Film
Yes - 9012Live
- Musical
- Light-hearted
Yes at their commercial peak, captured live in 1985 with the 90125 lineup that brought them mainstream success. Seventy minutes of intricate progressive rock performed with remarkable precision and joy. Essential for fans of the band's 80s era, and a masterclass in how virtuosic musicians make complexity feel effortless and fun.
If you liked this
Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same1976
The gold standard for rock concert films: raw energy, towering performances, and Jimmy Page's guitar work captured in its full glory. A film that justifies the concert documentary as an art form.
But It's a rambling 137 minutes, and the intercut fantasy sequences feel dated and indulgent now. The film moves at its own pace, not yours.

Stop Making Sense1984
Talking Heads at peak artistry, performing with surgical precision and genuine joy. Jonathan Demme's direction transforms a concert into cinema. Endlessly inventive and utterly alive.
But It's defiantly quirky—art-school musicians on stage, avant-garde staging. If you want straightforward rock spectacle, this goes somewhere weirder.

The Grateful Dead Movie1977
Three nights of the Dead in prime form, shot on 16mm with genuine intimacy. You feel like you're in the room. A document of a band at the height of their powers and generosity.
But It's 111 minutes of jam-based improvisation. If you need conventional song structures and aren't patient with extended solos, this will test you.

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Rammstein: Paris2017
Both are films of technically virtuosic bands at peak tightness, where precision and complexity are the thrill. But where Yes is joyful and opening, Rammstein is totalitarian and closing—same command of craft, utterly opposite mood.
Industrial metal masters at their most theatrical and precise. Elaborate, dark staging; glacial production; technical mastery applied to something completely uncompromising. Shows how the concert film can be pure spectacle in a different register.
But It's aggressive, sometimes genuinely disturbing, and doesn't invite you in—it assaults you. The music and aesthetic are explicitly dark in ways that can feel oppressive rather than fun.

More like this (6)
Pink Floyd: Pulse1995
Pink Floyd's final tour before their split, performing The Division Bell in full. Spectacular production, flawless execution, and real emotional weight. A worthy capstone to the band's live legacy.
But It's very much a stadium rock experience—vast, polished, sometimes remote. Some find the sheer scale distances you from the music itself.

Genesis - Three Sides Live1981
Genesis with Phil Collins on vocals, performing both their progressive masterpieces and their new pop hits. Two nights, two setlists, and proof that the band could do both with real conviction.
But The production quality varies between the two nights filmed. Some of the early material drags slightly, and the transition between eras can feel jarring.

U2: Rattle and Hum1988
U2 at the absolute peak of their powers, mixing live performances with filmed segments. The Joshua Tree songs are magnificent, and Bono's charisma is undeniable. A stadium-rock masterpiece.
But The filmed interludes feel self-important and pad the narrative awkwardly. Bono's messiah complex is on full display, and it's occasionally embarrassing.

Queen: Live at Wembley Stadium1986
Freddie Mercury and Queen in their absolute prime, two nights at Wembley in 1986. One of the greatest live rock performances ever filmed. Pure showmanship, virtuosity, and star power.
But The film is quite long, and not every song lands the same way. Some material from the deeper catalog doesn't hit as hard as the classics.

The Last Waltz1978
Both capture a band in a specific moment and lineup that feels complete and definitive. But 9012Live celebrates a band hitting its stride; The Last Waltz mourns a band saying goodbye. Same documentary impulse, opposite emotional arc.
Martin Scorsese films The Band's final concert with guest appearances from their collaborators. It's elegiac, deeply moving, and treats rock music as legitimate artistic legacy. A meditation on ending, community, and artistry.
But It's slow and ceremonial rather than thrilling. The mood is farewell and reflection, not excitement. If you want energy and spectacle, this is its opposite.

Woodstock1970
Both are concert documentaries from their respective commercial peaks, but Woodstock is a festival capturing a moment in time, while 9012Live is a single band proving their mastery. One is historical; one is about craft. Entirely different reason to watch.
The mythic rock documentary, though it's less a concert film than a cultural artifact. Hendrix, Santana, The Who, Credence Clearwater Revival. Multi-camera editing that changed how music appears on screen.
But It's dated in its reverence and its politics, and the film's reconstruction of the event is selective. The generational myth-making can feel suffocating if you're not invested in the era itself.

People
Cast
Jon AndersonSelf - Lead Vocals
Chris SquireSelf - Bass
Trevor RabinSelf - Guitar
Alan WhiteSelf - Drums
Tony KayeSelf - Keyboards
Directing
- Anita ClearfieldAssistant Director
- Steven SoderberghDirector
- Tom GinderaStage Director
Production
- Philip FleishmanExecutive Producer
- John B. HouseLine Producer
- Tony DimitriadesProducer
- Alan SantosProduction Manager