Best Concert Films

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I'll take this seriously.

I musta watched REM's Tourfilm a hundred times. But how are you defining concert film? DOes Gimme Shelter count? If so- winner.

Led Zeppelin's How the West was Won

I guess I would define concert film where most of the footage is performance as opposed to interview bits, etc. Yeah that Led Zep I've seen and it is definitely hot.

I have problems with Talking Heads, but Stop Making Sense gives me goosebumps when I watch it, it's so good
Other good ones are the Led Zep, which is various performances, and Sign of the Times by Prince which is really good...enjoy!

Fugazi's Instrument is incredible. Its one of my favorite films I own. I watch it atleast once a month. it really is inspiring...even though that sounds corny.

Instrument is great, but it's not a concert film by definition. It's more like an anthology of live footage and interviews.

I agree with Sign O the Times, which must have been an AMAZING tour.

I'll offer up The Cure's In Orange as well.

yeah, sign O the times is VASTLY underrated. Then again, hardly anyone saw it in the theater (it was only out for a week, if that).

and the kids are alright is almost a winner by default -- performance footage of the greatest-ever live band could only be amazing. (although there's lots of interview footage, so maybe bending the rules here)

if we're counting bootlegs, james brown's april 4, 1968 boston show is beyond explosive.

look & sound great:
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
The Knife - Silent Shout DVD

I've just rented "Wire On the Box - 1979" and it's very, very good.

(like hourlong set on some German tv show)

I've just rented "Wire On the Box - 1979" and it's very, very good.

seconded! i bought this a couple months ago and it's pretty great, all the people in the tv studio audience politely clapping after each of the songs...

I'm on the fence about whether or not Depeche Mode 101 counts, but if it does it's definitely one of my favorites.

HELP. Movies about music

The Roland Kirk concert under either the name "at Montreux" or "One Man Twins" is notable not only for his hip chops, but for where he offers cocaine to several audience members.

none. cinema is degraded by the "concert film."

The performances in Festival Express are pretty spectacular, especially The Band and The Grateful Dead. But as great as those acts are, it's Buddy Guy who steals the show, imo. The interview bits are boring, wish there was more raw train footage.

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/Wattstax.jpg

No love for The Last Waltz?

Come on, people! That thing is great, and I don't even like The Band that much.

I have to mention GNR- Live at the Ritz.

http://distorciondvd.blogdiario.com/img/GunsRitz88.jpg

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matt is that a boot? where can u get that?

stop making sense

101

rem tourfilm

sign o the times

gorillaz demon days

The Leningrad Cowboys' Total Balalika Show is the most surreally bananas concert film I've ever seen. Especially now that I've heard the Red Army Chorus belt out "Happy Together" and "Sweet Home Ala-BAH-ma."

http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/eclipse-series-29-aki-kaurismakis-leningrad-cowboys/2142

King Crimson: Neal and Jack and Me dvd is definitely worth checking out. Really good concert footage from Three of a Perfect Pair and Beat tours.

The concert footage on Soulwax's Part of the Weekend Never Dies is also great.

re leningrad cowboys concert :

agreed. it is absolutely fantastic.
the tractor/drummer set makes me laugh and the sheer OTT-ness of the show makes the whole thing just one long 'whoaaaaa' session.

seen any good ones lately?

mostly enjoyed the LCD Soundsystem one, but it is very long. Had a lot of "oh this song now, wait, didn't they already play this one?"

I really liked Patti Smith's Rockpalast one too, but I don't know if that's out as a DVD or film or what, beyond that it gets shown on Sky Arts every so often

agree w/Moodles about the LCD Soundsystem one. only thing I would add is that James Murphy's live singing voice isn't a patch on the studio recordings

TAMI show seriously mindblowingly amazing. Every single kid who witnessed this in person transformed into beings of pure light and merged instantly with the clear light that is the unshielded face of God immediately following this concert:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tami_Show

MC5 A True Testimonial was pretty great, think it's finally going to get an official release if something somebody said recently is true.

THe Upsetter on Lee Perry is great
Autoluminescent the Rowland S Howard biofilm is pretty essential

Krautrocknacht which I think was one German Channel showing a lot of the great material recorded at the time, and has got some great footage, but has me wondering further if there were any festival films from Germany early 70s.

