''Rockshow'' is a 1980

concert film A concert film, or concert movie, is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history The ...

released by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

, filmed during the band's 1976

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n tour. The film features 30 songs from segments of four concerts of the tour: New York, on 25 May (four songs); Seattle, Washington, 10 June (five songs); and Los Angeles, California, 22 June (fifteen songs) and 23 June (six songs). However, both the cover of the home video release and McCartney, in his intro to ''

The McCartney Years ''The McCartney Years'' is a three-DVD set featuring music videos, live performances and other rare footage from Paul McCartney's solo career and Wings. The set spans the years 1970 to 2005. It was released by Warner Music in the UK on 12 Novem ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

, acknowledge only the Seattle concert. These concerts were part of the 1975–76

Wings Over the World tour The Wings Over the World tour was a series of concerts in 1975 and 1976 by the British–American rock band Wings performed in Britain, Australia, Europe, the United States and Canada. The North American leg constituted band leader Paul McCartne ...

, which also produced the triple live album ''

Wings over America ''Wings over America'' is a triple live album by the British–American rock band Wings, released in December 1976. The album was recorded during the American leg of the band's 1975–76 Wings Over the World tour. It peaked at number 8 on the ...

'' (1976) and the ''

Wings Over the World ''Wings Over the World'' is a 1979 television documentary film featuring the rock band Wings. It consists of concert performances from their acclaimed 1975–76 world tour,Rodriguez, p. 336. together with behind-the-scenes footage.Madinger & E ...

'' television documentary (1979). This is also the first film released by Miramax.

Production

The music for what was to become ''Rockshow'' and part of ''

'' was produced by Chris Thomas and engineered by Phil McDonald during 1979. However, the processing of the ''Rockshow'' overdubs was obviously completed by the airdate of ''Wings Over the World'', as these same performances were featured in both productions. Not all of the songs made it to the film in their entirety ("Medicine Jar" and "Letting Go" have been edited), and the song introductions did not always match the performance that followed. For example, several of the introductions came from the Seattle performance while the actual song was taken from a Los Angeles show: "Magneto & Titanium Man", "Spirits of Ancient Egypt", "Lady Madonna", "Let 'Em In", and "Soily". The introduction of the horn section was a composite as well with portions coming from Seattle and the final Los Angeles show.

Release

The film premiered on 26 November 1980 at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York; McCartney did not attend, as he was in the studio at the time. He did attend the London Premiere at the

Dominion Theatre The Dominion Theatre is a West End theatre and former cinema on Tottenham Court Road, close to St Giles Circus and Centre Point, in the London Borough of Camden. Planned as primarily a musical theatre, it opened in 1929, but the following year ...

in Piccadilly Circus on 8 April 1981. The film was later edited down to 102 minutes for its home video release. Its first home video release was on Betamax in October 1981, with a VHS,

laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

, and CED release in 1982. This would be the last time a feature-length version of the film would be available to the general public until 31 years later, as McCartney had remained reluctant to make the entire film available on VHS or

. In 2007, a shortened cut with only seven songs was released as part of ''

'' DVD set – one of which, a version of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' "

Lady Madonna "Lady Madonna" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. In March 1968, it was released as a mono single, backed with "The Inner Light". The song was recorded on 3 a ...

", was originally left out of the ''Rockshow'' home video release.

2013 re-release

In June 2013, a new version of the film was released. The longer 125-minute version was digitally restored from the 35mm negative with the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

remixed in 5.1 surround sound. The film had a limited worldwide cinema re-release on 16 May 2013, with an exclusive introduction and interview with McCartney. An exclusive VIP premiere screening, with McCartney in attendance and introducing the film, took place at BAFTA on 15 May. This restored cut was released on DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

in June 2013.

