Rockshow

1980 "In Concert. On Film. At Last."
8.1| 2h9m| en| More Info
Released: 26 November 1980 Released
Producted By: Miramax
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

During their 1976 world tour, Paul McCartney and Wings gave a magnificent performance to 67,000 fans at the Kingdome, in Seattle, Washington. The concert features 30 songs of the Beatles and Wings.

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Reviews

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike
Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
AudioFileZ Rockshow, the film which is in fact different from "Wings Over America", is one of the late seventies best concert films. No it isn't state-of-the-art by current standards, far from it, but it can be found in very good quality if one is dogged in pursuit. That is what I'm reviewing here. I have a quite good DVD transfer of the film and the sound is very good - considering all things. I say this because it allows a closer inspection. Paul is obviously very happy to be in the structure of a band, his band this time. The joy he is experiencing in being the master of his destiny is apparent.Many thought, especially at the time, that it was pure indulgence to include his wife Linda. In retrospect, and by examining this performance as well as revisiting his Wings albums, Linda was most assuredly up to the task. Wings was a crack band. Jimmy McCulloch was a very versatile and talented guitarist/song-writer/vocalist, Denny Laine should have been a star in his own right and not just remembered by the masses as the guy who with The Moody Blues sang their first and second best single of all time, Joe English had the power of Keith Moon with a penchant for embellishing that power with fantastic cymbal work, and finally Linda really did have chops as a keyboardist and her background vocals somehow blended far better than she ever got credit for. Simply put: This band rocks with a vengeance and takes no prisoners and those in 1976 who were fortunate enough to be at any of their shows seem to uniformly testify to this.Rockshow is a fantastic concert film. If you can find a good copy that will be your verdict even if you are a hard-case. Paul had assembled some fantastic pop songs as only he could and he was excited to be playing them live - it shows. There is also great balance to the aural assault as Paul added a blue-chip horn section which really sweetened it, but yet the music still has a definitely edgy dirty rock and roll feel. Long before that once dedicated music network came up with their innovation of live acoustic set Paul did it right here and it is good as it gets plus it paces the concert nicely.I have nothing but compliments for Rockshow. I have no idea why Paul hasn't decided to remaster the entire show, add extras, and release it for his legions of fans. Paul is quite generous in his later years in making pro-shot performances available in the public domain as well as releasing a steady diet of current tour shows, this gives one hope one day this will again surface and in a quality never before imagined. Until that time I feel fortunate to have a good copy and I love to pull it out regularly. Please Paul do hear your fans requests and re-release it! Rockshow is a fantastic concert film for the ages.UPDATE: Thank you Paul! I got the Blu-Ray in 2013 and it is utterly fantastic.
Neil Welch Paul McCartney's first post-Beatles band, Wings, embarked on a massive world tour (Wings Over The World) in 1975/6 - probably the first of its kind. It ended up at Wembley Arena (aka the Empire Pool) in late 1976, and made its way onto record as Wings Over America that Christmas.Rock Show is the theatrical movie edited from the footage of the Seattle concert from that tour, dropping about 10 songs from the 30 or so in the full show. It should not be confused with the hour-long TV documentary called Wings Over The World.This show, well filmed and brilliantly performed and recorded, features the classic Wings of Venus And Mars and Speed Of Sound, and is probably the best filmed record of Paul McCartney at the height of his performing abilities.Edited to add:15 May 2013Having just watched the 2013 restoration edition, this is the first time I have seen Rockshow at the cinema. Restored and remastered, the missing songs have been restored and they are just as good as the rest. My videotape copy was 4:3 aspect ratio, so it was pleasing to see it for the first time in 1.85:1. The sound was excellent - crystal clear, even if sometimes the mix lost parts of the sound (it was a little too toppy for my taste).Two criticisms: one, some of the camera-work was out of focus (not much you can do about that!) and, two, only the audience was in stereo at my showing: the music was a single sound source from the screen. I don't know what they will have done for the Blu-ray.
preppy-3 ...at a theatre--but not a movie theatre. For some reason this played at a huge concert hall in Boston for one week only. I was a little disappointed by it.I mostly loved it. Paul McCartney and Wings were a great group and (I heard) always put a good show on. McCartney is always full of energy and charisma and it shows in this movie. Also the sound, where I saw it, was fantastic. They had TWENTY speakers set up so it was VERY loud but clear. Still, I can only give the movie a 7. Why? It was horribly directed. Half the time it was filmed too far away and during "Live and Let Die" (with strobe lights) I couldn't tell what was going on. There's also no directoral credits which should tell you something. Also the film was very grainy--they seem to have spent most of the money on the sound recording.So, it is worth seeing if you're a Wings fan. Otherwise you might not like it.
Alex (MooVbuff-3) This video has been out of print for over 10 years. It shows up from time to time at Beatles trade shows and can be found in older video rental stores. Hopefully this will be remastered for DVD someday and include extra moments from this 1976 Seattle show, such as Ringo Starr greeting Paul on stage after the encore.My videotape leaves out several songs present on the complete Wings Over America cd. This is odd because there is a trailer at the end of the tape that includes "Lady Madonna," which was cut from the 1981 Thorn/EMI release, which I believe is the last commercial release of this video. A few years ago VH-1 aired the show in its entirety the week "Flaming Pie" was released. Sir Paul has gone back and remastered a few Wings cds in the new 5 channel stereo format, so hopefully this will finally become available again. In the meantime, try to find the double cd "Wings Over America," which is also out of print but not hard to find.

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