The concert film appears to be a dying art form, one that has fallen out of favor with audiences and directors alike as people continue to evolve their definition of how much money good music is “worth”. Perhaps this is just a temporary trend? Let’s hope so, lest the majority of music fans around the world miss out on future performances such as those listed below. Here are EAR FARM’s Top 20 Concert Films of All Time…

20. Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (directed by D.A. Pennebaker) - the importance of the event captured here -David Bowie in his prime performing his final show as Ziggy Stardust- most definitely trumps the film itself. The images are often entirely indecipherable… a muddled mess of blurred out red stage lighting and grainy nonsense, but the music is superb and the historical document of Bowie as Ziggy maintain this film’s importance.

19. Sign O’ the Times (directed by Prince) - twenty years before Superbowl viewers around the world realized Prince’s live show brilliance, the artist put together this film to document four concerts from his European tour in 1987. Prince and the Revolution (including Sheila E.), as always, are superb. The one thing keeping this one from ranking higher: the fact that a large potion of the film was reshot at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios because the artist thought the original footage “unusable”. Ah, royalty.

18. Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black & White Night (directed by Tony Mitchell) - Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, and many other musical luminaries, join Roy Orbison for one of his final concerts ever, just months before he passed away. The results are stunning; both in terms of the brilliantly contrasty black and white photography as well as each and every performance from the all star band. Orbison himself is in peak form, nailing hit after hit and inciting chills with his golden voice. An essential concert film.

17. Dave Chapelle’s Block Party (directed by Michel Gondry) - this film documents both the organization and planning of an event (the titular block party) as well as the event itself. The behind the scenes looks at Chappelle are equally humorous and engagingly “normal”/everyman. It’s a film about a guy who had a dream and decided to try and make it a reality. The resulting concert features first-rate performances from Kanye West, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Erykah Badu, Common, The Roots, and a reunited Fugees (among others). Beleedat.

16. Neil Young: Heart of Gold (directed by Jonathan Demme) - Heart of Gold, centering around a two night performance at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, is equally beautiful, poignant, and powerful. The magnetism of Neil Young is undeniable, the production of the film is perfection incarnate. If at all possible, see this one in a theater. Jonathan Demme sure knows how to capture the essentials of an artist/performance.

15. The Rolling Stones: Rock and Roll Circus (directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg) - shot in 1968 and not released until 1996, this concert curated by the Rolling Stones holds importance for the roster alone, if nothing else. It features Jethro Tull, The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithful, The Stones, and a supergroup called The Dirty Mac (comprised of John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards). All of the bands are in peak/hazed-out form and the added bonuses of the circus elements and people watching the invite-only audience make this one lots of fun.

14. F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.I.V.E. (director unknown) - if you’ve never seen the band Pulp live, or if you’re looking for documentation of a band at the very height of their popularity and abilities, stop right now and find yourself a copy of this film. Shot during the band’s performance at Brixton Academy in 1995, this is likely the greatest evidence that ’90s Britpop was indeed important and much more culturally influential than many outside of the UK realize. Sexy, cheeky, and entirely in control of an arena full of adoring fans, Jarvis Cocker dominates.

13. Elvis: The ‘68 Comeback Special (directed by Steve Binder, Gary Hovey) - shot after Elvis had already lost his grip on the youth of America, but years before his devolution into the king of Vegas kitsch, the ‘68 Comeback Special is perhaps the last, and best, look at Elvis as The King. Dressed in head to toe black leather he croons and gyrates and rocks out and amazes. He also laid out the format for all of the VH1 Storytellers and Unplugged specials that have come since. A must-see for music fans who value history.

12. Depeche Mode 101 (directed by David Dawkins, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker) - If the Pulp film above captures a band at the very height of their popularity and abilities, this one captures a band above and beyond all of that. Depeche Mode 101 is both a documentary and a concert film. It shows the backstage realities of the touring music business, and for that it’s interesting. But it also features the entire last concert of the Music for the Masses tour at the sold-out Rose Bowl in front of more than 80,000 people. Which, it just so happens, was one of the great concerts ever. Except for (or because of) those white jeans…

11. New Order: 316 (directed by David Barnard) - watching New Order perform at the Ukrainian National Home in New York City in 1981 is breathtaking. Here is one of the great bands of all time, that would later play to sold out arenas around the world, literally discovering who they are as a band right there on stage in a venue like any small club across the US. The beginning of the show sees Bernard Sumner performing with the moody intensity of the band’s previous lead singer (the recently departed Ian Curtis) and by the end he’s forging the future of New Order with a new sound and song (”Temptation”) that’s barely even got any lyrics yet. Amazing.

10. Monterey Pop (directed by D.A. Pennebaker) - this film documents the legendary Monterey Pop Festival of 1967 that featured Big Brother and the Holding Company (with Janis Joplin), Jefferson Airplane, Hugh Masekela, Otis Redding, Ravi Shankar, The Mamas & The Papas, The Who (who rightfully demolish their instruments at the end of “My Generation”), and Jimi Hendrix, who famously set his guitar on fire during “Wild Thing”. This last occurrence alone would place the film high on most lists of great concert films, but it’s Otis Redding who truly mesmerizes with his performances of “Shake” and “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”.

