Best movies like The Irish Rock Story: A Tale of Two Cities

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Irish Rock Story: A Tale of Two Cities Starring Bob Geldof, Bono, The Edge, Sinéad O'Connor, and more. If you liked The Irish Rock Story: A Tale of Two Cities then you may also like: 1991: The Year Punk Broke, U2: Live at Red Rocks - Under a Blood Red Sky, U2: 360° at the Rose Bowl, We Are X, The Wrecking Crew and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

This musical celebration charts the lives and careers of some of the biggest selling acts in Irish rock, punk and pop from Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy to The Undertones and U2. From the pioneers of the showbands touring in the late 50s through to the modern day, the film examines their lineage and connections and how the hardcore, rocking sound of Belfast merged with the more melodic, folky Dublin tradition to form what we now recognise as Irish rock and pop.

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1991: The Year Punk Broke

David Markey's documentary of life on the road with Sonic Youth and Nirvana during their tour of Europe in late 1991. Also featuring live performances by Dinosaur Jr, Babes in Toyland, The Ramones and Gumball.

U2: Live at Red Rocks - Under a Blood Red Sky

Recorded at the breathtakingly beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado in 1983, this concert features Irish rock sensation U2 and front man Bono in their early glory days. Including five previously unreleased songs and a director's commentary.

U2: 360° at the Rose Bowl

U2's 360° concert at the famous Pasadena Rose Bowl was U2's biggest ever show in the United States with a box office attendance in excess of 97,000. The first live streaming of a full-length stadium concert, U2360° at the Rose Bowl streamed across seven continents, making history with over 10 million views in one week. Shot entirely in HD, this ground breaking concert was filmed with 28 cameras and directed by Tom Krueger who previously shot the concert film U23D. U2360° resumes in Europe in August with North American dates to follow in 2011.

We Are X

As glam rock's most flamboyant survivors, X Japan ignited a musical revolution in Japan during the late '80s with their melodic metal. Twenty years after their tragic dissolution, X Japan’s leader, Yoshiki, battles with physical and spiritual demons alongside prejudices of the West to bring their music to the world.

The Wrecking Crew

A celebration of the musical work of a group of session musicians known as "The Wrecking Crew." a band that provided back-up instrumentals to such legendary recording artists as Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, and Bing Crosby.

N.Y.H.C.

N.Y.H.C. is the first feature-length documentary to explore the New York Harcore music scene. Drawings its roots from punk rock, hardcore evolved into a dedicated, self-contained movement, unconcerned with success in the mainstream. The documentary follows seven bands in the summer of 1995, ranging from Bronx inner-city youth to Long Island suburbanites to Hare Krishna devotees. N.Y.H.C. is a surprisingly in-depth and non-exploitive look into a vital and often neglected music community.

New York Doll

A recovering alcoholic and recently converted Mormon, Arthur "Killer" Kane, of the rock band The New York Dolls, is given a chance at reuniting with his band after 30 years.

U2 - Rattle and Hum

A concert movie on an unprecedented scale, Rattle And Hum captures U2 - on and off the stage - during their triumphant Joshua Tree tour. From the giant technicolour stadium celebrations to the black-and-white intensity of the indoor shows, this is U2 at their best. Follow the group across America, exploring new influences, playing with the legendary B.B. King from Dublin to Graceland.

Rock 'n' Roll High School

A group of rock-music-loving students, with the help of the Ramones, take over their school to combat its newly installed oppressive administration.

Kurt Cobain: About a Son

An intimate and moving meditation on the late musician and artist Kurt Cobain, based on more than 25 hours of previously unheard audiotaped interviews conducted with Cobain by noted music journalist Michael Azerrad for his book "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana." In the film, Kurt Cobain recounts his own life - from his childhood and adolescence to his days of musical discovery and later dealings with explosive fame - and offers often piercing insights into his life, music, and times. The conversations heard in the film have never before been made public, and they reveal a highly personal portrait of an artist much discussed but not particularly well understood.

