''Ride, Rise, Roar'' is a documentary film chronicling the

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. In addition to being a retrospective of the duo's collaborations, the tour promoted ...

conducted by

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

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 music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

with modern dance. Byrne wanted the film to display what it takes to put on a concert.

Release

The film was released to the 2010 film festival circuit, with the debut at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

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 David Hillman Curtis (February 24, 1961 – April 18, 2012) was an American new media designer, author, musician and filmmaker. Curtis was the Principal and Chief Creative Officer of hillmancurtis.com, inc., a digital design and film producti ...

—who also worked on the short film that accompanies the deluxe edition of the Byrne–

Eno Eno may refer to: Music * English National Opera, London * ''Eno'', an album by Japanese band Polysics * "Eno", a song by X-Wife from '' Rockin' Rio EP'' Organisations and businesses * Eno (company), a Chinese clothing and accessories busine ...

album '' Everything That Happens Will Happen Today''. Byrne attended some British screenings for question and answer sessions.

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 78% based on reviews from 9 critics. Most positive reviews were restrained: for instance, The Quietus called the film "handsome albeit conventional"; writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 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 ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''s Anthony Quinn found the choreography unacceptable as well as Byrne's

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

and song selection. Other reviews—such as ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

''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 were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

documentary '' Stop Making Sense'' were inevitable—''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...

'' 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 Chicago''s assessment of Hillman Curtis acknowledges the "challenging position" that he was in by being compared to

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film ''Caged Heat'', before ...

'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 Lifetime" (

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth) * "Life Is Long" (Byrne and Eno) * "

I 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''. According to Sytze Steenstra in ''Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Prese ...

" (Byrne, Eno, and

Hugo Ball Hugo Ball (; 22 February 1886 – 14 September 1927) was a German author, poet, and essentially the founder of the Dada movement in European art in Zürich in 1916. Among other accomplishments, he was a pioneer in the development of sound poetry. ...

) * "

Road to Nowhere "Road to Nowhere" is a rock song written by David Byrne for the 1985 Talking Heads 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 t ...

" (Byrne) * "One Fine Day" (Byrne and Eno) * "The Great Curve" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, and Weymouth) * "My Big Nurse" (Byrne and Eno) * "

Burning Down the House "Burning Down the House" is a song by New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads, released in July 1983 as the first single from their fifth studio album ''Speaking in Tongues (Talking Heads album), Speaking in Tongues''. Inspiration and compo ...

" (Byrne, Frantz, Harrison, and Weymouth) * "Houses in Motion" (Byrne, Eno, Frantz, Harrison, and Weymouth) * "Air" (Byrne) * " Life During Wartime" (Byrne, Frantz, Harrison, and Weymouth) * "

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

" (Byrne and Harrison) * "I Feel My Stuff" (Byrne and Eno) * "Everything That Happens" (Byrne and Eno)

Personnel

–

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

* Mark De Gli Antoni –

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Paul Frazier Daniel "Paul" Frazier (November 12, 1967 – December 18, 2018) was a professional American football player who played for the New Orleans Saints. He played college football at Northwestern State University. Personal life He was born in Beaumont ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Graham Hawthorne –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Mauro Refosco Mauro Refosco is a Brazilian percussionist. He is best known for working with singer David Byrne and as the former touring and session percussionist for the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is a member of the experimental supergroup A ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

* Redray Frazier – background vocals, acoustic guitar * Kaïssa – background vocals * Jenni Muldaur – background vocals * Lily Baldwin – dancing * Natalie Kuhn – dancing * Steven Reker – dancing ; Additional appearances as interviewees (not on stage) * David Whitehead – David Byrne's manager * Annie-B. Parson – choreography ("I Zimbra") * Sonya Robbins and Layla Childs a.k.a. Robbinschilds Dance – choreography ("The Great Curve") *

Noémie Lafrance Noémie Lafrance (born November 22, 1973) is a Canadian-born choreographer living and working in New York since 1994. She is known for making large-scale site-specific dance performances that use the architecture of the city as the setting for h ...

–

choreography Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design ...

("I Feel My Stuff") *

– co-composer

References

External links

*
Film trailer

* * * {{Authority control 2010 films 2010 documentary films American documentary films American rock music films Black-and-white documentary films Brian Eno David Byrne Documentary films about dance Documentary films about rock music and musicians Films set in Santa Barbara, California Films set in Edinburgh Films set in London Films set in New York (state) Films set in New York City Films set in 2009 Films set in 2010 Films set in Virginia Films shot in California Films shot in London Films shot in New York (state) Films shot in New York City Films shot in Scotland Films shot in Virginia Films directed by Hillman Curtis American black-and-white films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films