The 15 Best Concert Movies of All Time

Although concert movies featuring classical music debuted during the early days of cinema, it wasn’t until the rock-and-roll era that concert films started to make sweet music at the box office. From the Woodstock era to Taylor Swift, concert movies give fans a more up-close-and-personal experience that they may not get at a live show while seated in the peanut gallery.

The best concert films by artists such as the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, U2, Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and David Bowie are more than just movies — they are precious time capsules that capture artists in a live setting at the peak of their influence.

Here are 15 of the best concert films from the 1960s to today.

Stop Making Sense (1984)

Jonathan Demme directed this 1984 concert film featuring the Talking Heads, famous for the songs “Psycho Killer” and “Burning Down the House.” Filmed over four nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre in 1983, Stop Making Sense is considered the high mark of concert movies.

Lead singer David Byrne is fascinating to watch onstage as he uses acting and performance to convey the meaning in the songs’ lyrics. His herky-jerky movements in an oversize box suit at one point during the show is one of the most iconic video moments of the 1980s.

Stop Making Sense’s continuing success decades after its release prompted A24 to release a 4K Ultra HD version with three cuts of the movie in May 2024.

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1979)

This 1979 British documentary and concert film captures the final date of David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust Tour at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on July 3, 1973.

Not only does Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars provide a glimpse into the final night of one of Bowie’s most enduring personas, it preserves the advent of glam rock for curious future generations and features Bowie classics such as “Changes,” “Moonage Daydream,” and, of course, “Ziggy Stardust.” Although the movie only made $565,228 in theaters back in the day, fans can now watch the 50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray thanks to Rhino Home Video.

A 4K remastered theatrical rerelease that added performance footage of songs such as “The Jean Genie” dropped in 2023. Younger viewers who watch Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars will immediately connect the dots between the Starman and modern-day artists such as Lady Gaga, who cite Bowie as an influence.

Madonna: Truth or Dare (1990)

This documentary film captures Madonna at the height of her fame during the 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. Years before social media, Truth or Dare offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at the biggest female artist in the world at the time, even if doing so revealed a more immature and vulnerable woman than the confident artist presented in her music videos, which shocked some fans.

The documentary portions of the film featuring Madonna acting like a diva were filmed in black and white, while the concert performances are in color. Madonna: Truth or Dare boasts hit songs such as “Holiday” and “Express Yourself” and influenced future celebrity documentaries and reality shows. The movie, now available on Blu-ray, made $29 million at the box office against a budget of only $4.5 million.

U2: Rattle and Hum (1988)

Phil Joanou directed the rockumentary film U2: Rattle and Hum, a companion to the Irish band’s combination live/studio album of the same name. The movie came out during a watershed moment just after U2 broke into the mainstream and became the most visible socially conscious rock band in the world, paving a road for other alternative artists to emerge from the underground.

The film, which made $8.6 million worldwide, follows the band during and after The Joshua Tree tour as Bono and the boys continued to incorporate elements of American blues, soul, and gospel into their sound. U2: Rattle and Hum features the rousing lead single “Desire,” and the album reached number one on the Billboard 200.

Sign o’ the Times (1987)

Prince directed, scored, and starred in the 1987 concert film Sign o’ the Times to promote his ninth studio album of the same name. The movie features live performances by Prince and his band as well as the music video for “U Got the Look” featuring Sheena Easton.

Prince passed away in 2016, so Sign o’ the Times is a lasting testament to just how electric and influential Prince was onstage and is more important now as a historical record of one of the most groundbreaking music artists ever. Although the concert film only made $3 million worldwide and remains unavailable on disc in the United States, Sign o’ the Times found a new audience at home on Showtime and the Criterion Channel.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023)

How do you follow up one of the most lucrative tours of all time? If you’re Taylor Swift, you make the highest-grossing concert film of all time by cobbling together performances from different nights of the Eras Tour. Even if you don’t connect with Swift’s music and only watch because of a Swiftie in your life, it’s difficult to watch Eras Tour and not be impressed with Swift’s tireless endurance, dazzling sets, choreography, and amazingly consistent vocals.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert movie made over $261 million worldwide and features career-spanning hits such as “Cruel Summer,” “All Too Well,” and “Midnight Rain,” to name just a few. A lengthier, uncut version of the movie subtitled Taylor’s Version premiered on Disney+ in March 2024.

Woodstock (1970)

The 1970 documentary Woodstock directed by Michael Wadleigh captures the 1969 counterculture musical festival that defined the baby boomer generation. Woodstock remains one of (if not the most) influential and significant musical festivals in history, and unless you happened to be one of the 460,000 attendees on that dairy farm in Bethel, New York during those three August days in 1969, this documentary is the best way to experience why it changed music forever.

Featuring artists such as Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, and the Who, Woodstock became a critical and commercial success, winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It earned $34 million worldwide at the box office against a budget of only $600,000 and is now available on Blu-ray to watch at home.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It (2009)

This 2009 documentary film directed by Kenny Ortega chronicles the behind-the-scenes preparations for Michael Jackson’s career-spanning planned tour that never happened due to the King of Pop’s sudden death in 2009. Jackson remains one of the top-selling recording artists of all time, so this posthumously released documentary is an important historical record of Jackson rehearsing some of his greatest hits such as “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” and “Beat It” for the last time.

