Ride, Rise, Roar
Encyclopedia
Ride, Rise, Roar is a documentary film chronicling the Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour
conducted by David Byrne
in 2008–2009. The film includes concert footage, footage of the planning and rehearsals for the tour, and exclusive interviews with Byrne, Eno, and the supporting musicians and dancers.
with modern dance
. Byrne wanted the film to display what it takes to put on a concert.
circuit, with the debut at South by Southwest
on March 15, 2010, where it was screened in all three media categories—film, interactive, and music. Following this, it was displayed by the Seattle International Film Festival
and Silverdocs
. The film is the feature-length directorial debut by Hillman Curtis
—who also worked on the short film that accompanies the deluxe edition of the Byrne–Eno
album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
. Byrne attended some British screenings for question and answer sessions.
gives the film a 71% score with seven professional reviews. Most positive reviews were restrained: for instance, The Quietus
called the film "handsome albeit conventional"; writing for The Guardian
, Andrew Pulver noted that it was a "pretty straightforward concert movie" and gave the film three out of five stars, but criticized Curtis' direction for using bland shots. A negative review from The Stranger
s Christopher Frizzelle advised potential viewers to "run in the other direction" due to the poor choreography and dull interviews. The Independent
s Anthony Quinn found the choreography unacceptable as well as Byrne's arrangement
and song selection. Other reviews—such as Empire
s Phil de Semlyen—preferred the emphasis on dance and found the choreography enjoyable. A complaint of several reviewers was the lack of uninterrupted musical performances, with interview clips cutting short the live footage.
Comparisons with the 1984 Talking Heads
documentary Stop Making Sense
were inevitable—The Seattle Times
even dubbed this a "sequel"—and reviews universally found the former film to be stronger. For instance, View London
considers Ride, Rise, Roar entertaining, but "not on the level of classica rockumentaries
", whereas Stop Making Sense is "generally reckoned to be one of the best concert movies ever made." Time Out Chicagos assessment of Hillman Curtis acknowledges the "challenging position" that he was in by being compared to Jonathan Demme
's direction, but sums up the review by calling the film "a very satisfying experience."
Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour
The Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour is a 2008–2009 promotional concert tour of music co-written by David Byrne and Brian Eno with performances by Byrne...
conducted by David Byrne
David Byrne
David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...
in 2008–2009. The film includes concert footage, footage of the planning and rehearsals for the tour, and exclusive interviews with Byrne, Eno, and the supporting musicians and dancers.
Production
Curtis initially proposed documenting the tour with no clear objective for the film and decided to focus on the collaboration between Byrne and his tour mates as well as the unique challenge of combining popular musicPopular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
with modern dance
Modern dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
. Byrne wanted the film to display what it takes to put on a concert.
Release
The film was released to the 2010 film festivalFilm festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
circuit, with the debut at South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
on March 15, 2010, where it was screened in all three media categories—film, interactive, and music. Following this, it was displayed by the Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...
and Silverdocs
Silverdocs
AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival is an American international film festival created by the American Film Institute and Discovery Channel. It is held every year in Silver Spring, Maryland near Washington, D.C.. Started in 2003, the festival is held for eight days in June at...
. The film is the feature-length directorial debut by Hillman Curtis
Hillman Curtis
David Hillman Curtis is an American new media designer, author, and filmmaker. Curtis is the Principal and Chief Creative Officer of hillmancurtis.com, inc., a digital design and film production firm in New York City. Previously, he was design director for Macromedia...
—who also worked on the short film that accompanies the deluxe edition of the Byrne–Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is the second album made in collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno, released on August 18, 2008, by Todo Mundo. The album explores themes of humanity versus technology and optimism in spite of bleak circumstance through the blending of electronic...
. Byrne attended some British screenings for question and answer sessions.
Reception
The film has received positive and mixed reviews—review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives the film a 71% score with seven professional reviews. Most positive reviews were restrained: for instance, The Quietus
The Quietus
The Quietus is a British online rock music and pop culture magazine, focusing on arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication led by John Doran and a group of freelance journalists and critics, some of whom have worked for other media outlets...
called the film "handsome albeit conventional"; writing for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Andrew Pulver noted that it was a "pretty straightforward concert movie" and gave the film three out of five stars, but criticized Curtis' direction for using bland shots. A negative review from The Stranger
The Stranger (newspaper)
The Stranger is an alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, USA. It runs a blog known as Slog.-History:The Stranger was founded by Tim Keck, who had previously co-founded the satirical newspaper The Onion, and cartoonist James Sturm. Its first issue came out on September 23, 1991...
s Christopher Frizzelle advised potential viewers to "run in the other direction" due to the poor choreography and dull interviews. The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
s Anthony Quinn found the choreography unacceptable as well as Byrne's arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
and song selection. Other reviews—such as Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
s Phil de Semlyen—preferred the emphasis on dance and found the choreography enjoyable. A complaint of several reviewers was the lack of uninterrupted musical performances, with interview clips cutting short the live footage.
