This list’s pretty self-explanatory, just a couple of quick things to mention. I included films that are pretty much all live performance with little extraneous material (except maybe some bonus stuff on the DVD version). That means some real favorites don’t make the list, like the Stones’ Gimme Shelter and Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same. Even though the live performances, especially the stuff from Madison Square Garden, are spectacular, Gimme Shelter is more a documentary about Altamont than a concert film, so I left it off. Zep’s movie is more of a traditional concert film (again, from Madison Square Garden), but I’m docking it several notches for the four ludicrous artsy film interludes credited to the band members. They’re too long, too dopey, and distract from the flow of the film in a big way. I considered Linda Ronstadt’s Live in Hollywood, but even though it originated as an HBO broadcast, it’s only been released to the public as a CD, there’s no watchable format available.
There are thousands of films in this category, especially if you include DVD-only concert releases. I’ve only seen a fraction of them, obviously, I try to do other things in my life, but I've seen a bunch, and these are the ones that stuck. They’re reasonably close to being in order of preference, but I wouldn’t bet the house on the final ranking.
• Rolling Stones, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones (1974) - The first concert film I ever saw, at a midnight movie screening. Also, my first midnight movie, back when those were a thing. Rocky Horror Picture Show would follow shortly.
Back in the early 70s, there was no YouTube, no social media, no instant access to major events in the rock and roll world. Everything fans like me saw and read about the Stones was carefully controlled and approved by the band and their management. The 1972 Exile on Main Street tour was a big enough deal that it made the cover of Life magazine and a brief film segment on network news, but that was about it for glimpses of the shows if you weren’t there in person. Fortunately, the band was filming some of the shows, and two years later this movie was released. The final product was edited from four separate shows in Texas, the best performances were cherry-picked, which is why Mick isn’t wearing the same sequined jumpsuit throughout. To my mind, the Stones in ’72 were the “World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.” Mick’s singing is more powerful and affecting than today’s version, Keith and Mick Taylor were locked into each other’s guitars on a nearly telepathic level, and Charlie was his usual brilliant self. Every minute of the film is primal, classic Stones, and it hasn’t lost any of its excitement for me after all these years.
• REM, Tourfilm (1990) - Not much of a surprise that the Document / Green era REM would make an art-house concert film. There’s some bouncing between black & white and color, some blurred or choppy motion effects, a little bit of non-performance imagery spliced in. None of the effects get in the way of one of America’s greatest rock bands at a creative peak. They were a live powerhouse, and Michael Stipe a memorably compelling, idiosyncratic frontman.
• Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense (1984) - Either this one or Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz sit at the top of every “best concert film” list you can find online. Last Waltz would definitely get an honorable mention from me, but I find parts of it a little too stilted and sloppy for maximum impact. Stop Making Sense is all-killer, no-filler. No backstage stuff or interviews, Jonathan Demme filmed the band in an intensely intimate and exciting way. From the beginning, with David Byrne carrying a boombox onstage and playing a mesmerizing solo “Psycho Killer” to its scratchy beat loop, to the gradual addition of the band members and stage set on subsequent songs, it was a show designed to be filmed. The final result is joyous and thrilling. Added bonus: Dave leaves the stage midway long enough for Chris and Tina to switch to Tom Tom Club mode and kill it with “Genius of Love.”
