'The Concert For Bangladesh' To 'Bird On A Wire': Documentaries With Once-In-A-Lifetime Performances

Historical musical moments are either captured in music biopics or documentaries featuring legendary artists and bands in their days in the sun and once-in-a-lifetime performances.

For prosperity or reportage purposes, we thank the new access to archives and updated technology, a whole generation of filmmakers who have come up learning the art documentaries. They break down the genres which run the gamut from subgenres to broad histories of rock, jazz, country and western. It was never been easier to make a music documentary, but calling some classics would be an understatement.

American Rockstar Documentaries

'U2: Rattle and Hum' (1988)

This documentary, features U2’s concert tour, The Joshua Tree Tour. Known for its overtly self-important tone, Rattle and Hum is an honest portrayal of the Irish quartet, whose quest was to change the world through its rock & roll. 

The Concert for Bangladesh (1972)

George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, and Badfinger merged for a pair of shows at Madison Square Garden, raising money for the people of Bangladesh. Facing a ruinous humanitarian crisis due to the Bangladesh Liberation War and the aftermath of a brutal cyclone, the shows were crowded with historic moments, like Bob Dylan’s first major public performance since his 1966 motorcycle accident and Harrison bursting out Beatles classics like “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Here Comes The Sun” to their live audience. Director Saul Swimmer captured all of it in this documentary.

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Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire (1974)

Shot during Cohen’s 1972 European tour, but for decades, only seen via low-fi bootlegs taken from a German television broadcast in the Seventies, his fans were aware of the raw footage sitting in the leap until 2009 when director Tony Palmer was given the chance to cut it into the movie he had always envisaged.

Beginning with an uproar during a gig in Tel Aviv at the end of the tour, paving its way through several momentous moments, Cohen dealt with extremely ambitious fans, a list of technical problems nearly shutting down one show. Throughout all of that, Cohen remains stoic, wise, and the coolest musician in any room he enters.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2005)

Michel Gondry’s recount of Dave Chappelle’s gathering in Brooklyn, recalls the TV star using his "clout" to sweet-talk actors like Dead Prez, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu and Fugees into performing.

The documentary film is also a portrayal of a talented comedian on the leaflet of reaching a career-defining turning point in which he would abandon his influential Chappelle’s Show the following year. In terms of a hip-hop/neo-soul show circa 2004, this documentary also features American rapper, J. Cole, and hip hop duo Black Star. 

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week (2016)

Directed by Ron Howard, the documentary film was released theatrically in September 2016 in the United Kingdom and the United States. It started streaming on Hulu that time of the year. It received awards and nominations, including Best Documentary at the 70th British Academy Film Awards and the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the 69th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Produced in cooperation with Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, before its release, the documentary film was announced that it had a 30-minute film footage shot for the rock band's 1965 concert at Shea Stadium. Digitally restored in 4K resolution, Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin remastered the sound in the film.

The views expressed are the author's own.