The 10 Best Concerts You Can Watch Online Right Now
Updated: May 13, 2020
No live shows for the foreseeable future? No problem! These spectacular concert films bring the live show experience right to your home.
Queen: Live Aid 1985
The most famous charity concert of all time featured more than 50 performances, but none were more legendary than Queen’s glorious 21-minute set. The band took to the stage in London’s Wembley Stadium at 6:41 p.m. before an audience of 75,000 people—with an additional 1.5-billion tuning in on television. Take your pick of classic moments: the virtuoso vocals on “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the sea of people clapping in unison during “Radio Ga Ga,” Freddie Mercury strutting around Brian May during the guitar solo of “We Will Rock You,” or the triumphant “We Are the Champions” finale. Thirty-five years later, Queen’s message of hope is more relevant than ever.
Check out the full performance on YouTube.
Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé
Like everything Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter has done in the past 10 years, her set at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was dubbed an instant classic by fans and critics. They’re not wrong, either: against a backdrop of majorette dancers and marching bands, Queen Bey revisits her greatest hits while also paying tribute to Black history. The result is nothing short of spectacular. Did we mention the Destiny’s Child cameo? Netflix Canada.
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Stop Making Sense
If Stop Making Sense isn’t the greatest concert film ever made, it’s certainly the most energetic. For almost 90 minutes, the four members of Talking Heads—along with backup dancers and touring musicians—sway, leap, whirl and jog their way through a selection of funk-infused New Wave tunes. In the middle of the action is David Byrne, a frontman with a physical presence like no other. We guarantee you’ll be out of your seat dancing by the time Talking Heads performs the show-stopping “Once in a Lifetime.” Amazon Prime Video.
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Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour
Filmed in Arlington, Texas towards the end of her record-shattering “Reputation Stadium Tour,” Taylor Swift performs her biggest hits with the help of dancers, fireworks, video screens and giant inflatable snakes. Despite its larger-than-life production, however, Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour is a surprisingly intimate experience. Netflix Canada.
Amazing Grace
Over the course of two July days in 1972, Aretha Franklin stopped by the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles to record her live album Amazing Grace. A camera crew—led by late director Sydney Pollack—was there to capture the action, but soundtrack issues led to the raw footage being locked away in a Warner Bros. vault until 2007. That we can now enjoy a new restored version of this concert film is nothing short of a miracle. Both as a document of the Civil Rights movement and a showcase for Franklin at the peak of her powers, Amazing Grace is a treasure to behold. Amazon Prime Video.
Radiohead: Live at Bonnaroo 2006
English alternative rock band Radiohead is releasing one full-length concert on YouTube every Thursday until social distancing is over. Boasting 28 songs over a run-time of two-and-a-half hours, Radiohead: Live at Bonnaroo 2006 is the best of the bunch so far. From psychedelic jazz (“Pyramid Song”) and electronic dance (“Idioteque”) to ’90s love ballads (“Fake Plastic Trees”) and then-new songs (“Nude”), there’s a striking diversity to the setlist. Band members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have both professed their love for this concert. It’s not hard to see why.
Check out the full performance on YouTube.
Springsteen on Broadway
Bruce Springsteen’s concerts are the stuff of legend: he’s played about 2,600 of them since 1972, mostly with his thunderous E Street Band, and three-hour sets are par for the course. Springsteen on Broadway, however, is The Boss like you’ve never seen him before. Filmed over two nights at New York City’s Walter Kerr Theatre in 2018, this intimate Netflix special sees the legendary rocker reimagining his most famous songs with nothing but a guitar in his hands. Along the way, he ruminates on the effect that his parents, his wife, and America have had on his life and career. Netflix Canada.
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Fleetwood Mac: The Dance
Fleetwood Mac: The Dance sees one of the biggest bands of the 1970s firing on all cylinders once again. Filmed in 1997, 20 years after the release of their hit album Rumours, this concert features the best known line-up of the band: Lindsay Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. As this nostalgic performance proves, Fleetwood Mac’s songs only get better with time. Amazon Prime Video.
Japandroids: Live at Massey Hall
If you’ve ever thought “rock and roll is dead,” do yourself a favour and give Japandroids a listen. This underrated Vancouver duo, featuring Brian King on guitar and David Prowse on drums, has mastered the art of the rock and roll anthem. Mixing breathtaking energy with us-against-the-world, go-for-broke lyrics (“You can keep tomorrow, after tonight we’re not going to need it”), Japandroids: Live at Massey Hall is simply a blast.
Check out the full performance on YouTube.
Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America
OK, so we’re cheating a little bit by including a documentary, but what’s a list without some rule-bending? Part concert film, part travelogue, Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America follows the Rolling Stones’ 2016 tour through 10 Latin American cities, culminating with a historic free outdoor concert in Havana—the first time a foreign rock band has ever played in Cuba. Expertly shot and brimming with joyous enthusiasm, Olé Olé Olé! shows that time is still on the Stones’ side. Netflix Canada.
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