Books, Movies, Music & Entertainment - Best music DVD documentary, concert, film etc

What's the best music documentary, concert film, compilation etc you have seen? I'll nominate two.

DiG (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388888/) - a documentary on the bands the Dandy Warhols and the 'Brian Jonestown Massacre'. The bloke who is the lead singer of (and essentially is ) BJM, Anton Newcombe, is extremely talented but completely mental. The tantrums, violence, drug use, egocentricity, arrests and lunacy are excellent. Friggin hilarious stuff.

AC/DC 'Plug Me In (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug_Me_In)' is good too. Lots of footage featuring Bon Scott, including old Aussie TV appearances on shows like 'Countdown'. Is there a band on the planet as good as this one is live?

I'll nominate "Bring on the Night" with Sting. After The Police broke up, Sting decided to pursue a different direction by being backed up by a group of very talented jazz session players - every single one of them were world class musicians (including Branford Marsalis on sax). Sting made an interesting point by saying that many music documentaries record the end of a band's life, but there were none that record a band forming. He plays stuff from his "Dream of the Blue Turtles" solo album, plus there are a lot of interesting reworkings of songs he did with The Police. Also, as a "bonus", you get to see Sting's child being born. It's raw - all bloody and wet - really an intense moment.

Sting is a perfectionist when it comes to music, he's incredibly pompous and he is immensely talented.

I'm definitely going to check out "Plug Me In". I am a fan of AC/DC.

Talking Heads Stop Making Sense. Giant suit awesomeness!

The Deepest End by Govt Mule is an awsome CD/DVD package. The DVD alone is 3+ hour of concert. It was a one off tribute concert for the late Allen Woody. They got all the best bass players in the world together for a monster jam of Mule song and other covers by some of the featured bassist bands. Like with Roger Glover (Deep Purple) they did a cover of I'm A Leo. The cover of Black Sabbath's Sweet Leaf with Jason Newstead was one of my favorites.

http://www.amazon.com/Deepest-End-Bonus-Govt-Mule/dp/B0000Y37RO

Concert video - Peter Gabriel, Growing Up Live. Awesome concert, with a great visual component; you'er not just looking at talking (singing) heads, there's actually a point to having the video as opossed to lust listening to the concert.

Documentary - Gigantic by They Might Be Giants. I watched it allt he way through when I got it, then watched it all the way through with commentary. All in one sitting.

Sting is a perfectionist when it comes to music, he's incredibly pompous and he is immensely talented.
Sprocket Man,

My missus dragged me to a Sting concert about 10 years ago. The band was as tight a group as I have seen, technically excellent.....and boring as bat sht. One of the most dull concerts I have ever been to.

Can't Forget This Is Spinal Tap. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UOYKgXk4yE)

I do like Heartland Reggae (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gfIUdwlTAU)a lot.

8 posts and not yet a mention of The Last Waltz? For shame, bikeforums.net, for SHAME!!


Though, secretly, I'll take Stop Making Sense or Gimme Shelter over The Band most of the time.

And a vote for I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, which documented the making of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as the band got dumped from its label, regained its own catalog, and parted ways with Jay Bennett. Great documentary.

You mean Last Waltz? Yeah definitely a classic.

You mean Last Waltz? Yeah definitely a classic.

Crap, yeah. Late in the day and I fudged the name of the film. The Last Waltz.

:o

A film about Jimi Hendrix

Westway to the World was a pretty good doc on The Clash. As far as live goes im partial to The Who's Live at the Isle of Wight. The Who were just the ultimate performers IMO.

Any of the published Stevie Ray Vaughan DVDs come to my mind for performance videos to get me watching.

Depeche Mode 101

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/1016/depechemode101ca4.jpg

Was finally released on DVD a couple of years ago, and if you have a nice surround sound system, this is one of the best Music documentarys ever made. (and I have seen a bunch).

There are two discs, one disc is the documentary following fans picked in a contest, to travel by bus and follow Depeche Mode on their "Music for the Masses" tour in 1988.

