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seeking a good band-on-tour documentary
- Thread starter GlennRH
- Start date
There is a documentary of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 US tour filmed by Robert Frank, the title of which I can’t include here as it would definitely get me booted off TB, but it’s a two-word title and the second word is Blues. It’s the first word that is problematic. Anyway, in the film the crew and roadies were all participating in the sex, drugs, and parties; the band seemed numb to the whole spectacle except for the time on stage, and except for one time when they left the plane to travel by car and stopped at a southern roadhouse and jammed with the house band. That’s when they really seemed alive.
The movie has never been officially released, as they felt it showed them in a bad light, but you can find it if you look hard enough. I once found a multi-generation VHS tape copy at a shop in NYC many years ago. Very pixelated and poor quality, but the band’s malaise definitely came through.
The movie has never been officially released, as they felt it showed them in a bad light, but you can find it if you look hard enough. I once found a multi-generation VHS tape copy at a shop in NYC many years ago. Very pixelated and poor quality, but the band’s malaise definitely came through.
D
LOL, the faulty bathroom door is a touring classic!
The lack of privacy is actually one of the worst things about touring, especially when touring on a low budget. Then there's the long hours in vans/planes/airports, the soundchecks, the loading of gear at 3 am and the endless WAITING. You rarely have the time to really experience the places you're visiting. 90% of touring is so mind numbingly boring that when something bad happens it's almost a relief. I'm so sick of airports and hotels that I have to be dragged kicking and screaming out the door when going on holidays.
I'm pretty much done with touring these days.Would I do it again if I could turn back the clock? Definitely, YES! I've visited parts of the world that I would otherwise never have visited. I've met lots of interesting people and experienced lots of weird things.
Would I do it again today? Not a chance. Only local area gigs for me these days.
Any documentary about touring will only show the interesting parts. For a more realistic experience, pause the film every 30 minutes and stare at the wall for 5 hours before you resume watching.
Are you kidding it has to be the one and only greatest jam band movies of all time. Electric Apricot.
“Drive Well, Sleep Carefully: On the Road with Death Cab for Cutie“
If I remember correctly, this movie follows their transition from van to bus as Transatlanticism gained popularity.
Not a small tour doc but Radiohead’s “Meeting People is Easy” is a deep look into the band’s struggle with attention during the OK Computer tour.
Not a popular choice perhaps but Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never” is fascinating IMO in how it follows him from playing basketball with his buddy one day to headlining MSG the next. Offers a somewhat dark look into the isolation and loneliness of making it “big” at such a young age.
If I remember correctly, this movie follows their transition from van to bus as Transatlanticism gained popularity.
Not a small tour doc but Radiohead’s “Meeting People is Easy” is a deep look into the band’s struggle with attention during the OK Computer tour.
Not a popular choice perhaps but Justin Bieber’s “Never Say Never” is fascinating IMO in how it follows him from playing basketball with his buddy one day to headlining MSG the next. Offers a somewhat dark look into the isolation and loneliness of making it “big” at such a young age.
LOL, the faulty bathroom door is a touring classic!
The lack of privacy is actually one of the worst things about touring, especially when touring on a low budget. Then there's the long hours in vans/planes/airports, the soundchecks, the loading of gear at 3 am and the endless WAITING. You rarely have the time to really experience the places you're visiting. 90% of touring is so mind numbingly boring that when something bad happens it's almost a relief. I'm so sick of airports and hotels that I have to be dragged kicking and screaming out the door when going on holidays.
Would I do it again if I could turn back the clock? Definitely, YES! I've visited parts of the world that I would otherwise never have visited. I've met lots of interesting people and experienced lots of weird things.
Would I do it again today? Not a chance. Only local area gigs for me these days.
Any documentary about touring will only show the interesting parts. For a more realistic experience, pause the film every 30 minutes and stare at the wall for 5 hours before you resume watching.
Ahh drinking whisky at 10am (or earlier?!) to self medicate my bruised testicle.
It's so bizarre how you can go to one venue, who sent an inhouse roadie to unload the van and escort us to a greenroom stacked with beer, coffee, milk, tea, snacks - and be given the choice of whether to share the code with the other bands or not. Onto the next place they've done next to no promotion and you play to a handful of people. And then the next where everyone is dressed in black ala Johnny Cash, turns out a valued patron's funeral was that day and half the town were at it, and our gig was essentially the reception.
It can't be that real, those people are all at least vaguely attractive.
Here's a written documentary of "life on the road", Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony by Arnold Steinhardt. Excerpt:
Traveling with the quartet presented us with another unexpected consideration — the constant dividing of money. On that first trip away from home, the four of us crowded into an airport taxi en route to the Howard Johnson Motel, where we were staying. “That will be thirteen dollars, the driver informed us as we pulled up to the door. Who was to pay? While I wondered about this, the guys disappeared. All right, I said to myself. I’ll pay. Let’s see. Thirteen bucks, a two-dollar tip, that makes fifteen dollars. Divide by two. That’s seven-fifty. Divide by two again. That makes, hmm, three dollars and seventy-five cents apiece.
I entered the lobby and joined the others at the registration desk.
“Three dollars and seventy-five cents each, gentlemen,” I announced.
“Do you have change for a ten?” John asked. I didn’t. “Then I’ll have to owe it to you.”
“David, you owe me four dollars for dinner last night. Pay Arnold three seventy-five and you owe me a quarter, said Michael. David pulled out a ten-dollar bill.
“Then I owe you seven-fifty, Arnold. Do you have change?” I looked in my pocket and came up with two dollars and twenty-five cents.
“Okay. I owe you twenty-five cents.”
I entered the lobby and joined the others at the registration desk.
“Three dollars and seventy-five cents each, gentlemen,” I announced.
“Do you have change for a ten?” John asked. I didn’t. “Then I’ll have to owe it to you.”
“David, you owe me four dollars for dinner last night. Pay Arnold three seventy-five and you owe me a quarter, said Michael. David pulled out a ten-dollar bill.
“Then I owe you seven-fifty, Arnold. Do you have change?” I looked in my pocket and came up with two dollars and twenty-five cents.
“Okay. I owe you twenty-five cents.”
