Category Archives: Concert films

Beatles, Classic Concert, Concert films, Music Calendar

Today: The Beatles played at Shea Stadium in 1965 – 48 years ago

1965SheaStadiumTicket_single

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, honoured by their country, decorated by their Queen, loved here in America, here are The Beatles!”
– Ed Sullivan

The Shea Stadium concert on 15 August was record breaking and one of the most famous concert events of its era.  Over 55,000 people saw the concert.  “Beatlemania” was at one of its highest marks at the Shea show. Film footage taken at the concert shows many teenagers and women crying, screaming, and even fainting. The crowd noise was such that security guards can be seen covering their ears as The Beatles enter the field.

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The Beatles backstage preparing to take to the stage:

 

Set List:

All songs written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, except where noted.

  1. “Twist and Shout” (Phil Medley, Bert Russell)
  2. “She’s a Woman” (not included in film)
  3. “I Feel Fine”
  4. “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” (Larry Williams)
  5. “Ticket to Ride”
  6. “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” (Carl Perkins) (not included in film)
  7. “Can’t Buy Me Love”
  8. “Baby’s in Black”
  9. “Act Naturally” (Voni Morrison, Johnny Russell)
  10. “A Hard Day’s Night”
  11. “Help!”
  12. “I’m Down”

The Beatles at Shea Stadium is also a documentary of The Beatles’ concert. The documentary was filmed, using fourteen cameras to capture the euphoria and mass hysteria that was Beatlemania in America in 1965. We have included the half hour Beatles segment from the one hour documentary:

 

The Beatles returned to Shea Stadium during their final tour, on 23 August 1966.

– Hallgeir

Sources: Wikipedia, BeatlesBible.com, thebeatles.com

Concert films, Country, Film

The Highwaymen – Full concert and documentary

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Highwaymen 1

The Highwaymen was a Country music supergroup comprising four of the genre’s biggest artists well known for their pioneering influence on the outlaw country subgenre: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. Active between 1985 and 1995, these four artists recorded three major label albums as The Highwaymen: two on Columbia Records and one for Liberty Records. Their Columbia works produced three chart singles, including the Number One “Highwayman” in 1985.

We love these artists separate and we loved when they sang together,  and we have dug up two great treasures.

First we have a concert shot at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum in 1990, In between the songs are short snippets of separate anecdotes the four share about each other. They have respect, love and admiration for one another. The music is superb, the audience receptive and the band a core of excellent musicians.

The Highwaymen Live 1990:

 

We also have found a terrific documentary, originally it was included as a bonus DVD on a release of the album The Road Goes On Forever. A good album by the way. It shows the Highwaymen in the studio and his has some great candid moments, it’s a gem.

Live Forever – The Highwaymen in the studio:


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Concert films, Live, Van Morrison

Concert film: Van Morrison – Astral Weeks live 2008

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AV live VM screenshot

“The way I was singing the songs was jazz”
– Van Morrison

I have changed my mind, I do that from time to time (all the time actually…).  My favorite Van Morrison album has been Moondance for years, but now it is Astral Weeks. I’ve always loved Astral Weeks, it has been third on my list of his albums (the live album, It’s too late to stop now, had the second spot). 

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As of today it is officially on top, I get it now, I can truly see the greatness. I have played it to death these last weeks and it goes beyond pop/rock music, it is in a genre of it’s own. I know I’m ramblin’, but bear with me, I’m just an exited convert.

I went on YouTube to see if I could find some good versions of the songs, what I found was Morrisons’s fantastic live re-enactment of his masterpiece. I collected what I found, it is amazing!

Astral Weeks live VM

On November 7 and 8, 2008, four decades after the release of the classic Astral Weeks, Van Morrison revisited the album live in its entirety at the Hollywood Bowl, and delivered a jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring performance. Van did not simply re-create what he did 40 years ago in a NY studio, but instead took the songs to a dramatically higher contemporary level. The Jazz-rooted compositions of Astral Weeks are poetic stories of young love and the quest to find one’s place in life. They were, and remain, ideal source material for musical improvisation that gives way to the sense of wonder for which Morrison has always striven.
– Amazon.com

Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl: The Concert Film is the second official DVD by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released May 19, 2009. It features the songs from his 1968 classic album, Astral Weeks. The live performances on the movie were filmed on two concerts by Van Morrison at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California with a fourteen member band.

