Rock stars have always been larger than life. But thanks to the
silver screen, that size is becoming literal.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the band Andrew W.K. will celebrate
the release of its concert movie, “Andrew W.K.: Who
Knows?” with a double feature ““ a movie screening in
Hollywood’s The Knitting Factory followed by a live keyboard
performance by lead singer Andrew.
“Andrew W.K.: Who Knows?” and recent films such as
“Coachella: the Movie,” “Neil Young: Heart of
Gold,” “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” and
“Awesome: I … Shot That!” add to the myriad of
concert movies in recent release.
The concert movie is growing in popularity as a medium for bands
to share their music. Although the concert movie traditionally has
been used to immortalize the live performances of bands that have
withstood the test of time, any band these days can try to record
their experiences on film, from one-hit wonders to underground
sensations to today’s most popular bands.
The concert movie allows audiences to see what happens between
stage performances. Often sharing anecdotes that show the band is
more than guitars, microphones and amplifiers, concert movies allow
audiences to make personal connections with band members, creating
new fans and even more die-hard fanatics.
Andrew W.K. is one of those bands that is far from a being a
household name. Despite having a solid fan base due to the success
of their 2002 single “Party Hard,” the idea for a
concert movie had never crossed the band’s mind. However,
that all changed when lead singer Andrew was approached by Music
Video Distributors. The concept for the concert movie, directed by
Manrike, caught the band’s attention because of the unique
way the movie would showcase songs.
“(Music Video Distributors) decided that they would like
to make a live concert DVD with me,” Andrew said. “The
director put together a script, which used about four years’
worth of touring shot on video on various sources and various
places. In total, it was about 300 hours of footage. Their idea was
to combine several clips from different shows of the same
songs.”
Movie theaters are picking up on the concert film trend.
Screenings are now being held all over the country for concert
movies, and the bonding shared by sweaty concertgoers standing in
the pit has been replaced by the comforts of surround sound and
air-conditioned seating. In conjunction with the upcoming Coachella
music festival, “Coachella: The Movie” was showcased in
115 theaters nationwide. Bruce Springsteen screened the DVD of his
1975 concert in theaters, coinciding with his “Born to
Run” 30th-anniversary box set. The last two concerts by Phish
in Coventry, Vt., were broadcast in 54 select cities to an audience
of about 400,000.
Seeing the success of concert movie screenings, Andrew came up
with the idea of coupling the screening with a live performance.
Originally, the band was just going to go on tour, until Andrew
suggested combing the filmed and live experiences.
“Initially, we weren’t going to show the
movie,” Andrew said. “I was really excited about not
just showing a movie and not just performing live, but combining
the two. People are going to be in that (mind-set) of processing
information off of the screen. Then, when you snap it back to a
live performance, it’s a contrast between a live
in-the-moment concert and a prerecorded video.
“It’s the best of both worlds for the
audience,” he added.
Los Angeles will not be the first city to have the Andrew W.K.
concert film screened. The movie was well received by other cities,
with the format of the on-screen and onstage performance proving to
be a hit.
“We did some screenings in New York. We screened the movie
and then I performed a keyboard solo. Each night the crowd got more
and more rowdy, just watching the movie. It became almost like a
live concert environment,” Andrew said. “I thought,
“˜This was almost the same as far as the audience acts when I
perform live!’ The screening is halfway between seeing a
concert in a venue and watching it alone.”