Song listing

The following list is for the full-length, 125-minute version of ''Rockshow''. * Songs edited out of the first home video versions of the film.
+ Songs included in ''The McCartney Years'' DVD box set. # " Venus and Mars" + # "Rock Show" + # " Jet" + # "

Let Me Roll It "Let Me Roll It" is a song by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, released on their 1973 album ''Band on the Run''. The song was also released as the B-side to " Jet" in early 1974, and has remained a staple of McCartney's ...

" # "Spirits of Ancient Egypt" (lead vocal

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...

) # "Medicine Jar" (lead vocal

Jimmy McCulloch James McCulloch (4 June 1953 – 27 September 1979) was a Scottish musician best known for playing lead guitar and bass, as a member of Paul McCartney's band Wings from 1974 to 1977. McCulloch was a member of the Glasgow psychedelic band One i ...

) # "

Maybe I'm Amazed "Maybe I'm Amazed" is a song written by English musician Paul McCartney that was first released on his 1970 debut solo album ''McCartney''. Although the original recording has never been released as a single, a live performance by McCartney's l ...

" + # " Call Me Back Again" * # "

" * + # "

The Long and Winding Road "The Long and Winding Road" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album '' Let It Be''. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. When issued as a single in May 1970, a month after the Beatl ...

" * # " Live and Let Die" # "

Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me) "Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)" is a song by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, released on their 1973 album '' Band on the Run''. The longest track on the album, it was not released as a single. The song includes inte ...

" * # "

Richard Cory "Richard Cory" is a narrative poem written by Edwin Arlington Robinson. It was first published in 1897, as part of ''The Children of the Night'', having been completed in July of that year; and it remains one of Robinson's most popular and ant ...

" (lead vocal

) * # "

Bluebird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. ...

" + # "

I've Just Seen a Face "I've Just Seen a Face" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in August 1965 on their album ''Help!'', except in North America, where it appeared as the opening track on the December 1965 release ''Rubber Soul''. Writ ...

" # " Blackbird" # " Yesterday" # " You Gave Me the Answer" # "

Magneto and Titanium Man "Magneto and Titanium Man" is a 1975 song by Wings. It is the B-side of the "Venus and Mars/Rock Show" single. Lyrics The song is in narrative form, and includes the Marvel Comics characters Magneto, Titanium Man and the Crimson Dynamo in its sto ...

" # "

Go Now "Go Now" is a song composed by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett and first recorded by Bessie Banks, released as a single in January 1964. The best-known version was recorded by the Moody Blues and released the same year. Bessie Banks version The ...

" (lead vocal

) # " My Love" * # "

Listen to What the Man Said "Listen to What the Man Said" is a hit single from Wings' 1975 album '' Venus and Mars''. The song featured new member Joe English on drums, with guest musicians Dave Mason on guitar and Tom Scott on soprano saxophone. It was a number 1 single ...

" + # "

Let 'Em In "Let 'Em In" is a song by Wings from their 1976 album ''Wings at the Speed of Sound''. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney and reached the top 3 in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. It was a No. 2 hit in the UK; in the ...

" # "Time to Hide" (lead vocal

) # "

Silly Love Songs "Silly Love Songs" is a song by the British–American rock band Wings that was written by Paul and Linda McCartney. The song first appeared in March 1976 on the album '' Wings at the Speed of Sound,'' then it was released as a single backed wit ...

" # " Beware My Love" # " Letting Go" # " Band on the Run" # "

Hi, Hi, Hi "Hi, Hi, Hi" is a song written by Paul McCartney, Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings. It was released as a double A-side single with "C Moon" in 1972. The song was recorded around the same time as "C Moon", i ...

" # "

Soily "Soily" is a song written by Paul McCartney in 1971. It was included in the setlist of his band Wings during their 1972 tour of Europe and their 1973 tour of Britain. In 1973 it was the first song of the set. It was then reworked and a faster, ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rockshow 1980 films 1980 documentary films American documentary films Concert films Films set in 1976 Films shot in Washington (state) American independent films Paul McCartney video albums American rock music films Paul McCartney and Wings video albums Miramax films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films