Rolling Stones’ legendary concert film At The Max returns to IMAX
“LADIES and gentlemen, the Rolling Stones!”
For decades, those six simple words have heralded the arrival on stage of the world’s greatest rock and roll band.
The announcement most likely paves the way for the raw, staccato thrill of Start Me Up, followed by at least two more hours of music mayhem.
It is the moment when all the work put in by the band’s creative director and lighting designer, Patrick Woodroffe, comes to fruition.
Since the 1982 tour supporting the Tattoo You album, Woodroffe and his team have been tasked with shining the spotlight on the Stones — literally.
It has been their job to showcase the swagger of Mick Jagger, the laid-back riffing of Keith Richards, the playful interaction of Ronnie Wood and the effortlessly cool drumming of the late Charlie Watts.
Things always go wrong on some level!
Woodroffe
We know ever-energetic Jagger struts across cavernous stages in front of vast crowds, but Woodroffe says: “Keith once told me that Mick could perform on a coffee table, and it would still be great. Our job is simply to provide a setting in which he can work.”
Although the Stones’ age-defying shows continue to this day, fans and casual observers alike are being invited to step back in time to 1990 for what the band calls “a bigger, louder and more immersive” experience.
From December 10, the fabled film, Rolling Stones — At The Max, returns to select IMAX and Cineworld venues across the UK.
‘Visual narrative’
First released in 1991 and now remastered, it captures the previous year’s Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tour in all its raging glory and is also notable for the final performances with the band of bassist Bill Wyman.
The film was shot in three European cities, London (Wembley Stadium), Turin and, less than two months before the reunification of Germany, East Berlin.
Using eight IMAX cameras, it was the first full concert movie to be shown on the giant screens and featured a typically storming set.
Rocking live staples were present and correct — Honky Tonk Women, Sympathy For The Devil, Street Fighting Man, Brown Sugar and the Stones’ favourite finale (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.
Jagger gives a vocal masterclass on mid-Sixties classics, Ruby Tuesday and Paint It Black, while Richards takes his customary turn at the mic for a rousing Happy.
There’s room for live rarity 2000 Light Years From Home, which first appeared on the Stones’ psychedelic 1967 outing, Their Satanic Majesties Request.
And for several tracks on newly minted Steel Wheels — Sad Sad Sad, Rock
And A Hard Place, and a wild, experimental sonic adventure called Continental Drift.
So, which songs in the live repertoire make for particularly dramatic visuals?
“Certain numbers are considered production numbers,” says Woodroffe.
“Sympathy For The Devil is a good example as is Gimme Shelter.
I met Mick for the first time that night in a tiny dressing room under the stage just before the show
Woodroffe
“These are powerful songs, typically longer than most, which allow time to build a visual narrative. For Sympathy, we set the stage on fire! Not literally of course, but smoke machines, flame effects and pulsing red lights give a pretty good impression of it.”
To celebrate the 2025 At The Max refresh, I’m speaking to Woodroffe about his association with the Stones, which stretches back to the early Eighties.
He recalls his initial dealings with Jagger and Co: “The first show I ever made for the Rolling Stones was at the Capitol Theatre in Aberdeen in the summer of 1982.
“It was also the first show for our musical director, Chuck Leavell. So he and I share the distinction of being the longest- serving Stones employees, something we are both very proud of.”
Woodroffe remembers a fateful encounter in that north-eastern corner of Scotland: “I met Mick for the first time that night in a tiny dressing room under the stage just before the show.
“His only direction to me then was, ‘Bright for the first numbers and darker for the ballads’. Not bad advice and something I have followed for the last 45 years.”
So, I venture, how involved have the band members been in the process of designing, lighting and staging a show?
He replies: “Mick and Charlie have been the most involved with helping our set designer Mark Fisher to develop designs for tours. But Ronnie and Keith have also been very aware of the stages on which they perform.
“Keith always refers to the stage as ‘The Office’.”
I always watch a Stones show in two very distinct ways
Woodroffe
Next, Woodroffe talks of the strong rapport he has built up over the years: “Much of the success of the relationship I have with the band is simply based on longevity.
“There is a real shorthand and understanding of what we’re all doing to create these shows, so communication is easy.
“But I’m also genuinely enthusiastic about my work and I think that probably has some resonance with the band.
“I’ve always loved their music — and having a job that allows me to be a part of their world is hugely gratifying.”
Over the years, Woodroffe has learned how to highlight the band in different settings.
“I always watch a Stones show in two very distinct ways,” he says.
“The first is to make sure that our part of it is right in terms of the lighting, the staging and the video content.
“The second is to understand the audience who come to watch the band — and that changes every night.