Sunshine Daydream the great Dead gig from Veneta in '72 on film. Really one of their best. Thought it was going to get an official release a few years back but didn't appear in th erecent Dead video archive set.

a compi of San Francisco based rock over the late 60s, & a couple of early 70s I think that somebody sent me.

Midsummer Rock the Cincinatti Pop Festival from 1970. Has the great Stooges footage with Iggy crowdwalking plus Alice Cooper smashing a birthday cake into his face repeatedly. Plus a few others. Do wish there was more to it.
There is a clip of the Stooges at Goose Lake which I think was Dave Alexander's last gig, not sure what else there is from that festival.

Sun Ra Brother From Another Planet

Miles Davis footage from '73, think all I've seen has been great. There are another coupe of years around then when he was great and captured on film. Plus the late 50s TV show where he has Coltrane in the band plus half of the show has the band augmented doing Sketches of Spain stuff I think.

Several of the LOst Broadcasts series where footage not actually broadcast on Beat Club at the time gets circulated. Just been reminded that I've been hoping that the Lifetime footage from the Mclaughlin/Bruce era might eventually turn up. Hope it still exists.

Monterey Pop and its extended footage dvd release.

Pentangle on tv in '70 and '71

Cabaret Voltaire viodeo on Doublevision

compis of Who, Pretty Things, Yardbirds, Birds, kinks that people were circulating when I first started torrenting.

loads of material from Pop 2 -East of Eden, Mott the Hoople, Deep Purple, James Gang etc etc
plus a french tv show of the Mwandishi band from I think '71

Tricky live at Shepherd's Bush Empire in '98 and loking possessed for large parts of it.

The Inner Tube from NYC in the late 70s/early 80s.

will probably think of others as soon as I post this.

Is it the Tami Show that has a glimpse of a pre-fame Sky Saxon in the audience, possibly while the Stones are playing?

Soul Power is tremendous.

Sky Saxon is in the TAMI followup, The Big TNT Show.

Ron & Russell Mael do appear in the TAMI audience.

Did not know about Sky in TAMI!

Roy Orbison's "Monument Concert" from 1965 is really really great though almost every time it shows the audience they look bored out of their minds. It is 1965 and Roy Orbison is singing "Dream Baby" 20 feet in front of you, GET OFF YOUR ASS AND DANCE!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GePCrb8W13o

Adam, Sky's in Big TnT not TAMI. TAMI SHOW is great.

Cool thanks for the tip. Haven't heard of the Big TNT show yet, the lineup looks pretty great!

It is 1965 and Roy Orbison is singing "Dream Baby" 20 feet in front of you, GET OFF YOUR ASS AND DANCE!!

Is that the one shot in Sweden?

.. no, Holland!

I think I got to see both TAMI and the TNT Show in one sitting in the Scala in London around New Year's '83. Other than that Sky thing which I may have had pointed out later I think what stuck in my head was I think the Lovin Spoonful with somebody chording their guitar from the top of the neck.
THe Barbarians appear in one of the 2 films as well.
Oh & so does Petula Clark who I remember being in fine form. Always did love Downtown, which I don't think her track is but this was about as good.

Other than that Sky thing which I may have had pointed out later I think what stuck in my head was I think the Lovin Spoonful with somebody chording their guitar from the top of the neck.

Are you thinking of John Sebastian playing the autoharp?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVYPR9FfNh0

i know ilm hates em with a passion, but the live concert dvd of brmc is f*ckin' ace.

shot in black and white of course, it totally captures the bands groove brilliantly.

a few beers, headphones on max, big screen tv, and the thing totally makes for a great audio visual experience.

(the sound is immense and suits max volume on headphones).

let the naysayers rip.

i care not.

Well, I'm watching the TAMI show right now, so ner.

Other than that Sky thing which I may have had pointed out later I think what stuck in my head was I think the Lovin Spoonful with somebody chording their guitar from the top of the neck.

Are you thinking of John Sebastian playing the autoharp?
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Friday, May 10, 2013 9:38 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No, I know the difference between an autoharp and a guitar even in really distant memory. Was it The Byrds doing something weird along those lines, got that image of somebody chording or doing something similar from the top of the neck pretty clear in my head for something I last saw 30 years ago. But definitely a stringed guitar shaped instrument and hand from the top of the neck.