American Hardcore

Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.

The Commitments

Jimmy Rabbitte, just a tick out of school, gets a brilliant idea: to put a soul band together in Barrytown, his slum home in north Dublin. First he needs musicians and singers: things slowly start to click when he finds three fine-voiced females virtually in his back yard, a lead singer (Deco) at a wedding, and, responding to his ad, an aging trumpet player, Joey "The Lips" Fagan.

Swing Time

Lucky is tricked into missing his own wedding again and has to make $25,000 so her father allows him to marry Margaret. He and business partner Pop go to New York where they run into dancing instructor Penny. She and Lucky form a successful dance partnership, but romance is blighted by his old attachment to Margaret and hers for Ricky Romero.

Desperate Teenage Lovedolls

Two girls rediscover their love for playing rock, find a drummer and begin practicing. When one of their mothers intervenes, they run away from home and are forced to fend for themselves on the streets against gangs and rival bands. Soon they are discovered and taken under the wing of rock manager Johnny Tremaine (played by Steven McDonald) who uses them for sex and his own aspirations of wealth. The Love Dolls set out to get revenge on those who have wronged them, and rise to the top of the rock world.

Drunk Bus

A directionless, young campus bus driver and a punk rock Samoan security guard named Pineapple form an unlikely kinship as they navigate the unpredictable late shift known as the "drunk bus." Together, they break out of their endless loop and into a world of uncertainty, excitement and incredibly poor decision-making.

The Filth and the Fury

Julien Temple's second documentary profiling punk rock pioneers the Sex Pistols is an enlightening, entertaining trip back to a time when the punk movement was just discovering itself. Featuring archival footage, never-before-seen performances, rehearsals, and recording sessions as well as interviews with group members who lived to tell the tale--including the one and only John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten).

Anti-Nowhere League: We Are The League

Anti-Nowhere League: We Are The League tells the full uncensored story of how a biker, a skinhead, a grammar school boy and a Persian exile came together, with no musical talent or ambitions and even less respect for anything or anyone, to burst onto the UK charts with their debut single. Even when judged by the often confrontational standards of U.K. punk, the Anti-Nowhere League were a band committed to offending people. Looking less like a group of bohemian rebels than an especially unsavory biker gang eager to stomp someone, the Anti-Nowhere League made an immediate impact when they burst onto the British rock scene in 1980. They were heroes to hard-boiled U.K. punks, and to nearly everyone else they were an affront to all decency - which, of course, made the punks love them all the more.

Killing Bono

The true story of Neil and Ivan McCormick, two Irish brothers who attempt to become rock stars but can only look on as their high school friends U2 become the biggest band in the world.

Punk in London

A visual record of London punk life in the late '70s, filled with never-before-seen live concert footage and commentary from the Clash, the Jam, X-Ray Spex and the Electric Chairs.

The Last Waltz

Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from "The Band's" incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.

Sid and Nancy

January 1978. After their success in England, the punk rock band Sex Pistols venture out on their tour of the southern United States. Temperamental bassist Sid Vicious is forced by his band mates to travel without his troubled girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who will meet him in New York. When the band breaks up and Sid begins his solo career in a hostile city, the turbulent couple definitely falls into the depths of drug addiction.

Gutterdämmerung

The "Devil's Evil Guitar" has been removed from the world by the supreme being, and rock and roll is a thing of the past in this newly puritanical environment. But what happens when the guitar is sent back by Vicious, an angel punk?

Suck

The film follows a petty rock band called the Winners, consisting of vocalist Joey Winner, bassist Jennifer, guitarist Tyler, drummer Sam, and French-Canadian roadie Hugo, along with their sleazy manager Jeff, as they tour across Canada and the USA after Jennifer is turned into a vampire by Queeny. Meanwhile, a vampire hunter who is afraid of the dark named Eddie Van Helsing quickly chases them down.

