Concert films transport audiences to the front row of their favorite artists’ concerts. They give audiences access to a concert that they otherwise couldn’t see because it took place half a world away or a lifetime ago, and they allow viewers to experience music in as intimate a setting as possible. The very first concert film to go mainstream was 1948’s Concert Magic featuring violinist Yehudi Menuhin, and since then has become a staple for popular musicians.
Concert films, like any other genre of film, need both the performer and the director to deliver compelling content. In fact, some of the biggest names in film have directed concert films including Oscar winners Martin Scorcese (The Last Waltz) and Jonathan Demme (Stop Making Sense). After all, the optics of film and the film viewing experience – whether that happens in a theater or in your living room – are very different from a live viewing experience.
The eight concert films below manage to strike the delicate balance between live event and cinematic experience while showcasing the talents of some of the hottest performers of the last 40 years.
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8 Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense
Cinecom / Palm Pictures
The Talking Heads’ 1984 tour in support of their album Speaking in Tongues is the subject of this concert film directed by Jonathan Demme. The film starts with lead singer David Byrne striding onto the stage in his trademark suit and the boombox he used on the Psycho Killer video; gradually, band members join the stage one by one per song until it’s a full, rollicking good time. Stop Making Sense definitely transports the viewer back in time to the mid-1980s and all the glorious kitsch of that era.
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7 Beyonce: Homecoming
Beyonce was pure Black Girl Magic in this 2019 film of her performance at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which Beyonce produced and directed herself. In Homecoming, she highlights the history and music of HBCUs while also delivering a rousing and epic presentation herself.. The film was a critical and commercial success that furthered the sentiment of “Beychella forever.” Certainly, the stage at Coachella was the ideal place for Queen Bey to stage her magnificent production. Every moment of this concert film will have your toes tapping.
6 Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter
Cinema 5
Gimme Shelter follows the legendary Rolling Stones on their epic 1969 tour. When the directors, famed documentarians the Maysles brothers, set out to film this tour, they had no idea it would lead to the disaster at the Altamont Free Concert where a riot, violence, and murder overshadowed the countercultural intent of the event. Gimme Shelter combines great live performances from the tour with documentary footage that takes us back in time to the late 1960s. Many people consider this film to document the death of the ’60s and the free love movement, right at the bloody fight between the Hell’s Angels and hippies.
5 Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen on Broadway
Netflix
Bruce Springsteen is a legend, and you almost don’t have to even know or particularly like his music to enjoy this concert film of his popular Broadway show. The Boss shows why he’s, well, The Boss, as he takes the audience through his life and career, telling the stories that inspired his music in a very intimate look at what drives him. He shows in Springsteen on Broadway why he has remained one of the most energetic live peformers for the past four decades.
4 Madonna: Truth or Dare
Younger audiences may be shocked to learn that Madonna has always pushed the envelope of what is acceptable to general society, and the 1991 film Truth or Dare follows her controversial 1990 “Blonde Ambition” tour. It is a true time capsule back to 1990 and the social issues of the time, guided by Madonna’s tour, which kicked off in Japan. The film gives audiences an inside look at the production of Madonna’s tour and her relationship with her dancers and other crew.
3 Lady Gaga: Gaga: Five Foot Two
Lady Gaga’s Gaga: Five Foot Two follows Lady Gaga through the release of her Joanne album and as she prepares for her Super Bowl halftime appearance. The film shows Gaga’s relationship with her family, and how she handles the chronic pain she has from years of punishing dance moves and near non-stop touring. Fans of Gaga will fall more in love with her and even those who were lukewarm about her will fall in love with Gaga and the compassion and grace she showers the people in her orbit with.
2 U2: Rattle & Hum
Paramount Pictures
Rattle and Hum is interesting because it captures U2 when they were well known but just becoming the global superstars that they are today. It was filmed a year after the release of and world tour for Joshua Tree. The film takes place at the breathtaking amphitheater Red Rocks outside of Denver, Colorado. Bono, Adam, Larry and The Edge are all so young and full of raw, pulsing energy. With artistic imagery and beautiful performances, it is as perfect a concert film as any ever made.
1 Prince: Sign O’ the Times
Prince’s Sign O’ the Times is from the same era as Rattle and Hum, and while it is radically different from that film, it is no less impactful. Filmed in 1987, it shows Prince at the height of his career and is based on his 1987 double-album of the same name. As a bonus, the film also features the incomparable Sheila E on drums. The bulk of the film footage is from two shows in Europe, but the music was re-recorded once he was back home at Paisley Park in Minnesota. Prince directs and controls the action here and, as he showed in Purple Rain, was one of the greatest performers to ever take the stage. The film truly captures the kinetic energy of a concert from one of the best.
