Updated 6:32 PM ET, Thu March 11, 2021
A fan goes crowd surfing in the documentary Long Live Rock (photo: Jordan Wrennert). (CNN) Long Live Rock . Celebrate the Chaos exalts the communal nature of hard rock, while mostly glossing over its excesses. The new documentary also misses a seemingly obvious coda that would have resonated after a year of shuttered live events namely, the impact of Covid-19 on those who embrace this music with a level of adulation that one artist likens to Comic-Con every night.
Director Jonathan McHugh talks to an assortment of performers, from groups like Metallica, Korn and Rage Against the Machine, as well as experts and fans for whom hard rock is their passion. The last bracket includes a billing manager in Ohio with young kids who refers to festivals as my therapy a couple that has turned crowd-surfing into a shared activity, and another enthusiast who discusses temporarily losing her prosthetic limb while sailing across a sea of hands.