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle

A rather incoherent post-breakup Sex Pistols "documentary", told from the point of view of Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, whose (arguable) position is that the Sex Pistols in particular and punk rock in general were an elaborate scam perpetrated by him in order to make "a million pounds."

The Lumière Brothers' First Films

A collection of short films made by the Lumiere brothers, a team of pioneering filmmakers in turn-of-the-century France, narrated by Bertrand Tavernier.

Man from Shaolin

32nd generation Chinese Shaolin Fighting Monk Li Bao Xin must immigrate to New York City to look after young Janie, his six-year-old niece. Struggling to make a new life, Li Bao will face challenges that test his character more than his physical strength. Through it all, his mind remains filled with the heroic stories of the Shaolin Temple, a great tradition that defines him, but also makes his assimilation to western culture more difficult. While in China he was a venerated master, in America he is nobody. To make a life for him and Janie, Li Bao must contend with a modern society, where his great fighting skills and heroic lineage have little meaning. He will have to decide which is more important, his dreams or his family.

Hellbent

A bandleader whose career is nosediving makes a deal with the owner of a bar to sell his soul for success.

Uncle Peckerhead

When a punk band scores their first tour, life on the road proves tough when they are joined by a man-eating demon as a roadie.

L7: Pretend We're Dead

A real time journey witnessing the rise, fall, and ultimate redemption of the fierce feminist pioneers of American grunge punk: L7.

Jimi: All Is by My Side

A drama based on Jimi Hendrix's life as he left New York City for London, where his career took off.

Good Vibrations

The story of music legend Terri Hooley, a key figure in Belfast's punk rock scene. Hooley founded the Good Vibrations store from which a record label sprung, representing bands such as The Undertones, Rudi and The Outcasts.

What We Do Is Secret

The true-life story of Darby Crash, who became an L.A. punk icon with his band The Germs. Along with Lorna Doom, Pat Smear, and Don Bolles, Darby Crash completely transformed the L.A. punk scene, while sacrificing everyone he loved, his career, and ultimately his life.

George Michael: Freedom

This documentary covers the span of George Michael's entire career, concentrating on the formative period in the late Grammy® Award winner’s life and career, leading up to and following the making of his acclaimed, best-selling album “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” and his subsequent, infamous High Court battle with his record label that followed, while also becoming poignantly personal about the death of his late partner and first love, Anselmo Feleppa.

Heathers: The Musical

A teenage girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" meets a dashing rebel who teaches her a more sinister way to play social politics.

Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to Happy Mondays

Documentary celebrating the triumph, tragedy and human comedy that was Manchester record company, Factory. Started by the late Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus, Peter Saville and Martin Hannett in the late 1970s, it became known as the home of Joy Divsion, New Order and Happy Mondays and for creating the Hacienda club. The label pioneered Britain's independent pop culture, creating a new Manchester and blowing a shed-load of money. Includes interviews with all the main players in the Factory story.

Oasis: Right Here Right Now

Documentary following Oasis as they discuss their recent career, revisit their old neighbourhood in Manchester, and perform songs from their forthcoming album, "Be Here Now".

Beatles Biggest Secrets

Featuring new and exclusive interviews, Beatles' Biggest Secrets, reveals the inside story of the world's greatest pop group with explosive revelations about the extraordinary lives of Liverpool's favorite sons. From the band's formation and early exposure to the gritty world of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll in the dingy strip clubs of Hamburg, Germany, the program then travels forward through the Beatles' careers with shocking surprises about their relationships with each other, their women and their inner circle. Filled with interviews from friends, relatives, colleagues and former girlfriends as well as rare film footage and original artwork by artist Klaus Voormann, this is the first fully rounded Beatles portrait to appear on DVD. This is the Beatles at their best -- and their worst!