Well, I'm watching the TAMI show right now, so ner.

During James Brown's set you may need to occasionally look out the window to make sure your house has not left the planet.

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

However, the DVD had a monstrous glitch during the Beach Boys set, so it's going back to the supplier!

Monstrous glitch? You sure that wasn't just Mike Love dancing?

http://25.media.tumblr.com/0af25393dd4747cf676edb07e6691846/tumblr_mh7h4pHKxB1qlkv60o1_500.gif

That's much like what it looks like, at the mo.

Amber enjoyed the Gerry/Pacemakers footage, and oh poor old Smokey, he was by turns awesome and voice-shot-to-pieces (presumably from too much road-work)

Lesley Gore was the "mm, this is the past" moment.. Also, Amber was totally amazed at the backing dancers and their (lack of) clothing..

Berry's back-and-forth with Gerry and the Pacemakers is kind of charming, but man, I bet the Stones were pissed. That prize was rightfully theirs.

Backing dancers pretty amazing.

The Beach Boys really rock during that performance. "I Get Around" is so awesome! Dennis Wilson really tears those drums a new one.

Just saw Soul Power. James Brown, Spinners, Fania Allstars, Manu Dibango, Miriam Makeeba , Bill Withers are all great

just ordered Richard Thompson: Live at Celtic Connection from the library, pretty hyped

what are some other good concert blu-rays out there? really into anything genrewise

Oh man, you're in for a treat. His solo on Can't Win on that DVD is one of my top five RT moments.

I'll admit it's my Can't Win guitar solo fandom that led me to this very blu-ray

https://i.discogs.com/PVSSNR7G5Cb0tTqKJAAGnOQTl_akcCS-_Ddnfi7ZcqU/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:591/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTEyMTU2/MDg5LTE1Mjk0Mjkw/MzUtMTIyNC5qcGVn.jpeg
dakar sound sampler vol 2.random remaindered comp full of goodness

fuck, wrong thread. sawry!

Not a concert film, per se, but the Lambert & Stamp doc of a few years back has a lot of excellent black-and-white footage of The Who (the High Numbers at the time) in a club setting. Unsurprising as the fledgling filmmakers took on the band as a pretext for a movie project.

The DVD boom really fueled a concert film boom. tbf, livestream arguably has to - YouTube's filled with archived livestreams - but a locked down camera or two with mixed-on-the-fly sound isn't quite the same.

The one upshot of the DVD crash is that many of these can be found for a few dollars. Even if they're still available as new, pressed DVD's, they can retail for less than $10.

I'm still waiting for the "Blackout" show from David Bowie (they did posthumously release the audio as a great live album, my favorite from this era), but D.A. Pennebaker's Ziggy-era film has been newly restored and has never looked better. The Reality tour was surprisingly good and the concert DVD made from it is excellent too.

Leonard Cohen's Live in London is possibly my favorite Cohen release, but while the live album got a ton of praise, I'm surprised few mention the concert DVD - it's literally the same audio (same performances, same mix) but you get to see it as well as hear it, and it's all the more enjoyable seeing Cohen beaming with delight.

Crowded House's farewell show (the last time they played with their late drummer) has been released numerous times, and the DVD is an upgrade albeit with the caveat that it's a different edit that's also cropped to fill a widescreen television. Not ideal, but the changes don't diminish the show either. I'm not a diehard fan - nearly everything I listen to is found on one of their "best of" albums - but I still bought this because it was so enjoyable. I think it's OOP in the U.S. but it's plentiful and cheap in Australia. I picked up a copy from an Australian vendor on eBay when I was looking to add to an order that already had a fixed shipping fee.

The live Devo DVD from their Freedom of Choice tour is excellent. It's the early heyday of videotape which is why it retails for so cheap, but it's a great performance. But there are earlier performances (albeit pre-dating Freedom of Choice's songs) that are even greater IMHO and supposedly these may get a Blu-ray release in the not-too-distant future.

Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace film is one of her best works. I'm not sure how much of it matches up with the live album, but it's a shame they had to wait almost 50 years to release it (they didn't use clapboards and even when digital technology made it possible to synch everything, Aretha by that point didn't want to release it until she died). It's now on Blu-ray and it looks great.

