That is, of course, except when you don’t want him to.
As renowned IMAX cinematographer James Neihouse, who was a camera operator on the film, told me in a Zoom conversation, because Wyman was always in the same place, he specifically planned a dolly shot that would move underneath the stage and then tilt up, to dramatically reveal Wyman playing the bass.
“So, all that was my shot, and what happens is that we go and then we tilt up and Wyman's not there! It was the first time he had moved!”
IMAX film cameras are known for having magazines that only hold three minutes of film, so multiple cameras were needed to capture a single song, staggering the rolls to cover each song completely: eight were used to capture the concert. However, longer magazines were developed making it easier to capture the longer songs. However, it still required cameras to overlap the performances.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
GasLightStreet
()
Date: December 12, 2025 08:16
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
Room1009
()
Date: December 12, 2025 11:53
Quote
BeastQuote
Room1009
I went to the Waterloo screening in London last night. It seemed like a full house. I was at the 25th Aug 1990 show (the last one that tour) which formed part of this film. Last night I recognised why my memory still regards that show as my favourite from all the ones I've been fortunate to see. And now I know why - I think it was how Charlie held it all together.
Incredibly, for me at least, this was the first time I had seen that film. It was worth the wait after 35 years. The 90-minute film flew by. When the encore arrived I had to check my watch, and was disappointed only to get one song not two.
There's a repeat show next Thursday, I might return - if anybody else wants to meet up?
Yes, tickets were a bit slow selling but it was pretty full in the end. I didn't know it was on again but am not sure atm I can make it.
If you are seeing it a second time, you might want to check out some of the shots of people on the rail in the earlier part of the film. I could be mistaken but I believe I spotted our friend and Room 1009 contributor Sandy a couple of times. Admittedly, her sign (Still love ya, Mick) was a bit of a giveaway!
There were quite a few faces I thought I sorta recognised but time plays tricks. I'll be sure to look out for Sandy - I'm not sure she was seeing many shows by that stage though? I hope to see some familiar faces on Thursday. If anybody recognises me from the podcast, please do say hello. I'm a little shy but would be delighted to say hello
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
Irix
()
Date: December 12, 2025 14:35
Quote
exilestones
However, this digital re-release is unfortunately not getting a print release, so it’s a 1.90:1 aspect ratio only.
Bummer, if it's true. They could release it then with black bars if this keeps the original aspect ratio without any cuts. And if there's not enough demand for a release on disc, they could release it digitally on streaming platforms and as download (e.g. iTunes Store).
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
frankotero
()
Date: December 12, 2025 14:47
Yes, at least put it on a streaming platform. Hard to believe they'd do the work for a few movie customers. Hmm.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
Kurt
()
Date: December 12, 2025 15:17
This movie is a reminder of how powerful Brown Sugar is live…WOW.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
ChrisL
()
Date: December 12, 2025 15:38
12 people in Madrid (Kinepolis at Ciudad del Cine) last night (including one guy a couple rows in front of me blocking the very bottom of the screen from my view by filming it with his camera when Mick goes down off the stage).
Great show, though. I very much enjoyed seeing it again (I saw it in LA when it first came out), but definitely sounded a bit thin with guitars low in the mix.
Great show, though. I very much enjoyed seeing it again (I saw it in LA when it first came out), but definitely sounded a bit thin with guitars low in the mix.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
bye bye johnny
()
Date: December 12, 2025 16:18
Quote
exilestones
Rolling Stones-At The Max’ Remastered: The First Concert Shot On IMAX
By Benny Har-Even
December 2025
Link to full article > [www.forbes.com]
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
Irix
()
Date: December 12, 2025 16:35
Reminder: screenings in Germany on 12 Dec - [www.UCI-Kinowelt.de] - as well as on 13 & 14 Dec - [Sinsheim.Technik-Museum.de] .
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
RollingFreak
()
Date: December 12, 2025 19:10
I had never seen this film and always thought the Flashpoint album was meh. This era was always a little too slick for me. Ended up having a great time though in the theater. Probably not something I'll revisit any more often but they played great, seemed so relatively young by comparison to today, and the theater was LOUD which was awesome. I had a blast.
There were maybe 20 people in this big IMAX theater. I'm guessing it sat like 150-200
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-12-12 20:44 by RollingFreak.
There were maybe 20 people in this big IMAX theater. I'm guessing it sat like 150-200
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-12-12 20:44 by RollingFreak.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
tommyturbo76
()
Date: December 12, 2025 19:58
Only about 100 people at Grauman's Chinese in Hollywood Wed night.
Reading the big article about the tour reminded me of a chance meeting with a stage hand about 25 years later. He said The Who had used the most electricity up until that time at 500,000 watts. Steel Wheels took 1.5 million, which therefore had its own scale-up problems.
Reading the big article about the tour reminded me of a chance meeting with a stage hand about 25 years later. He said The Who had used the most electricity up until that time at 500,000 watts. Steel Wheels took 1.5 million, which therefore had its own scale-up problems.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
tommycharles
()
Date: December 12, 2025 21:53
Seeing this this afternoon in Bellevue, WA. Nice way to end the work week.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
tommycharles
()
Date: December 13, 2025 05:02
This was good fun. About ten of us in the theatre. It still looks and sounds amazing even if a few bits don’t really fit anymore (inflatables, some of the ways Mick interacts with the vocalists…). Glad I went.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
downagain
()
Date: December 13, 2025 17:07
I took my 12 year old, here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was us and 3 other patrons in the theatre. While I had seen bits of this over the years, this was my first full viewing and certainly the first in full IMAX picture and sound.