9. Wattstax (directed by Mel Stuart) - once called the “black Woodstock”, Wattstax was actually so much more than that. Held in the Los Angeles Coliseum in front of more than 100,000 people, the event was socio-politically charged in a way that Woodstock never was. It was a chance for African Americans to assert that, in opening speaker Jesse Jackson’s words, “I am somebody”, it was about charging $1 for tickets so that anyone who wanted to be there could be, and it was, at least for a few minutes, about the audience coming down onto the field at Rufus Thomas’s request to do the funky chicken. Very plainly, Wattstax was, as Richard Pryor stated, “a soulful expression of the black experience.”

8. Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll (directed by Taylor Hackford) - equal parts documentary and concert film, Hail! Hail! Rock and Roll centers on one single event (Chuck Berry’s 60th birthday party/concert in his hometown of St. Louis) and one singular personality: Chuck Berry, the father of rock and roll. Backstage the viewer gets to see Berry in all of his imperfect glory… a cheapskate with absurd demands and unpredictable behavior. On the stage Chuck is a superstar of the highest order, lording over a concert that includes guest spots from Keith Richards, Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, Etta James, Linda Ronstadt, and many many more. Hail hail rock and roll indeed.

7. Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii (directed by Adrian Maben) - another film that captures a band at a very crucial moment in their career, Live at Pompeii sees Pink Floyd developing their post-Syd Barrett/pre-Darkside of the Moon identity by performing six songs in the ancient Roman amphitheatre in Pompeii, Italy. Without an audience. Just one of the best bands on the planet and the ghosts of history: a perfect concert.

6. The Beatles: Let It Be (directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg) - the original goal of this film was to show the Beatles rehearsing and then performing a live concert, something they hadn’t done in years. However, as the band members played and recorded together during these sessions they began to drift apart and the Let It Be film inadvertently captures many of the dynamics leading up to the band’s break-up. At times, the tension is palpable. However, the reason the film ranks so high on this list is solely for the all-too-brief concert portion. The one, the only, rooftop performance.

5. Led Zeppelin (directed by Dick Carruthers) - note the intentional omission of the vastly overrated The Song Remains the Same film. Why? Well, for starters, there exists much better live footage of Zeppelin than that and it’s contained on the DVDs within this collection released in 2003 called, simply, Led Zeppelin. Here you’ll find concerts from each point of their career: a 1970 show at Royal Albert Hall, 1975 at Earl’s Court, and 1979 at Knebworth. The raw force of the band is undeniable, and never before have today’s music fans been able to so clearly see and hear just why the world fell so completely in love with Led Zeppelin.

4. The Last Waltz (directed by Martin Scorsese) - in many ways, The Last Waltz is the quintessential concert film. One that should be shown to film students to teach them how to shoot a concert with style and reverence. Here, Scorsese (friend and roommate of Robbie Robertson) captures The Band’s “last performance ever” in a manner that is equal parts historical document and artistic statement. Worth viewing for the guest performances and all-star jam session (featuring Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and more) if nothing else, this one’s a classic.

3. Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music (directed by Michael Wadleigh) - Woodstock was, quite possibly, the most important concert of all time. At least in terms of the groundwork it laid for future music festivals, in terms of the roster of performers, and in terms of the cultural zeitgeist it embodied. It should then stand to reason that any filmed documentation of said concert would rank highly on a list of concert films, and Woodstock certainly does, no matter who is compiling the list. Where this film truly exceeds though is in the way that Wadleigh manages to put the viewer right there in the midst of it all… with the hippies and the drugs and the mud and the peace, love, and rock and roll. And, the “Star Spangled Banner”…

2. Urgh! A Music War (directed by Derek Burbidge) - speaking of “capturing the cultural zeitgeist”, Urgh! A Music War does just that some eleven years after Woodstock. What Woodstock was for its generation, Urgh! A Music War was for punk rock, New Wave, and post-punk. Here is a collection of artists and performances just as impressive as those from Woodstock, if not more so. Among those who are featured are The Go-Go’s, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, XTC, Devo, Oingo Boingo, Dead Kennedys, Gary Numan, Klaus Nomi (view below), Wall of Voodoo, Pere Ubu, Steel Pulse, UB40, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Gang of Four, Echo and the Bunnymen, and The Police. It’s a time capsule that offers a look at one of the most important moments in rock history (one that still massively impacts the sound of bands today) and is easily the most underrated and criminally overlooked concert film of all time.

1. Stop Making Sense (directed by Jonathan Demme) - words can not do justice to the magnificence captured within the film Stop Making Sense. This is about music and image combining effortlessly in the form of a singular Talking Heads concert (or, three concerts cut together as one, as it were). Rather than force extreme closeups and quick cuts on the viewer, Jonathan Demme lets the band do all of the heavy lifting, never losing site of the fact that this film is about the band and the audience, not the director. In doing so he allows David Byrne and crew ample space to flex their artistic muscles and the results are extraordinary. There’s no loose jamming or happy mistakes here; rather, everything is so well choreographed and performed that it seems more musical performance art or theater of some kind than it does a film of a band playing a live show. It’s easily the greatest concert film ever made. And frankly, if you haven’t seen Stop Making Sense, you haven’t any idea just how powerful a concert can be. Watch it, own it, and then watch it again. There’s something new and amazing with each viewing.

*front Woodstock image from HERE, top image from HERE.