Nazi Hate Rock

Donal MacIntyre investigates the secretive world of white power music and how the money made helps fund far right political organizations in many countries, including the British National Party in the UK. In this documentary, the crew gained access to the men and women behind one of the most disturbing musical movements. It reveals how British neo-Nazis and skinheads plan to launch 'Project School-Yard' in Britain after a similar scheme was tried out in the United States. In the UK, the team follows one of the most infamous British white-power bands, Whitelaw, as they prepare for one of the biggest gigs of their career. The band are filmed on stage, with riot police surrounding the venue, performing as the forces of law and order move in to shut down their hate-filled act. The film also contains shocking images of hate rock concerts in the USA where, thanks to the first amendment protecting freedom of speech, anything goes.

U2 at The BBC

U2 bring their stadium-filling rock to Abbey Road Studios to perform exclusive versions of classics like With or Without You, Beautiful Day and One, alongside new music from their latest album Songs of Experience, accompanied by a live orchestra and choir.

Downfalls High

When reserved and lonely teenager Fenix meets popular high school girl Scarlett, the two form a bond that shapes the rest of his life.

Rude Boy

Rude Boy is a semi-documentary, part character study, part 'rockumentary', featuring a British punk band, The Clash. The script includes the story of a fictional fan juxtposed with actual public events of the day, including political demonstrations and Clash concerts.

Sacrificial Youth

Sacrificial Youth is a Hardcore Punk musical that tells the story of TJ, a teenager caught at the crossroads. When a multi-national corporation hatches an evil plot of biblical proportions to destroy The Scene, TJ is forced to accept his fate as the chosen one to stand up and fight back.

Mary's Incredible Dream

Extremely rare, never repeated special starring Mary Tyler Moore, Ben Vereen, Doug Kershar, Arthur Fiedler, The Manhattan Transfer. “A special in which the vivacious Mary Tyler Moore acts out her wildest fantasies. Lot’s of big dance numbers reminds us that Mary started her career as a dancer. Moore sings and dances to rock, pop, and classical pieces in a show that's drawn from the Bible and fleshed out with allegory about man's creation, fall and rebirth. The show takes the form of surrealistic dream sequences that range from the fanciful to the solemn, and that have Mary playing the roles of angel, devil and woman." Manhattan Transfer does "Sympathy for the Devil," perhaps worth the price of admission right there.”

Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert

An all-star global music event live from London's Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert featuring the biggest names in music joining together in celebration of the life, music and love of Taylor Hawkins, one of modern music’s most beloved figures.

Never Too Young to Rock

In the late 1970s, rock 'n' roll was banned from television. One young man, our hero, led the battle against the TV ban. He searched the country for the biggest rock groups to perform at a concert in support of his cause. But the enemies of rock 'n' roll had other plans... The zany, madcap Never Too Young To Rock was made at the high point of glam rock in 1975. It offers a unique opportunity to experience the driving, feelgood sounds of the era’s top pop combos in their pomp. From the infectious choruses of Mud’s ‘Tiger Feet’ and ‘The Cat Crept In’, through the catchy doo-wop of The Rubettes, to percussive anthems like The Glitter Band’s ‘Angel Face’, this film provides aural nostalgia at its most intense.

Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan

A celebration of the Irish punk/poet Shane MacGowan, lead singer and songwriter of The Pogues, that combines unseen archive footage from the band and MacGowan’s family with original animations.

Gimme Danger

No other band in rock'n'roll history has rivaled The Stooges' combination of heavy primal throb, spiked psychedelia, blues-a-billy grind, complete with succinct angst-ridden lyrics, and a snarling, preening leopard of a frontman who somehow embodies Nijinsky, Bruce Lee, Harpo Marx, and Arthur Rimbaud all rolled into one. There is no precedent for The Stooges, while those inspired by them are now legion. The film will present the context of their emergence musically, culturally, politically, historically, and relate their adventures and misadventures while charting their inspirations and the reasons behind their initial commercial challenges, as well as their long-lasting legacy.

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