“An audience of 60,000 in a giant stadium in Tokyo is a very different beast from a club show in Paris or a run of shows at Madison Square Garden.
“It is how an audience acts, how they respond to the band emotionally and, more to the point, how the band responds to them.
“That is something that’s unique from show to show.”
This brings us to the challenges of staging the 1990 Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tours with At The Max in mind.
Woodroffe says: “Stones shows are often filmed for either live broadcast or simply as a record of a tour.
“Each time, lighting and the staging is adjusted to capture the show on film but, for the IMAX project, we were in unknown territory.
“No one had done anything like this before and everything was different, particularly the cameras themselves, which were enormous and took three people to run them.
“The film cartridges also only lasted 12 minutes, at which point another three people had to reload the film canisters.
‘Huge spectacle’
“Unlike a normal video shoot where a TV monitor can show us instant results and can therefore be adjusted on the fly, the IMAX system had no facility for this.
“Instead, we would shoot something one night, the film would then be flown to the States to be processed, then flown back again to Europe where we would have to find an IMAX cinema near wherever we were touring.
A Stones performance is an interesting mix of huge spectacle — sound, light, video and pyrotechnics — with intimate performance where the heart and soul of this extraordinary band is there for all to see
Woodroffe
“Then we’d go to watch the rushes at one o’clock in the morning when the theatre was empty!”
Next, I ask Woodroffe how he and his team went about achieving the right atmosphere for such big screens?
He answers: “A Stones performance is an interesting mix of huge spectacle — sound, light, video and pyrotechnics — with intimate performance where the heart and soul of this extraordinary band is there for all to see.
“Getting that balance right is key to a successful concert and, on the IMAX film, we achieved that with real success.
“With all the talk of immersive experiences, At The Max is as immersive as it gets.
“You really do feel as if you were there and the Rolling Stones are performing just for you!”
Like the rest of us, the Stones and their production team are only human, so I’m keen to find out if things ever go wrong.
“Things always go wrong on some level!” says Woodroffe. “But it’s usually quite easy to hide them. Even something as obvious as a microphone going down can easily just be considered part of the energy of a live performance.
“But, in the 45 years I’ve worked with the band, we’ve never lost a show because of a technical issue.
“After all, that famous mantra ‘the show must go on’ applies to us as much as anyone.”
Woodroffe’s career goes back to 1973 and he has lit and directed shows for many artists who sit at rock and pop’s top table.
Among them are AC/DC, The Police, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Rod Stewart, Elton John, and Lady Gaga — but who are his favourite artists to work with, aside from the Stones, of course?
‘My soundtrack’
Woodroffe tells me: “All an audience ever wants to see from an artist or a performer is authenticity.
“However staged or considered or planned a concert might be, it is that connection between the artist and audience that matters — more than any special effect or fancy costume. And the Stones are nothing but authentic.
“I think Stevie Wonder is probably the one other artist that I felt the most connected to other than the Stones, which is of course ironic as Stevie has never seen my work.
“But his music was the soundtrack of my life and growing up. So, to be a part of interpreting that with light and colour, helping him to share it with an audience, was a privilege.”
Woodroffe reserves his final comment for the Rolling Stones, giving a clue to his strong and enduring relationship with them.
“I consider myself a fan and a friend.”
Like the rest of us, the Stones and their production team are only human, so I’m keen to find out if things ever go wrong.
I consider myself a fan and a friend
Woodroffe
“Things always go wrong on some level!” says Woodroffe. “But it’s usually quite easy to hide them. Even something as obvious as a microphone going down can easily just be considered part of the energy of a live performance.
“But, in the 45 years I’ve worked with the band, we’ve never lost a show because of a technical issue.
“After all, that famous mantra ‘the show must go on’ applies to us as much as anyone.”
Woodroffe’s career goes back to 1973 and he has lit and directed shows for many artists who sit at rock and pop’s top table.
Among them are AC/DC, The Police, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Rod Stewart, Elton John, and Lady Gaga — but who are his favourite artists to work with, aside from the Stones, of course?
‘My soundtrack’
Woodroffe tells me: “All an audience ever wants to see from an artist or a performer is authenticity.
“However staged or considered or planned a concert might be, it is that connection between the artist and audience that matters — more than any special effect or fancy costume. And the Stones are nothing but authentic.
“I think Stevie Wonder is probably the one other artist that I felt the most connected to other than the Stones, which is of course ironic as Stevie has never seen my work.
“But his music was the soundtrack of my life and growing up. So, to be a part of interpreting that with light and colour, helping him to share it with an audience, was a privilege.”
Woodroffe reserves his final comment for the Rolling Stones, giving a clue to his strong and enduring relationship with them.
“I consider myself a fan and a friend.”