I was just watching "BB King: Live in Africa" the other day and was I was reminded how great concert films used to be. By looking at the footage, you would never have guessed that it was a huge stadium show. The cinematography was the polar opposite to what we're all used today...here we had patient, and slow shots. You would actually see camera men on stage, kind of intrusive shots yes---probably very distracting to the audience..but very rewarding for the viewer.

It annoys me that concert DVDs today are the complete opposite. They gotta have 20 cameras everywhere, cutting from one angle to another every second, and of course: one swooping crane camera capturing the grand scale of the event, constant shots of the audience and the stage. You always hear them say: "it's like watching the Rolling Stones in your own living room!" Really? I don't recall being able to have a bird's eye view from 100 feet in the air looking down at the stadium.

The latest AC/DC Buenos Aires DVD pisses the hell out of me. Constant shots of the entire stage...quick cuts...audience reaction every 20 seconds (deservedly so considering the crazy crowd but still...too much). The Stones' Austin DVD was very much like that too. You're CONSTANTLY reminded that it's a stadium show...a shot of the stage and screen constantly. 30 HD cameras capturing the whole thing. Is it really necessary?

So...what's everyone's best shot, concert film and their worst?

Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense is wonderfully shot.

I still gotta get that Gumboot, I'm a big Talking Heads fan...but for whatever reason; the DVD is so expensive whenever i see it online or in a store....$26-$28...

Hey Justin, I'll make you a trade. That AC/DC DVD for some of my Classic Blues DVDs (Muddy, Wolf, etc).

...it would be a temporary trade.

haha temporary trade, eh?

I gotta look into getting a Wolf DVD..I only have one Muddy DVD (live in Chicago...appropriate right?) and it's alright. Which ones do you have?

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Justin
So...what's everyone's best shot, concert film and their worst?

Hard for me to say since I have approx 200 music/concert DVDs and a few Blu Rays. I hate editing where the camera changes constantly every few seconds.

But my favorites for superb editing are (off the top of my head):

Stones - Some Girls Live in Texas '78
Stones - Rock & Roll Circus
The Who - Live at the Coliseum '69 (on the Kilburn DVD)
Concert For Bangladesh
Judas Priest - Live Vengeance
Various Rory Gallagher DVDs (except Irish Tour '74 where you see his face mostly)
Queen - On Fire '82
Kissology Vol. 1
Sex Pistols Live at Longhorns '78
Iggy POP - Kiss my Blood
Van Morrison - Live At Montreux 1974/1980
Led Zeppelin (2 DVD)

Worst editing-wise is perhaps The Who live at the Isle of Wight 1970 & Cream Farewell Concert '68.

I also have the BB King: Live in Africa DVD but I haven't looked at it yet. It got great reviews.

The last waltz is brilliant

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Justin
haha temporary trade, eh?

I gotta look into getting a Wolf DVD..I only have one Muddy DVD (live in Chicago...appropriate right?) and it's alright. Which ones do you have?

The Howlin' Wolf Story, and I will also lend you The Great American Folk/Blues Fistival: The British tours with The Wolf, Muddy, Lighin' Hopkins, Lonnie Johnson...excellent quality. I have the whole series (somewhere) but that one is the best.

Stones-gimme shelter/altamont
the who-colliseum 69
Turbonegro-ressurection
Johnny Thunders-down to kill
ACDC-uncut
G:G:Allin-raw,brutal,rough and bloody
David Bowie-Tokyo78 (jap.edition)
The Flying Crap-live Quart 02
Motorhead-live through the 80s and 90s (jap.edition)

Aside from Stones films a couple that I really enjoy:

Nirvana - Live At Reading. I'm not sure if the cinematography is all that groundbreaking, but there is very little in the way of crowd shots, and it was a hot show.

Pearl Jam: Immagine In Cornice. It's part concert film with some behind the scenes and life on the road documentary footage, but the cinematography on the live numbers is great. As are the settings for the shows, like Arena di Verona, Palasport Olimpico, etc.

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Braincapers
The last waltz is brilliant

Brilliantly shot, but boring as hell. I've never been able to really appreciate this film. Scorsese seemed to try to do something similar with Shine a Light...
but while I like the Band, this film, IMO, lifeted to some kind of mythical status that I don't get.

AC/DC Let There Be Rock - one of the best, one continuous adrenaline rush.

Shine a Light - one of the worst, the audience looked like they were all paid actors.

I have to add King Crimson "Eyes Wide Open" DVD

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shadooby
AC/DC Let There Be Rock - one of the best, s.

