James Walsh 

Are these the best concert films of all time?

Open thread: Björk’s latest concert film, Biophilia Live, will be screened in cinemas across the world. What are the best live concert films you’ve ever seen?
  
  

STOP MAKING SENSE - David Byrne
STOP MAKING SENSE - David Byrne Photograph: c.Island/Everett/Rex Features Photograph: c.Island/Everett / Rex Features

Björk’s latest concert film, Biophilia Live, is to be screened in cinemas around the world. Recorded live at London’s Alexandra Palace in 2013, the concert featured dizzying visuals, an Icelandic choir, and a truly top notch wig.

I was at the concert, and though Björk showed her routine brilliance, I’m not sure if the resulting film will be able to match the majesty of her performance recorded at the Royal Opera House in 2001, or her show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire in 1997, filmed amid her Homogenic-era pomp.

We asked @guardianmusic followers to chose their greatest ever music films. Here are some of the suggestions - add your own in the open thread below.

1) Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads (1984)

An all-time classic, by far the most popular suggestion with our followers. As Caspar Llewellyn Smith wrote for the Observer in 2007: “The beauty of Stop Making Sense is that, unusually, the camera lingered on the musicians in the act of performance, with no close-ups of guitar solos or other such fripperies. Rather than being lost as an artefact of its time, the film remains as fresh as ever, even if that famous suit has long since gone out of fashion.”

2) LCD Sound System - Shut Up and Play The Hits (2012)

A documentary of LCD Soundsystem’s last ever gig at Madison Square Gardens, James Murphy’s purveyors of witty and emotional dance music was a beautifully filmed hometown farewell.

3) Radiohead - Live at the Astoria (1994)

It’s always fun returning to this performance, with the Oxford group sporting the shock-rocker haircuts featured throughout their earlier career, while also introducing several songs from The Bends that would go onto catapult them up towards arena-level superstardom. It’s also a reminder that Jonny Greenwood is a hugely inventive guitarist.

4) The Band - The Last Waltz (1978)

Filmed by Martin Scorsese, The Band’s 16 years on the road ended with this valedictory concert, with special guest stars aplenty - among them, Bob Dylan (inevitably), Joni Mitchell, Dr John, Neil Young and Eric Clapton. This is a band at the top of their game, saying farewell to their fans and perhaps to an era.

5) Beach Boys - Live at Knebworth (1980)

We could have gone with Prince’s Sign o’ the Times. We also saw suggestions for Prodigy’s World’s On Fire, Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same, and others. But Matthew Horton has a killer reason for including this raucous Beach Boys live show at the dawn of the eighties.

 

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