Concert Films

A concert movie, or concert film, is a type of documentary film, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by a musician (or, more recently, by a comedian).

Early concert films include:

  • T.A.M.I. Show (1965), including performances by numerous popular rock and roll and R&B musicians at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on October 28 and 29, 1964.
  • Monterey Pop (1968), documenting the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967.
  • Gimme Shelter (1970), chronicling the Rolling Stones' 1969 US tour, which culminated in the disastrous Altamont Free Concert.
  • Woodstock (1970), focusing on the Woodstock Festival in 1969.
  • Sweet Toronto (1971), documenting the rock and roll revival concert in Toronto in September 1969, featuring performances by Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band.
  • Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (1972)
  • The Concert for Bangladesh (1972), showing the August 1, 1971 Madison Square Garden concert organized by George Harrison for the benefit of Bangladeshi refugees.
  • Save the Children (1973),
  • Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1973), focusing on David Bowie's July 3, 1973 concert.
  • The London Rock and Roll Show (1973) chronicling a Rock and Roll Revival concert held at Wembley Stadium in London, England in August 1972.
  • Live at the Roxy, 1973 (1973), Frank Zappa's infamously delayed film documenting the performances that later made up his live album Roxy and Elsewhere.
  • The Song Remains the Same (1976), showing scenes from three Led Zeppelin concerts filmed at Madison Square Garden in 1973.
  • The Last Waltz (1978), documenting The Band's final concert at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, on Thanksgiving, November 25, 1976.
  • Stop Making Sense (1984), taking footage from three shows performed by Talking Heads in Hollywood, California in December 1983.

Famous quotes containing the words concert and/or films:

    “... in the cities there are thousands of rolling stones like me. We are all alike; we have no ties, we know nobody, we own nothing. When one of us dies, they scarcely know where to bury him.... We have no house, no place, no people of our own. We live in the streets, in the parks, in the theatres. We sit in restaurants and concert halls and look about at the hundreds of our own kind and shudder.”
    —Willa Cather (1873–1947)

    “Right now I think censorship is necessary; the things they’re doing and saying in films right now just shouldn’t be allowed. There’s no dignity anymore and I think that’s very important.”
    —Mae West (1892–1980)