• Various Artists, Woodstock (1970) - The myth, the legend, the watershed moment for the sixties counterculture. All of that was mostly lost on me as an 12-year-old in 1970, but as I got older the 3-day festival in upstate New York became the unavoidable elephant in the rock history room. I didn’t see the film until my teen years, four or five years after it was released. There are wonderfully quirky images in the resulting movie – lazy shots of frolicking, mud-covered hippies, “no rain” chanting (spoiler: it didn’t work), warnings about the brown acid, the Fish Cheer (“what’s that spell?”), all woven together by director Michael Wadliegh's split-screen editing, which was considered extra-trippy back then. A few key bands who played that weekend wouldn’t allow their performances to be part of the film (Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Band, Grateful Dead), saying the difficult conditions took them off their game. But every performance that made the final cut has become an icon of popular culture. Santana’s scorching “Soul Sacrifice” took them from having no record contract to rock stardom, Joe Cocker’s spastic “With a Little Help from My Friends,” the Who’s middle of the night rampage through Tommy, Hendrix’s breathtaking “Star Spangled Banner” played to a sparse Monday morning crowd and a sea of litter. Ten Years After, John Sebastian, Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Sly and the Family Stone, and Canned Heat enjoyed arguably the highest visibility of their careers based on their brief, memorable appearances. A perfectly captured time capsule of 60s hippie/rock music synergy, which, of course, all went to shit shortly after.
• The Richard Thompson Band, Live in Providence (2004) – A DVD-only release, understandable since RT typically doesn’t fill big arenas on the road and likely wouldn’t have filled movie theaters, either. So this one’s for the fan club, of which I am a card-carrying member. Filmed in a small dance barn called Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel (I had to look it up, "dance barn" means "no seats"). A ripping four-piece band, featuring RT’s long-time ex-pat collaborator Pete Zorn on his usual array of instruments. The setlist is slightly weighted toward his current record at the time, The Old Kit Bag, but there are plenty of fan favorites from his solo career and the Richard and Linda years, including three killers from Shoot Out the Lights. Great songs, the band is locked in, and, of course, some of the most jaw-dropping guitar playing anywhere. Much better than the more widely available (and heavily edited) Live at Austin City Limits DVD in my book.
• Grateful Dead, The Closing of Winterland 12/31/78 (2003) - Another DVD-only release, the show was way too long to have a theater run. The last concert at Bill Graham’s fabled Winterland Arena, the site of much psychedelic-inspired shenanigans in the 60s and early 70s. The LSD must have been exceptional on that New Year’s Eve, the Dead played three long sets of their jammiest, trippiest, best stuff. Instead of choosing one or two of their epics to build a set around, they played ‘em all. Set one has loooong “Scarlet>Fire”, set two drops both “Terrapin Station” and “Playing in the Band,” and to top it all off, they took the crowd to sunup on January 1 by starting set three with a “Dark Star>The Other One>Dark Star” sandwich. After the encores were finally done, everybody in the place was served breakfast and Winterland was no more. The DVD bonus material includes a few songs from the opening acts – the Blues Brothers and New Riders of the Purple Sage – and the option to play the film in 5.1 surround sound, if you have a room full of speakers. Oh, and the cover art is by Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse, two of the pioneers of those fabulous 60s psychedelic posters.
• Allman Brothers Band, Live at the Beacon Theater (2003) - The latter-day Allmans made the Beacon Theatre in NYC their home away from home, playing a multi-date residency in March every year. The last shows the band ever played was their final run at the Beacon. It was the right size smallish venue, packed with adoring fans every time, and the band always had a little extra spark in that room. Thankfully, they occasionally filmed and/or recorded shows during their annual run. This is the version of the Allman Brothers that I saw live – Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks on twin lead guitar, the wonderful Otiel Burbridge on bass – and they were spectacular. The band members all agreed it was the best incarnation of the Allmans since the Duane/Dickey days and kept it together until the end.
The DVD is put together from two of the 2003 Beacon shows, and it’s everything you would want and expect. Fantastic, hard-jamming versions of their classics, a few deep blues covers, jaw-dropping guitar interplay, and Greg in especially strong voice. No flashy choreography, the light show is fine but not groundbreaking, these guys were up there to wow the audience with their chops and passion. Worth the price of admission for the set-ending “Whippin’ Post” alone.
