Best Concert Movie?

Urgh! A Music War

Multiple bands, multiple locations.
Out of print for decades. Now available

 

Wings - Rockshow

I don't watch a lot of concert films, but this is one I put on regularly.

 

I regularly re-watch SIGN O' THE TIMES. I wish Prince had issued the music as a standalone CD, because most of these versions smoke the studio recordings.

Once you're familiar with this outstanding concert film, you start to become aware the Frankenstein-ed aspect of it, a combination of live shots, sound studio shots, cut scenes, etc. It's more a re-creation of a concert or a filmed rehearsal than a real concert, but it's still fantastic. I think this is Prince's best music.

 

Great visuals,excellent songs

 

The Grateful Dead Movie on Blu-ray

 

Definitely 'Stop making Sense' as it's about the band, the audience is hardly in it. The DVD of 'Diana Krall Live In Paris' has always been a favourite - I like it up to the point that the orchestra starts playing, as I like the jazz combo section better. Great drumming from Jeff Hamilton too. For me, nothing else really put across the happiness of musicians doing what they do.

 

"Woodstock, I think, suffers from the length - too much of "WE NEEDED TO CAPTURE EVERYTHING!" The PortaSan man should not have enough material to merit his own DVD chapter."

Personally, I loved the PortaSan man sequence. It was one of the segments (much like the interviews with the residents of the town) that made the festival seem like something real and immediate that had to be dealt with, as opposed to the romantic notion that most seem to view it as these many years later. It grounds the event in reality, and I think the film would be less effective without such scenes. Indeed, I think it makes it more pleasanter.

Aaron

 

Bob Dylan with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers -Hard to Handle because the songs are so strong and the band is perfect backing for Bob. Gillian Armstrong's directing as well as a top quality sound mix. I can not imagine this being any better.

 

Michael Jackson - This Is It, was quite good, despite all the overdubbing and rerecording they did. Hopefully the other rehearsed songs will come out one day. A lot of exciting scenes in the trailer never made it into the film either.
Prince - Sign O The Times, beautiful film. What's so amazing is that it doesn't rely on his 'classics' of that times (aside from Little Red Corvette).
Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter, historical. That's it.

 

baby snakes

 

The Concert For Bangladesh.
I still remember going to see it the night it premiered at The Madison Theatre in Detroit.

 

All good choices!!

I’d just add The T.A.M.I. Show and the rooftop sequence from Let It Be.

 

I'm dividing this between concert films (one or two bands, usually) and festival films (multiple groups over several days).

This is a tough call, because there's just too many "bests" IMO. At least I'm trying to stick with BD which helps limit those preferences.

In the concert film category these jump to the top of my list (at the moment):
AC/DC - Let There Be Rock (powerful, well filmed concert in France documenting group at their zenith, just prior to Bon Scott's death)
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense (defies description; amazing concert)
Procol Harum - Live at Union Chapel (remarkable recording/performance)
Jimi Hendrix - Blue Wild Angel (not his best performance, but amazing to watch)
Eagles - History of (outstanding warts & all documentary; includes part of Capital Center '77 concert on separate BD as bonus)

In the festival film category, these stand out:
Woodstock (40th Anniversary Ed.)
Festival Express (intimate, whistle-stop train tour in Canada; Joplin, Grateful Dead, The Band, et al)
Monterey Pop Festival (the rock festival that pretty much started it all)
Message of Love: The Isle of Wight Festival (rock festival that pretty much ended it all)

I'll probably add more to this list later on.


Cat

 

Elvis on Tour

 

That's my favorite,too. George Harrison, Ravi Shankar, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, and a stellar cast of band members including Eric Clapton and others. Hard to beat that lineup.

 

Great film!

 

The only concert in which Neil Young and Neil Diamond shared the same stage.

 

Jeff Beck's Live At Ronnie Scott's is terrific visually and sonically, with performances that are ridiculously fantastic.

 

Woodstock
Nirvana: Live At The Paramount. Really shows the band at the end of an era, right as they were becoming huge, and it all got out of hand.

 

Sade: Bring Me Home - Live 2011

 

Concert for George
Rock Show - Wings

I also love the VHS of Stevie Nicks first solo tour
And Madonna "like a virgin" tour on VHS
Oldies but goodies