I guess I am partial, since I am IN the movie (was at the Pasadena show where they shot the main disc footage).

Here is what director had to say


A MESSAGE FROM THE PENNEBAKERS:

Depeche Mode Fans,

We are very happy to finally release "Depeche Mode 101" on DVD. However, many of you are asking why the DVD does not include the entire Rosebowl concert, and the simple answer is that we do not have it.

When we initially approached the band about releasing "Depeche Mode 101"on DVD, our primary motive was to have "101" available to fans in the most up to date, visually and aurally stunning format that technology would allow. And in doing so we were able to protect the video and bring it up to the highest standard possible before it was too late. After months in labs and studios, we now have a beautiful new video with a new 5.1 audio mix to release to you on DVD.

We have included as an extra on the DVD a one-hour television special of the Rosebowl concert that we made in 1989. The television special has never been released on video and had a very limited television distribution in Europe. It was a priority to preserve and re-master the video as it also was in jeapordy of deteriorating since it was originally mastered on an analogue video format in the days before digital video. The program has been inadvertently referred to as the complete Rosebowl concert. It is not the total concert, but the special featured two new songs, "Pleasure Little Treasure" and "Somebody" which were not included in "Depeche Mode 101." We are sorry for this misunderstanding and understand the disappointment about not having everything from that evening however it is unclear from our logs if the footage even exists of the three missing songs to make the complete Rosebowl set list. But we wanted to make available this program that has been sitting virtually unseen in our archive for so many years.

In some ways, just as "Depeche Mode 101" is not a concert film, but a film about a band - Alan, Andy, David, and Martin -- and a record of that particular time for them and their fans, we wanted the DVD to show the band and the fans today. In the 15 years since we shot 101, much has happened to Depeche Mode - notably, Alan is no longer with them. We wanted to include Alan in our DVD but it was his decision not to take part. What was important to us was to show the band members today, to find out what they are doing, and to have them reflect not only on the past but what they envision for their future. All we can say is that they graciously let us into their homes for this DVD and shared their lives and candid thoughts with us both on camera and in the studio for the audio commentary. We were reminded again of why we love this band - they are not only talented but they are just amazingly, wonderful people.

We are also grateful to Chris, Oliver and Jay, forever the bus kids, who very kindly let us film them doing what they are involved in now and for talking to us about how that trip changed their lives. And we truly appreciate Daniel Miller, of Mute Records, for taking the time to contribute his personal stories about the beginning of Depeche Mode.

So, we hope that you understand better our choices for the materials included in this new DVD release of "Depeche Mode 101" and enjoy it as much as we do.

Most sincerely,

Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker

Last Waltz
Gimme Shelter
Woodstock ( started it all, ya know?)
and I just saw a Leonard Cohen retrospective on PBS.
Very good really,

and Live at the Mocambo SRV.

Marty

Gimme Shelter

Concert: Porcupine Tree "Arriving Somewhere..."
Documentary: Flogging Molly "Whiskey On A Sunday"

honorable mention: Opeth "Lamentations"

Kudos to the dude who mentioned SRV...

fugazi- instrument

All-time favorite: X-The Unheard Music. A fascinating portrait of a (criminally underappreciated) band at their creative peak. Honorable mention: U2's Rattle & Hum. The last stage before their total world takeover.

Last Waltz
Don't look Back and No Direction Home.
Also a good film about the music industry today called Before The Music Dies

T.A.M.I. Show from 1964. James Brown in his prime as well as many other R&B acts and the young Rolling Stones.

Graceland (The African Concert) - Paul Simon; filmed in Zimbabwe in 1987. Superb with Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Sign O' the Times - Prince live in Rotterdam 1987. Prince at his best.

I have all of these in VHS, don't know if there are DVD releases or not.

The Kids are Alright

Some good ones here. Would have to add Rush in Rio. The crowd is sooo filled with energy!!

fugazi- instrument

Hell, yes.

U2 - Rattle and Hum

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds - Live at Radio City Music Hall.

DVD would be Minimum-Maximum by Kraftwerk.

All the other stuff I have on Laserdiscs.