• Various Artists, Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959) - For a brief, glorious moment there was an old movie theater in my city that was restored and brought back to life after years of neglect. It became the one theater in town that brought in films that weren’t being shown anywhere else. They’d screen oldies, I saw a wonderful Singin’ in the Rain/Wizard of Oz double feature there, arthouse stuff like Kurosawa films and the original uncut Caligula (I left the theater shaky after that one). And this absolute gem.
The Newport Jazz Festival is still an ongoing event, the grandaddy of all music festivals. It happens every year on the waterfront in Rhode Island. But this one, in 1958, had an especially great lineup and was filmed beautifully. There’s a real sense of a hazy, east coast afternoon with filtered sunlight and lingering shots of folks boating on the water while the music’s playing. Jazz on a Summer’s Day is simply lovely to look at.
There was change in the air on the popular music scene in ’58, reflected brilliantly in the festival's lineup of performers. You get the NYC heavyweights like Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis, and a good representation of the west coast jazz up-and-comers like Jimmy Giuffre and Gerry Mulligan. Jazz’s crossover pop success was represented by Anita O’Day and Dinah Washington, while Big Maybelle made sure the crowd didn’t forget the music’s blues roots. The big surprise of the ’58 festival was a set by Chuck Berry, an acknowledgement from the old guard that the new devil music rock and roll was a force to be reckoned with. And Chuck, as he always did back then, tears it up, grinning like he got away with something. Louis Armstrong nails the headliner spot with a ripping “When the Saints Go Marching In,” before Mahalia Jackson brings the show to and end in the wee hours of Sunday morning with a heart-stopping “The Lord’s Prayer.”
• Pink Floyd, Live at Pompeii (1974) - Leave it to these guys to do something completely different with the concert film format. The venue is the ruins of an ancient Roman amphitheater in Pompeii, and there's no audience. It was filmed in October of 1971, which means Dark Side of the Moon hadn’t been released yet. This is Pink Floyd at their early, wildly experimental peak. Instead of “Money” or “The Great Gig in the Sky,” you get long, spacey early fan faves like “Careful With That Ax, Eugene,” “Echoes, Pt. 1,” and “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.” All amazing stuff, I couldn’t take my eyes off them.
There were actually two released versions of Live at Pompeii. The original 1972 release was just the concert, and I’ve never seen that one. I fell in love with the second, 1974 version. Since they had become international superstars with DSOTM in 1973, the original film was re-cut to insert some documentary footage of the band in the studio, hard at work on Dark Side. It makes the film a little more disjointed, no doubt, but the studio footage is so important, and so compelling, that it really doesn’t get in the way of the movie’s impact. It’s a great look at a significant band flying really high.
• Chuck Berry & Friends, Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll (1987) - There’s a palpable feeling of tension to this film. Chuck was a prickly man by the time Keith Richards organized a tribute concert and film to celebrate his hero’s 60th birthday. He resented his pioneering songwriting style being usurped by a generation of younger white musicians, and making them fabulously wealthy. He regularly snapped back at music writers and fans who insisted on giving credit for the founding of rock and roll to Elvis and Little Richard. He remained pissed off that his career was interrupted by stints in jail on what were possibly racism-fueled charges. There are occasionally testy exchanges between Chuck and the other musicians during rehearsals, with one memorable in-your-face moment with Keith.
Despite the occasional rancor, the filmed performances are wonderful. Chuck blazes through a terrific set of his classics (thankfully omitting “My Ding-A-Ling”), sharing the stage with Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, Linda Ronstadt, and the inimitable Etta James. He even hands over the lead vocal on “Johnny B. Goode” to John Lennon’s son, Julian. Keith played the role of musical director, mostly staying away from center stage, which was probably the smart move. Before the concert starts, some footage from Chuck’s house shows him strumming his guitar and crooning old standards like “I’m Through with Love,” a nod to his own pre-rock and roll days, when he was a hairdresser in St. Louis looking for a record contract. Lovely stuff, very Nat King Cole, one of the idol’s idols.
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