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Guardian's Top 20 Concert Films of All Time


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https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2023/oct/12/the-20-greatest-concert-films-ranked
 

20. Grace Jones - "A One Man Show" (1982)

19. Minor Threat - "Live at 9:30 Club" (1983)

18. Jay-Z - "Fade to Black" (2004)

17. Joe Cocker - "Mad Dogs & Englishmen" (1971)

16. Beastie Boys - "Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That!" (2006)

15. Chemical Brothers - "Don't Think" (2012)

14. Elvis Presley - "Elvis: That’s The Way It Is" (1970)

13. Prince - "Sign O the Times" (1987)

12. "Wattstax" (1973)

11. Depeche Mode - "101" (1989)

10. Led Zeppelin - "The Song Sounds the Sams" (1976)

9. "Dance Craze" (1981)

8. The Band - "The Last Waltz" (2006)

7. James Brown - "The TAMI Show" (1964)

 

6. Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé (2019)

The rehearsal footage is perhaps a little too hagiographic, but Beyoncé has every right to feel pleased with herself: the first Black woman to headline Coachella put on an authentically jaw-dropping show, its thrills amplified by the movie cutting between its two performances, denoted by a change in costume colour.

5. Monterey Pop (1968)

Jimi Hendrix’s guitar-immolating appearance is Monterey Pop’s most famous moment, but really, the viewer looking for highlights is spoilt for choice: Janis Joplin’s racked reading of Ball and Chain, the thuggish power of the Who – utterly at odds with the festival’s peace-and-love vibe – or Otis Redding’s majestic career-changing appearance.

4. Gimme Shelter (1970)

Most great concert movies make you wish you’d been there; Gimme Shelter makes you delighted you weren’t. The Rolling Stones’ performances are really good, but that’s besides the point: the film’s power lies in the way it keeps cutting back to the band’s subsequent reaction to reports and footage of the violence and murder at Altamont.

3. Stop Making Sense (1984)

Director Jonathan Demme called Stop Making Sense a “performance film” rather than a concert film, stripping away visual and lighting effects to concentrate on Talking Heads’ incredible, highly choreographed performance, catching them at their post-Speaking in Tongues musical peak, their augmented live band awesomely tight and funky.

2. Amazing Grace (2018)

When Aretha “gets her body and soul all over some righteous song, she’ll scare the **** out of you”, the late Billy Preston once opined. Well, quite: other concert films may be more visually spectacular, but for sheer, blazing musical intensity, nothing matches this long-unreleased 1972 film of Aretha Franklin at her father’s LA church.

1. Summer of Soul (2021)

The 5th Dimension at the 1969 Harlem cultural festival. The 5th Dimension at the 1969 Harlem cultural festival.Photograph: Album/Alamy

Summer of Soul isn’t so much a concert film as an incredible piece of cultural archaeology, unearthing long-buried footage of the 1969 Harlem cultural festival. It seems astonishing it was ever forgotten in the first place: it may well represent the pop era’s greatest gathering of Black talent – with every participant at the top of their game – and the audio and visual quality is stunning. Literally every performance, from Nina Simone’s incendiary rabble rousing to Sly and the Family Stone’s euphoric set, to Mavis Staples and Mahalia Jackson’s soaring gospel, is jaw-dropping: no wonder it scooped every award going.

Posted

last waltz and 101  :clap3: 

Posted

I was almost expecting Eras Tour to be #1  :bibliahh:

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Posted

Where's this? :biblio:

 

 

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Posted

Cool list, I'm happy Grace Jones is acknowledged.

10 minutes ago, DuffLavigne said:

Where's this? :biblio:

 

 

If anything Blonde Ambition could be included, this wasn't anything new for her

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The Song Sounds the Sams :clap3:

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Stop Making Sense rewired my brain

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Wheres michaels This is it?

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Redo

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21. Katy Perry: "Part of Me in 3D" :clap3:

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22. Shakira: "MTV Unplugged" :clap3:

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Stop Making Sense and Homecoming :clap3:

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Homecoming should be higher :clap3:

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It will always be SMS

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Blonde Ambition is missing 

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