Tour Films Aren’t Documentaries — Until They Are

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

Concert Documentary | Editor

There’s a point in almost every tour film where something changes.

It stops being performance,

and turns into memory.

I’ve cut big shows, Coldplay, Metallica, Taylor, Ed, Gaga, all the massive ones.

The rhythm’s usually the same: hit after hit, song after song, lights, crowd, boom.

But somewhere in the middle, something shifts.

A lyric lands a little harder.

The artist breaks the pattern.

Someone in the crowd starts crying.

And in that second, you’re not just cutting a show anymore.

You’re holding a piece of someone’s life.

That’s when a tour film becomes a documentary.

Not because someone’s narrating,

but because something real slips through.

It can be tiny.

A smile. A missed line. A voice that cracks.

The job is to see it.

And keep it in.

Because no one replays a concert film for the polish.

They come back for what felt real.