Live streaming, immersive audio, restored films of the most important live shows of the past. The phenomenon of the moment is great music that “plays” on the big screen
Oasis fans (thousands of them) are kicking themselves for not being able to get tickets for the 2027 tour.
For all of them, the consolation was in the theater, with the documentary Oasis: don’t look back in anger, which debuted with over half a million euros at the Italian box office. These are golden times for music at the cinema, and not just for that of the Manchester duo. The Roman artist Ultimo knows this well, as in September he brought the live performance of July 4th in Tor Vergata to the big screen (with 250 thousand spectators he surpassed Vasco Rossi’s record at Moderna Park), amplifying his success. This is how documentaries, concert films and live streaming (i.e. musical shows broadcast live in theaters) enrich the autumn cinema offer: ranging from the big names in rock to Korean pop, passing through Italian songwriting and the restoration of live performances that have made the history of music.
Until October 3rd the appointment is with Linkin Park: unshatter, to relive the 2024 show in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a symbolic stage of the band’s return after the seven-year break following the death of frontman Chester Bennington. From 7 to 11 October it’s Queen Budapest’s turn, a meticulous reconstruction of the July 1986 live show from original 35 millimeter films. «The production used 17 cameras, one even in a helicopter, and about 40 kilometers of film to record the event», says Franco Di Sarro, CEO of Nexo Studios, the main distributor of concert films in Italy and a pioneer of the genre since 2010. «The recording of the audio part was also innovative: to reconstruct the audience’s sound environment they scattered thousands of microphones inside the stadium».
That year Queen were the first Western rock group to perform behind the Iron Curtain: 80 thousand people bought tickets, while another 45 thousand followed the show from outside the stadium. And after Budapest, Freddie Mercury was no longer filmed on stage with the band.
The last concert of a great star is also the heart of Ozzy & Black Sabbath: back to the beginning, in theaters on 28 and 29 October. The film reconstructs the evening of 5 July 2025 in Birmingham, Osbourne’s hometown, a famous event both because it anticipated the singer’s death by seventeen days and because it marked the reunion of the original Black Sabbath lineup, together for the first time in twenty years. The director is Ben Wainwright-Pearce, who worked on the editing of the feature film on Taylor Swift’s Eras tour (the most watched concert film ever) and also directed George Michael: the faith tour, scheduled from November 6th. With images of the 1988 show at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, the film is an opportunity to reunite with the former Wham! at the height of his first solo tour and hearing songs like Faith and Careless whisper.
Alongside the nostalgic revivals, other titles celebrate important milestones and musical phenomena in turmoil.
In the first category we find Lorenzo – The incredible adventure of Jovanotti, in theaters from November 26th to December 2nd, to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Roman rapper; in the second, two k-pop events that will excite the younger ones. October 12, 14 and 17 are the days of Always Lalisa, a documentary dedicated to the Thai singer Lisa, already protagonist of the series The White Lotus and on stage at the opening ceremony of the Football World Cup in Mexico City, while a few days later it’s the turn of BTS. On 25 and 31 October, fans of the South Korean pop group (who also call themselves an “army” in Italy) will be able to attend two stages of their world tour, in Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo, directly at the cinema. «For international artists who do few dates in Italy, or don’t come at all, live streaming allows them to reach fans who would otherwise be excluded from the live experience», comments Di Sarro. «The ticket price varies: for concert films we are between 12-15 euros, while for some live broadcasts, such as those of BTS, it goes up to 19-23 euros». «Today the transition from the stage to the hall is also made more attractive by technological evolution», concludes the CEO of Nexo, «increasingly sophisticated cameras, multi-camera shots and immersive audio systems allow us to return to the cinema a spectacular and faithful version of live».
Therefore there are those who even rely on Oscar-winning directors: Billie Eilish has already done so with James Cameron, who transformed her Hit me hard and soft tour into a 3D work of art, while David Byrne, founder of Talking Heads, is working on a feature film with Brady Corbet, author of The brutalist. Considering that the concert film Stop making sense, created by Byrne on the band’s live shows in the 1980s, is considered a cult, all that remains is to review his repertoire and prepare for the next masterpiece.