Agreed

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Youngie

Stones - Some Girls Live in Texas '78 -
The Who - Live at the Coliseum '69 (on the Kilburn DVD)
Concert For Bangladesh
Judas Priest - Live Vengeance
Various Rory Gallagher DVDs (except Irish Tour '74 where you see his face mostly)
Queen - On Fire '82
Kissology Vol. 1
Sex Pistols Live at Longhorns '78
Iggy POP - Kiss my Blood
Van Morrison - Live At Montreux 1974/1980
Led Zeppelin (2 DVD)

Nice list, Youngie. I very much enjoyed the camera work on the Stones' Texas DVD. I love the shots where the camera is right at the front of stage looking up at Mick when he comes to the tip of the stage. You rarely see that anymore...a camera angle that inconveniences the camera man. It's a great shot...Mick looks like a superhero...taking up the whole screen.

+1 on the Who Kilburn DVD...that is one of my top favorite DVDs ever.

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shadooby
AC/DC Let There Be Rock - one of the best, one continuous adrenaline rush.

Shine a Light - one of the worst, the audience looked like they were all paid actors.

I remember enjoying "Let There Be Rock'...only popped it in once though. I should take another view especially with my new TV that I just got. It was an intimate venue, as I recall, so it was a great show various reasons...good set list too.

I'm glad you mention "Shine A Light" because I would have to also put it on my worst list. How many can that venue hold...like 1500..2000 people? Did they really need all those cameras? Man. I mean, why not look at it go..."Hmm..I wonder what we can do with this film if we only used 5 cameras instead of 15?" It's sad that concert films today focus more on the technology than the stuff happening on stage.

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stupidguy2

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Braincapers
The last waltz is brilliant

Brilliantly shot, but boring as hell. I've never been able to really appreciate this film. Scorsese seemed to try to do something similar with Shine a Light...
but while I like the Band, this film, IMO, lifeted to some kind of mythical status that I don't get.

I hear ya...I remember watching it for the first time and leaving it somewhat underwhelmed. Perhaps it fell victim to the overhype and myth that came with it.

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Justin

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stupidguy2

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Braincapers
The last waltz is brilliant

Brilliantly shot, but boring as hell. I've never been able to really appreciate this film. Scorsese seemed to try to do something similar with Shine a Light...
but while I like the Band, this film, IMO, lifeted to some kind of mythical status that I don't get.

I hear ya...I remember watching it for the first time and leaving it somewhat underwhelmed. Perhaps it fell victim to the overhype and myth that came with it.

The whole thing has this hallowed vibe, wahsed in some sepia-toned Americana...and most of them are from @#$%& Canada!
I think "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is brilliant, but Scorsese seemed to be having some kind of love affair with RObertson and Manuel. I've always fantasized about the Stones crashing that concert, and just blasting the hell out of their led-footed propriety. In concert, the Band was not very dynamic.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-15 02:51 by stupidguy2.

The Who Live at the Isle of White. INCREDIBLE! Great camera work and the sound is fantastic. Probably one of the most scorching versions of Young Man Blues. And an epic version of Water. Well worth it.

The Concerts for Bangladesh, fantastically filmed! Superb sound and great camera work.

Dylan live at Newport Jazz Festival. Finally the show is released in a beautifully packaged with fantastic sound quality and good camera work. In black and white as well. Wonderful.

The Black Crowes Freak n' Roll live at the Filmore. Full length show, fantastic camera work and fantastic sound.

The Black Crowes Cabin Fever- Somewhat like Let it Be with an audience and they aren't breaking up. Great seeing them make their new album in front of an audience. Very good sound! Better than the album.

The Black Crowes War Paint Live. Another great live release with good camera work and stellar sound.

The Who Maximum R and B. Great compilation of The Who live. Great nuggets, good sound quality and long. Also comes with a bonus disc of an entire show at the Rockplast fest in 1980. Also very good quality camera work and sound. Highly recommend for Who fans.

Led Zeppelin Live- DVD compilation from various sources. Compiled by Jimmy with amazing sound, and great quality camera work. Several shows on a two disc collection. A MUST own for Zepp fans.

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Justin
I still gotta get that Gumboot, I'm a big Talking Heads fan...but for whatever reason; the DVD is so expensive whenever i see it online or in a store....$26-$28...

If you can read region 2 DVDs you can find it for less than €15...

