Tour Films Aren’t Documentaries — Until They Are

Ariana Grande: Excuse Me, I Love You (2020)

Concert Documentary | Editor

There’s a moment in almost every tour film where something shifts.

It stops being just performance.

And it becomes memory.

I’ve cut massive multi-cam shows — Coldplay, Metallica, Taylor, Ed, Gaga — and the rhythm is usually the same: hit after hit, song after song, lights, crowd, boom.

But somewhere in the middle… a lyric lands.

Or an artist breaks the pattern.

Or someone in the crowd breaks down crying.

And suddenly, you’re not just documenting the show.

You’re documenting a moment in someone’s life.

That’s when a tour film becomes a documentary.

Not because someone’s talking.

But because something real breaks through the performance.

It could be as small as a smile. A skipped line. A shaky voice.

The edit’s job is to notice it.

And make sure it stays in.

Because no one replays a concert film for the polish.

They come back for what felt real.