LCD Soundsystem has a great Blu-ray of their "farewell" show. I got mine from Oscilloscope's annual Black Friday sale. I still haven't watched the actual film they made, I've only watched the concert, which I also attended back in the day.

Montreaux Jazz Festival put out a shitload of concert DVD's, including one containing both of Stevie Ray Vaughan's famous appearances. I only have one with Bonnie Raitt in 1977 (possibly one of the first tours she had with a full band since she had primarily toured as a solo act to keep costs down) and there's also an excellent one with Van Morrison with both of his appearances from 1974 and 1980.

Sinead O'Connor has a great DVD with two concert videos combined on to one disc. One is from her first big tour and it's marred by video effects that haven't aged well, but the second one in support of I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is incredible.

Nirvana has a bunch of DVD's, the best concert DVD's being the ones for Reading 1992, the Halloween show in 1991, and MTV Unplugged (completely uncut).

Parliament-Funkadelic has a cheap DVD from a Houston show on Halloween night in 1976 - the venue's in-house video, so it's not great (lo-fi video in black and white), but this is their golden years and it's worth seeing what their shows were like even in this format.

4AD has an excellent Pixies DVD that collects a video diary, their videos and above all a complete opening set in support of Surfer Rosa.

Elvis Presley's comeback special can be found on various DVD's. I have the deluxe DVD set because I wanted the sit-down show in its entirety. It's been upgraded to a very expensive Blu-ray, but the DVD is fine given how it was shot.

I prefer Lou Reed's revisiting of Berlin at St. Ann's Warehouse over the original album - the live album they put out got plenty of good reviews, but like the Leonard Cohen DVD, few mentioned that the Reed DVD was the exact same thing but with picture. There's also a cheap DVD of a great Bottom Line concert in support of The Blue Mask, which had been released on video before.

The Stones have a ton of DVD's, probably way too many. Charlie Is My Darling is a documentary but their shows back then were only 30 minutes and the filmmakers essentially piece together one in the film. It's essential to see how chaotic those shows can be with the audience storming the stage. Ladies and Gentlemen pieces together the equivalent of a great show from their 1972 tour. Texas 1978 is a great one from their Some Girls tour. All three of these were shot on film, all three have been restored and released on Blu-ray.

Springsteen has a ton. I prefer vintage Bruce, and at the moment, the best ones in terms of picture date from 1979/1980. No Nukes is from 1979, it's not a full-length show because it was a benefit with many artists, but it looks amazing (shot in 35mm). The 1980 Tempe, AZ show is incomplete but has most of the show - they were only supposed to film a few songs, but whoever did it had the foresight to shoot as much as possible. However, it's part of The Ties That Bind box set so it's a little pricey.

U2's three best DVD's are probably Red Rocks, Zoo TV (in Sydney) and Slane Castle (in 2001). I don't think any of them have been upgraded to Blu-ray though.

The Who doesn't have a perfect concert video, but Isle of Wight looks great, the Houston 1975 show is amazing (again, venue's in-house video but at least it's in color), and if you want something good post-Moon, the benefit show at Royal Albert Hall in 2000 is probably it, even though it has one or two too many guest stars.

X has a good DVD of a later tour in the '00s. I think it may be the earliest complete professionally-shot concert from them, but they're still in top form 20+ years later.

T.A.M.I. Show also has a great DVD...

I'm sure others have plenty of other recs, you can probably find a legit DVD from anybody.

Montreaux Jazz Festival put out a shitload of concert DVD's, including one containing both of Stevie Ray Vaughan's famous appearances. I only have one with Bonnie Raitt in 1977 (possibly one of the first tours she had with a full band since she had primarily toured as a solo act to keep costs down) and there's also an excellent one with Van Morrison with both of his appearances from 1974 and 1980.

Montreux also put out a 10DVD set (and a single-disc highlight reel) of all Miles Davis's appearances from 1973, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1991. His live bands of the '80s were a lot hotter than the studio albums.

wow, thanks for all these great recs bird! will check them out

I never got to see Cohen but for some reason never thought to seek out the dvd/blu-ray

remember seeing some songs from the Van in Montreux, great stuff