Reportedly hundreds of hours of rehearsal footage at L.A.’s Staples Center and the Forum were edited to give viewers a peek at what might have been during the tour. Michael Jackson’s This Is It grossed $267.2 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing documentary of all time.

The Last Waltz (1976)

Martin Scorsese directed this movie about the “farewell concert appearance” by The Band that took place on Thanksgiving Day 1976 at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.

The Last Waltz mixes concert and studio performances with interviews of the band conducted by Scorsese. One of the biggest treats for classic rock fans in The Last Waltz is that The Band is joined onstage during the Winterland performance by music legends such as Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, and more.

The Last Waltz made $323,012 worldwide at the box office and proved difficult to find on home video until recently. In 2022, the Criterion Collection released a 4K Ultra HD disc of The Last Waltz, which includes a new interview with Scorsese as well as a 2002 documentary about the making of the concert film.

T.A.M.I. Show (1964)

The title of this 1964 movie is an acronym for Teenage Awards Music International and one of the earliest examples of a concert film during the rock era.

Filmed over two nights at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1964, T.A.M.I. Show highlights rock and R&B artists from America and across the pond such as Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye, the Dakotas, the Rolling Stones, and the Supremes. The highlight is seeing all the performers get together and dance onstage during the grand finale.

Another memorable moment of T.A.M.I. Show is James Brown showing off his signature dance moves, which modern-day viewers can check out on Shout Factory’s 2016 Blu-ray edition of T.A.M.I. Show paired with The Big T.N.T. Show. Exact box office figures for T.A.M.I. Show are unknown due to a lack of data collected at the time of its theatrical release.

Gimme Shelter

Titled after one of the Rolling Stones’ most haunting songs, the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter follows the Stones during the last few weeks of their 1969 tour. In addition to seeing the Stones in their prime performing hits such as “Brown Sugar,” “Under My Thumb,” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” the documentary also includes footage of ’60s legends Ike and Tina Turner performing “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and Jefferson Airplane performing “The Other Side of This Life.”

Gimme Shelter also features footage from the notorious Altamont Free Concert, at which Hells Angel member Alan Passaro killed concertgoer Meredith Hunter during the Stones’ performance.

Gimme Shelter is notable for chronicling the end of the peace-and-love ’60s counterculture movement. The movie, rereleased in 2000, earned $256,094 worldwide. The Criterion Collection released a Blu-ray of the landmark film in 2009.

The Song Remains the Same

The 1976 concert film The Song Remains the Same chronicles three nights of performances by Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1973.

The British promotional materials accompanying the movie read: “The band’s special way of giving their millions of friends what they had been clamoring for — a personal and private tour of Led Zeppelin. For the first time the world has a front row seat on Led Zeppelin.” Robert Plant and Jimmy Page may never perform Led Zeppelin songs together again, but The Song Remains the Same captures their synergy forever.

The band’s manager, Peter Grant, reportedly described the film as “the most expensive home movie ever made.” Details about how much The Song Remains the Same made at the box office are unclear, but the concert film is currently available on Blu-ray from WEA.

Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii

The primary footage from this 1972 concert movie was filmed over a four-day period in Pompeii, the Italian city that got buried in ash when nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. The ancient Amphitheatre of Pompeii is one of the oldest surviving structures of its kind from the Roman Empire. Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii was rereleased in 1974 with additional footage showing Pink Floyd working on their masterpiece: Dark Side of the Moon.

Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii is available on DVD, currently the best way to see the classic movie that is not yet available for streaming. Box office information about both the film’s initial and 1974 rerelease is unclear, but Pink Floyd has sold more than 250 million records worldwide and remains one of the best-selling music artists in history.

Amazing Grace

The 2018 concert film Amazing Grace documents soul legend Aretha Franklin recording her famous 1972 gospel album of the same name. Originally intended for release in 1972, technical and legal issues kept the film in the vault until after Franklin’s death in 2018. Only then did the Queen of Soul’s family agree to release the film, which received near-universal praise and made nearly $8 million at the box office.

No matter what your religious beliefs, it’s impossible to watch Franklin belt “Amazing Grace” and “Mary Don’t You Weep” without feeling a touch of power greater than oneself, so it’s amazing that Universal released Amazing Grace on Blu-ray in 2018 for those who didn’t catch it in theaters. It is also currently streaming on Max.

Monterey Pop

Director D. A. Pennebaker’s 1968 rockumentary Monterey Pop covers the Monterey International Pop Festival of 1967. This 1960s time capsule captures some of the biggest emerging stars of the era, including Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, the Mamas and the Papas, and Jimi Hendrix, the latter of whom famously set his guitar on fire onstage and threw a part of it into the crowd during his performance of “Wild Thing.”

Although exact box office data for the rockumentary is unavailable, Monterey Pop is available on a Criterion Collection DVD and Blu-ray. It is also available to stream on Max.