My favorite concert videos :

AC/DC - Live At Donington
Rolling Stones - Some Girls Live In Texas
Iron Maiden - Live After Death
Queen - Live in Wembley
Guns N Roses - Tokyo 1992
Led Zep - double DVD set
The Pretenders - Live in London (quite expensive, but awesome filming IMO)
Metallica - Cunning Stunts
Bruce Springsteen - Live In New York City

[doctorstonesblog.blogspot.com]

One of the ones I find very difficult to watch is Aerosmith's "Honkin on Bobo" Live DVD - simpky due to the constant audience reaction shots,

I'd rather watch the band (i.e., Stones in '78 as prime example) than being continually subjected to the audience and their singing along and making faces for the camera.

Iron Maiden's last few are edited terribly, camera never focuses' on anything more than a second or two

My all-time favourite would have to be Bruce Springsteen & the E Stree Band - Live in Barcelona. That version of Spirit in the Night is one of my favourite things ever.

Favourite Stones DVD is definetly the PPV from St. Louis on the B2B Tour.

The worst I've seen would be The Who - Live at Kilburn. Couldn't even watch the whole thing, you can hardly see anything and the songs are barely recognisable.

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OneHit
The worst I've seen would be The Who - Live at Kilburn. Couldn't even watch the whole thing, you can hardly see anything and the songs are barely recognisable.

LOL Nice joke

I'll double that - Kilburn is a great one - Pete is quite funny in it.

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Justin

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Youngie

Stones - Some Girls Live in Texas '78 -
The Who - Live at the Coliseum '69 (on the Kilburn DVD)
Concert For Bangladesh
Judas Priest - Live Vengeance
Various Rory Gallagher DVDs (except Irish Tour '74 where you see his face mostly)
Queen - On Fire '82
Kissology Vol. 1
Sex Pistols Live at Longhorns '78
Iggy POP - Kiss my Blood
Van Morrison - Live At Montreux 1974/1980
Led Zeppelin (2 DVD)

Nice list, Youngie. I very much enjoyed the camera work on the Stones' Texas DVD. I love the shots where the camera is right at the front of stage looking up at Mick when he comes to the tip of the stage. You rarely see that anymore...a camera angle that inconveniences the camera man. It's a great shot...Mick looks like a superhero...taking up the whole screen.

+1 on the Who Kilburn DVD...that is one of my top favorite DVDs ever.

Yeap, I have to agree with everything in the original post.

The worst DVDs (concerning the work of the director) I have seen are concerts directed by Blue Leach or what is that idiot's name. He totaly riuned the 2005 concert DVD of R.E.M. and also the 2005 concert DVD of Depeche Mode. Both concerts would be really great, the bands sounded great, but they have all the negative aspects described above plus terrible camera effects, different on each song. So what you are forced to watch is a series of unwatchable MTV-like videos. You get a headache after 1 minute. I don't understand how could the bands agree to put that crap out.

Then most of the McCartney official DVDs come to mind - most of the time you are forced to watch the crowd, two cuts a second and the performance is interrupted by really stupid fan-interviews. The only exception is the Good Evening NYC, which is truely brilliant. And then there is a plenty of great bootlegs from the recent tours. Luckily.

Then when I think of well-directed concert DVDs, I have to mention In The Flesh by Roger Waters - nice patient and slow camera work, focussed on what is going on on the stage. From the recent releases I have also enjoyed the Springsteen's concert from London, which I think captures the atmosphere very well. And yea, his DVD from NYC is also great... I could go on and name mostly old concert movies.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-16 11:29 by Happy24.

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Doc

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Justin
I still gotta get that Gumboot, I'm a big Talking Heads fan...but for whatever reason; the DVD is so expensive whenever i see it online or in a store....$26-$28...

If you can read region 2 DVDs you can find it for less than €15...

Except the region 2 of this DVD has PAL speedup.

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whitem8
The Who Live at the Isle of White. INCREDIBLE! Great camera work and the sound is fantastic. Probably one of the most scorching versions of Young Man Blues. And an epic version of Water. Well worth it.

Will we let Justin judge?





As audio & video quality go The Who At The Isle OF Wight is great. And there are some great performances but I'd like to see more of the band and less of the crowd...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-16 15:07 by Youngie.

Thanks Youngie...the Isle of Wight is another classic. Nice camera work much like the Stones' "Gimme Shelter"---intimate but also very concise. I'm surprised no one's mentioned "Ladies and Gentleman"--the cameras are so meticulously patient with every shot...it's probably the Stones best looking film.

Great lists everybody! Although, I have many of the DVDs mentioned here and while I agree that they many of them should be staples for any music DVD collection, I wouldn't necessarily place some of them on a list of concert films with amazing cinematography. But I will certainly look into getting them for the music, at least!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-12-17 08:23 by Justin.