Comparisons with the 1984 Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
documentary Stop Making Sense
Stop Making Sense
Stop Making Sense is a concert movie featuring Talking Heads live on stage. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues. The movie is notable for...
were inevitable—The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
even dubbed this a "sequel"—and reviews universally found the former film to be stronger. For instance, View London
View London
View London, owned by the 2 View Group Ltd, is an online entertainment guide to London, UK covering restaurants, pubs, bars and nightclubs in London. It also has a "What's On" guide and reviews of current cinema releases by Matthew Turner, its resident film critic.The site allow users to post...
considers Ride, Rise, Roar entertaining, but "not on the level of classica rockumentaries
Rockumentary
The term rockumentary is a neologism denoting a documentary about rock music or its musicians. The term was used by Bill Drake in the 1969 History of Rock & Roll radio broadcast, and by Rob Reiner in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap....
", whereas Stop Making Sense is "generally reckoned to be one of the best concert movies ever made." Time Out Chicagos assessment of Hillman Curtis acknowledges the "challenging position" that he was in by being compared to Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
's direction, but sums up the review by calling the film "a very satisfying experience."
Songs
The movie includes performances of the following songs:- "Once in a LifetimeOnce in a Lifetime (Talking Heads song)"Once in a Lifetime" is a song by New Wave band Talking Heads, released as the first single from their fourth studio album Remain in Light. The song was written by David Byrne, Brian Eno, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth, and produced by Eno...
" (David ByrneDavid ByrneDavid Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...
, Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, Chris FrantzChris FrantzChris Frantz is an American musician and record producer. He was the drummer for both Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club.-Career:...
, Jerry HarrisonJerry HarrisonJerry Harrison is an American songwriter, musician and producer...
, and Tina WeymouthTina WeymouthMartina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club .-Profile:Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side. Weymouth was a cheerleader in high school...
) - "Life Is Long" (Byrne and Eno)
- "I ZimbraI Zimbra"I Zimbra" is a song by American New Wave band Talking Heads, released as the second single from their 1979 album Fear of Music.The song's lyrics are an adaptation of Dadaist Hugo Ball's poem "Gadji beri bimba."-Lyrics:The lyrics contain these lines:...
" (Byrne, Eno, and Hugo BallHugo BallHugo Ball was a German author, poet and one of the leading Dada artists.Hugo Ball was born in Pirmasens, Germany and was raised in a middle-class Catholic family. He studied sociology and philosophy at the universities of Munich and Heidelberg...
) - "Road to NowhereRoad to Nowhere"Road to Nowhere" is a song by Talking Heads, from the 1985 album Little Creatures. It also appeared on Best of Talking Heads, Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites, the Once in a Lifetime box set and the Brick box set...
" (Byrne) - "One Fine Day" (Byrne and Eno)
- "The Great Curve" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, and Tina)
- "My Big Nurse" (Byrne and Eno)
- "Burning Down the HouseBurning Down the House"Burning Down the House" is a song by New Wave band Talking Heads, released as the first single from their fifth studio album Speaking in Tongues.-Background:...
" (Byrne, Frantz, Harrison, and Weymouth) - "Houses in Motion" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, and Weymouth)
- "Air" (Byrne)
- "Life During WartimeLife During Wartime (song)"Life During Wartime" is a song by New Wave band Talking Heads, released as the first single from their 1979 album Fear of Music in 1979. It peaked at #80 on the US Billboard Pop Singles Chart....
" (Byrne, Frantz, Harrison, and Weymouth) - "HeavenHeaven (Talking Heads song)"Heaven" is a song by the American New Wave band Talking Heads from their 1979 album Fear of Music.- Cover versions :*k.d. lang recorded her version of this song with The Siss Boom Bang for their 2011 album Sing It Loud...
" (Byrne and Harrison) - "I Feel My Stuff" (Byrne and Eno)
- "Everything That Happens" (Byrne and Eno)
See also
- Everything That Happens Will Happen TodayEverything That Happens Will Happen TodayEverything That Happens Will Happen Today is the second album made in collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno, released on August 18, 2008, by Todo Mundo. The album explores themes of humanity versus technology and optimism in spite of bleak circumstance through the blending of electronic...
- Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno TourSongs of David Byrne and Brian Eno TourThe Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour is a 2008–2009 promotional concert tour of music co-written by David Byrne and Brian Eno with performances by Byrne...
- Everything That Happens Will Happen on This Tour – David Byrne on Tour: Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno