The Rolling Stones Concert Film That Kicked Off The IMAX Era Is Returning To Theaters, And It's A Must-See For All Stones Fans

The Rolling Stones are hitting the 2025 movie schedule for a limited re-release of their 1990 concert film Stones at the Max. As a massive Stones fan, I cannot wait to see it when it comes to IMAX in December. Not only is it a chance to rock out to one of my favorite bands and see them in a giant format in all their glory, but it’s the first time I’ll actually get to see the film as it was originally intended.

Finally, I’ll Get To See At The Max As It’s Supposed To Be Seen

The first “real” rock concert I ever attended was The Rolling Stones during their Steel Wheels Tour in 1989 at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. About two years later, in 1991, The Stones released what was, at the time, the first concert movie ever filmed and released in the IMAX format. It’s hard to believe that IMAX is 35, years old and even harder to believe that my first concert was 36 years ago, but that’s the way life goes.

I’ve never actually seen the IMAX movie that resulted from that tour, called Stones At The Max, but news has broken that it’ll be released in December at IMAX screens all over the country, and I’ve got my tickets already. I’ve seen clips from the film (and other stuff from the so-called “Urban Jungle Tour” (the name used on the European leg) on YouTube and elsewhere over the years, but I’ve never seen the film in its entirety. I can vaguely remember a pay-per-view event back in the day of the tour, but to be honest, I don’t recall if I even saw that.

IMAX Wasn't Widespread When At The Max Was Filmed And Released

IMAX technology dates back to the early 1970s, and if you grew up in the ‘80s, like I did, you’ll remember that all the movies filmed in those first couple of decades were mostly educational, documentary-type films. The first one I ever remember seeing while on vacation in Chicago was Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets. It used the dramatic format to portray the scale of the natural wonder, but at the time, it didn’t really occur to people that “regular” movies could also become hits in the format.

Only The Stones had the clout at the time to do something as audacious as film 5 performances from their tour in three cities, London, East Berlin, and Turin, Italy, and release it as a concert film in IMAX. The only IMAX screens at the time were limited to science museums and other cultural centers; there weren’t really any commercial theaters, even. That didn’t deter The Stones, though. As a result, the film’s screenings were extremely limited in the early ‘90s, and my city didn’t even have an IMAX screen yet, so I didn’t get to see it

Why This Is So Important To Me

I love live music. Over the 36 years since I first saw that Stones show, I’ve been to thousands of concerts. I’ve seen everyone from legends in giant stadiums to bar bands down the street from my house. I’ve seen concerts in 26 states and four foreign countries (yeah, I keep track). It all started on that Thanksgiving weekend, November 23rd, 1989, to be exact, when I saw Living Colour hit the enormous stage as they opened for The Stones on their massive Steel Wheels Tour.

The show left me a little speechless, I remember. The stage was so big that I couldn’t even understand how it was assembled. The sound coming from the speakers was louder than any music I’d ever heard. The sights and, um, smells, were nothing like I’d ever seen or smelled. It was a complete sensory overload, and I loved every second of it.

From that moment on, not only did The Stones become one of my favorite bands (one I’ve now seen 11 times over the years) but I also became addicted to live music and concerts. I especially love over-the-top spectacles like the Steel Wheels tour kind of invented.

I Can’t Go Back In Time, So At The Max Is As Close As I Will Ever Get

If there is any way to get a tiny taste of what those amazing memories still hold for me, it’s seeing this movie, on this format. The Stones were larger than life when they hit the stage on that balmy night in North Florida, and they will be again when I see them on the IMAX screen near me in December. I remember the electricity of hearing Keith Richards strum that iconic opening riff to “Start Me Up” when the lights went down, and At The Max opens with the same number.

I’ll be off and running as the band rolls through the setlist that I still remember so much of, even all these years later. Classics like “You Can't Always Get What You Want,” “Honky Tonk Woman” (with 50-foot-tall inflatable dolls), “Satisfaction,” and, what I consider to be the best rock song ever written, “Sympathy For The Devil,” are all part of the movie’s “setlist.”

The movie also features all of the original members of the band (sort of). The late Charlie Watts will be behind the drums, bassist Bill Wyman, who departed the band in ‘93, will be holding down the low end, and The Glimmer Twins, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, will be front and center. Lead guitarist Ron Wood isn’t an original member of the band, of course, but he’s as “Stones” as it gets, especially for a fan like me who was born after Ronnie officially joined the band in ‘75.

At The Max has never been one of the top-grossing concert films of all time, but its impact as the first filmed in IMAX is, well, huge. I haven’t seen it in the proper format yet, but I won’t be surprised if I walk out glowing and threatening my friends to go back with me the next night.