I love the film, itself. Surprisingly, I love Satisfaction more than anything. Sure the film has it's issues but overall it was great.
My son has been saying he'd like to see the Stones in concert. That looks difficult unless we plan to take a European vacation for a concert. I will see what he says after having had a taste of what a show is like.
As an aside, here they only offered one showtime which was 9:45pm. Cineplex doesn't seem to understand the multi-generational appeal of the Stones. I feel like an afternoon affair would have allowed folks to bring the whole family. My son was certainly fading toward the end. With that said, they also did almost zero to promote it so attendance may have sucked regardless of the time. I don't know why they do these things without making more of an effort to get promos in front of eyeballs.
I love the film, itself. Surprisingly, I love Satisfaction more than anything. Sure the film has it's issues but overall it was great.
My son has been saying he'd like to see the Stones in concert. That looks difficult unless we plan to take a European vacation for a concert. I will see what he says after having had a taste of what a show is like.
As an aside, here they only offered one showtime which was 9:45pm. Cineplex doesn't seem to understand the multi-generational appeal of the Stones. I feel like an afternoon affair would have allowed folks to bring the whole family. My son was certainly fading toward the end. With that said, they also did almost zero to promote it so attendance may have sucked regardless of the time. I don't know why they do these things without making more of an effort to get promos in front of eyeballs.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
NashvilleBlues
()
Date: December 13, 2025 21:15
Only heard of this through iorr and noticed it when browsing what was playing at my local theater. I see maybe 1-2 movies a month and have never seen a trailer for it either. This weekend it’s only playing once a day at 4:30. I think it was playing at 7:00 during the week. Might see it today. Thanks to everyone for your reviews.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
TheBluesHadaBaby
()
Date: December 14, 2025 02:22
Saw it last night, it was pretty spectacular. I've seen Imax mainstream movies but don't recall ever seeing an Imax concert film before, and I can't imagine anything else getting as close to letting you sometimes almost feel you're in a stadium show. This has to be as close as it can be replicated currently, commercially at scale.
I'd forgotten how much fun it was to WOO WOO to Brown Sugar.
Only 20 or so people were in the theater so it won't be having a long run in the Imax room. See it soon.
I haven't read this whole thread, did they ever put this much expense and effort into filming another Stones concert this well? We need more of these.
****
I'm down in Virginia
with your Cousin Lou
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-12-14 03:08 by TheBluesHadaBaby.
I'd forgotten how much fun it was to WOO WOO to Brown Sugar.
Only 20 or so people were in the theater so it won't be having a long run in the Imax room. See it soon.
I haven't read this whole thread, did they ever put this much expense and effort into filming another Stones concert this well? We need more of these.
****
I'm down in Virginia
with your Cousin Lou
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-12-14 03:08 by TheBluesHadaBaby.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
masoudi
()
Date: December 14, 2025 10:26
Quote
NashvilleBlues
Only heard of this through iorr and noticed it when browsing what was playing at my local theater. I see maybe 1-2 movies a month and have never seen a trailer for it either. This weekend it’s only playing once a day at 4:30. I think it was playing at 7:00 during the week. Might see it today. Thanks to everyone for your reviews.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
ds1984
()
Date: December 14, 2025 22:21
Just back from early evening screening.
Good time - no more no less.
For the fun to see the Rolling Stones live on a big screen.
Good time - no more no less.
For the fun to see the Rolling Stones live on a big screen.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
exilestones
()
Date: December 14, 2025 23:51
I enjoyed the new mixes of Ruby Tuesday and Paint It Black.
The new mix of Street Fighting Man lost the interplay (weave) between Ron and Keith. Probably, a 4K Atmos home video will bring back the weave. We still have earlier releases/mixes of At the Max to enjoy.
Happy wasn't the same for the beginning of the song, but Keith's jam at the end kicked ass!
The new mix of Street Fighting Man lost the interplay (weave) between Ron and Keith. Probably, a 4K Atmos home video will bring back the weave. We still have earlier releases/mixes of At the Max to enjoy.
Happy wasn't the same for the beginning of the song, but Keith's jam at the end kicked ass!
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
Jeter1984
()
Date: December 14, 2025 23:59
Really enjoyed it, unfortunate they cut 3 or 4 songs.
Brown Sugar really is a great live song.
Brown Sugar really is a great live song.
Re: "Rolling Stones - At The Max" in IMAX theatres December 10
Posted by:
exilestones
()
Date: December 15, 2025 00:44
In the new release of At the Max, there is a new edit of the video. I think they shortened the video when Mick was stabbing Skippy in the balls during Street Fighting Man.
[youtu.be]
Poor Skippy! Mick deflated his masculinity.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
Online Users
Guests:
346
Record Number of Users:
206
on June 1, 2022 23:50
Record Number of Guests:
9627
on January 2, 2024 23:10