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Morrison has also released an album on CD and vinyl on February 24, 2009 entitled, Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl with material from these two concerts.

UPDATE: Please read the comments from Andrew Robertson for a more comprehensive (and more correct) account of the two concerts.

Van Morrison – Astral Weeks / I Believe I’ve Transcended:

I play in a free-form, inspired style; I have no choice but to change it up according to the vibe. The new record was recorded live; what [you hear] is what was played in its raw form. There was no mixing, no tweaking, no post-production at all, and I like that raw and edgy sound in real time. It’s got a lot of boom to it! I really like listening to live records, it’s my new thing. Real and alive, the life is not taken out of it like a studio produced record can and very too often, does. My motto right now is post mixing kills.

– Van Morrison (to Paste Magazine)

Van Morrison – Beside You:

Van Morrison – Slim Slow Slider / I Start Breaking Down:

Van Morrison – Sweet Thing:

Van Morrison – The Way Young Lovers Do:

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Classic Concert, Concert films, Live

30 Best live albums countdown: 19 – Live at Carnegie Hall by Bill Withers

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bill withers-live carnegie hall

Bill Withers is not underrated by people who know about him and who recognizes his music, but he is unknown and criminally overlooked by the general public. He is in fact one of the greatest singer/songwriters in music history. He is soulful, but his music is not constrained to the soul genre. He writes good songs and he is a marvelous performer.

bill withers live

Bill Withers became a part of the L.A. music scene in the late 60s after a period in the Navy. While he was assembling airplane toilets for Boeing he was signed to the Sussex music label (in 1970) and had instant success with his first album, Just As I Am, and the acoustic ballad, Ain’t No Sunshine. Bill Withers had more in common with the singer/songwriters than with the rising disco/soul, even though there’s a strong groove in his songs, sometimes even a funky rhythm. His second release, 1972’s Still Bill, became a career high point, it contained songs like Use Me and Lean On Me, big hits both of them. The album cemented his position in music history.

In 1972 he also recorded the fantastic live album, Live at Carnegie Hall (released 1973). Nowhere is his narrative prowess and powerful vocal style more clear. This is number 19 on my list of the best live albums of all time.

The opener is a slow version of Use Me that Bill Withers turns into a seductive almost nine minute jam.

Use Me (Soul Train, 197?), not nearly as good as the Carnegie Hall version, but very good anyway:

The album also has the definitive version of Ain’t no Sunshine, a faster more jazzy interpretation than usual.

bill_withers_barron_storey_72 copy

There are many great songs on the album, but the real masterpiece is Grandma’s Hands and especially Bill Wither’s long intro, he is reminiscing about his grandmother playing tambourine in the church. We hear him describe the dancing and preaching at the church, his grandmother banging on the tambourine in joy, it’s an incredible story. He then launches into a heartfelt version of the song which, again, bests the original by miles. After hearing this version and his strong introduction, you will experience the song in new and deeper way.

Grandma’s Hands (audio with slide show):

“Grandma them had one a them churches where they sung “If you wanna help me Jesus, it’s alright. If you wanna help me Jesus, it’s alright”. And at the funeral they used to have to tie the caskets down! Yeah. Yeah.” – Bill Withers from the introduction

Allmusic (Steven McDonald):
A wonderful live album that capitalizes on Withers’ trademark melancholy soul sound while expanding the music to fit the room granted by a live show. Lovely versions of “Grandma’s Hands” and “Lean on Me” are balanced by heartfelt downbeat numbers like “Better Off Dead” and “I Can’t Write Left-Handed,” the latter being an anti-war song with a chilling message. The set finishes off with the lengthy “Harlem/Cold Baloney,” with lots of audience-pleased call-and-response going on. One of the best live releases from the ’70s.
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Concert films, Live, Paul Weller

Four great concerts with Paul Weller and his bands – Happy Birthday

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We have found four shows by The Jam (2), The Style Council and Paul Weller solo, they are all very, very good! I shouldn’t pick one of them but the greatest revelation is The Style Council’s set at the Roskilde Festival in 1985, it is just so good, they often get a bad rap but this proves that they were a great live band!

A short but sweet set from The Jam in Paris in 1981:

The Jam at Bingley Hall in 1982, an effing great show!

The Style Council – Live Roskilde Festival 1985:

From Paul Weller’s solo career we have chosen a great set from 2010 in Sidney were he mixes old Jam/Style Council stuff with his solo material:

– Hallgeir