concert film – The Movie Gourmet

James Brown and His Famous Flames in THE T.A.M.I. SHOW

The T.A.M.I. Show is probably the first concert film as we think of the genre today. An amazing confluence of talent gives us an unfiltered 1964 time capsule of British Invasion, Surf, Motown, Pop and early Soul (but there’s no Folk) music.

Here are the performers:

The Rolling Stones
James Brown
The Beach Boys
Chuck Berry
The Supremes
Marvin Gaye
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
Lesley Gore
The Blossoms (backing Gaye)
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Jan and Dean
The Barbarians
Billy D. Kramer and the Dakotas

Eight The T.A.M.I. Show performers are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Berry, the Stones, the Beach Boys, James Brown and the Famous Flames, the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and The Blossoms singer Darlene Love, who was inducted as a solo act. Future actress Teri Garr and choreographer/pop artist Toni Basil were two of the Go Go Girls. Members of the famed Wrecking Crew session musicians constituted the house band, including guitarist Glen Campbell, pianist Leon Russell and drummer Hal Blaine, along with the jazz great, bassist Jimmy Bond. The house band is rarely glimpsed, but you can see them to the right during The Supremes’ set and at the finale.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones in THE T.A.M.I. SHOW

The T.A.M.I. Show was filmed in two performances at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Tickets were free for LA teenagers. (Future film director John Landis and future teen heartthrob David Cassidy went as seventh grade classmates.) The event was emceed by by Jan and Dean. T.A.M.I. stands for either Teen Age Music International or Teenage Music Awards International (although there were no awards).

James Brown absolutely killed. His was a performance for the ages, and the crowd went nuts. To their everlasting regret, the Rolling Stones had to follow him to close the show.

In this performance, the Stones were hippy Brits singing Blues music (that, oddly, White American teens were only now discovering though these White guys from the UK). It’s most notable for Mick Jagger’s groundbreaking definition of a Front Man. As I write this in 2020, I just heard a Stones song on the radio that I didn’t recognize and learned that it was released this year – 56 years after the T.A.M.I. Show.

The Beach Boys came on immediately after a Jan and Dean song, which does not favor Jan and Dean today in comparison. Brian Wilson’s genius and the band’s fun energy were many rungs above what Jan and Dean had to offer as musicians. It’s poignant to watch the the young, 1964 Beach Boys today, knowing that everything about them hung precariously on Brian Wilson’s traumatized mental health.

Billy J. Kramer fronting the Dakotas in THE T.A.M.I. SHOW

There are two very odd “What are those guys doing here?” sets. One is the slick-haired Brit popster Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, an act managed by Brian Epstein and produced by George Martin at the same time as the Beatles; Kramer got to perform FOUR songs!

The second is one of the first shaggy haired American rock bands, The Barbarians. They perform Hey Little Bird, which preceded their one novelty hit Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?

The Barbarians, for some reason, performing in THE T.A.M.I. SHOW

When I watch these 1964 performances, I can’t help but think about what these artists still had ahead of them. James Brown had just recorded I Got You (I Feel Good), but it wouldn’t be widely released until 1965. The Stones still hadn’t created EARLY Stones songs like Satisfaction, Paint It Black, Sympathy for the Devil and You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Marvin Gaye hadn’t yet sung I Heard It Through the Grapevine or What’s Goin’ On. Ahead for the Supremes were Love Child and a flock of other number one hits. And this was before The Beach Boys did California Girls and Good Vibrations, not to mention the Pet Sounds album.

The T.A.M.I. Show is on the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. It probably would have been more influential, except that hardly anybody saw it for years. It’s somewhat of a Lost Film, having fallen off the radar after its 1964 release. I recall seeing it on late night TV sometime in the late 1970s or early 80s. It was resurrected in VHS bootleg form in the 80s (but without the Beach Boys set).

It’s still not available to rent a stream, but The T.A.M.I. Show is available on Netflix DVD. It’s very easy to find the full one hour 52 minute version for free on YouTube, along with clips of each of the acts.

All Posts

On September 21, Turner Classic Movies presents five movies with some of the most unforgettable rock concert footage:

Monterey Pop (1968): This is one of the few DVDs that I still own, for the performances by Mamas and the Papas, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Canned Heat, Simon and Garfunkle, Jefferson Airplane, Eric Burdon and the Animals, Country Joe and the Fish and The Who. It’s okay with me if you fast forward over Ravi Shankar. Pete Townsend and Jimi Hendrix had a guitar-destroying competition, which Hendrix, aided by lighter fluid, undeniably won. The Otis Redding set is epic.
Woodstock (1970): TCM is airing the director’s cut of the film chronicling the most iconic rock concert ever, also a pivotal social and cultural phenomenon. Performers include: Joan Baez, Crosby Still & Nash, Arlo Guthrie, The Who, Sha Na Na, Richie Havens, Joe Cocker, Country Joe and the Fish, Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, Santana and (wait for it…) Ten Years After.
Gimme Shelter (1970): The anti-Woodstock – the ill-fated Rolling Stones concert at Altamont, showing what happened when someone tried to put on a major free concert without Bill Graham or any other adult supervision, depending on the (literally) murderous Hell’s Angels for security. Includes some footage of that notorious publicity grabber, attorney Melvin Belli in real-time negotiations. What’s unforgettable, of course, is watching Mick Jagger dealing with a murder at the foot of his stage.
Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back (1967): The story of Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England, when he was transitioning from an acoustic to an electric artist. This film opens with what must be the first music video, as Dylan holds up cards with the lyrics for Subterranean Homesick Blues.
The pump don’t work
‘Cause the vandals took the handles
Jimi Hendrix (1973): I haven’t seen this movie, which contains 1967-70 concert footage and interviews with his contemporaries. Here’s a tip for Hendrix fans – the Hendrix display in his hometown’s Seattle Rock and Roll Museum (now Museum of Pop Culture) is superb.

D.A. Pennebaker directed both Monterey Pop and Don’t Look Back. Pennebaker also excels in political documentaries; he was the cinematographer for Primary and the director of The War Room.

I would argue that the Janis Joplin and Otis Redding sets in Monterey Pop are the best live performances ever filmed. Watch for Mama Cass in the audience reacting to Janis with a “Wow”.

Great music and lots of stoned people. Set that DVR.

THE T.A.M.I. SHOW: rock giants as they emerged

coming up on TV: rock concerts in their time