For any avid music fan out there, it’s undeniable that the songs we love and the opportunities to witness them live go hand-in-hand.
In the past few years, numerous live music events, particularly festivals, have become a staple experience for many music lovers. Some of these events have continued to last for decades, becoming the world’s most highly sought after shows year after year due to the one-of-a-kind fun experiences they offer. Others, however, are no more (or never were) and are remembered for far less positive reasons, being riddled with infamy and tragedy.
Through documentaries meticulously curated and crafted over the years, we are able to do deep dives into such both types of live music events. Ultimately, these films offers viewers a much wider perspective on the shows that have defined generations of music lovers, caused controversy in one way or another, and more, regardless of their reputation.
With this, Billboard Philippines has handpicked five of these documentaries that you can watch and do a marathon of on Youtube or your streaming platform of choice.
Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert
Kicking things off is a documentary on a festival that needs no introduction. Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert is a grand look back on one of the world’s most famous festivals, Coachella. First held in 1999, the annual music and arts festival has become renowned as the ultimate live music experience for many, showcasing artists of all sounds and origins on its many stages year after year in the Coachella Valley in California.
In this film, director and producer Chris Perkel showcases the “legendary performances and behind-the-scenes stories that shaped the seminal music festival,” offering a one-of-a-kind peek into the event’s “colorful beginning, presents exclusive, never-before-seen footage, interviews, and key performances from some of the biggest names in music.”
Watch Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert on Youtube.
Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99
While Coachella held its first iteration in 1999, there was another historic music festival held in the same year, albeit with an abysmally less-than-positive reputation: Woodstock ’99.
Held from July 23 to 25, 1999 in New York, the event was second attempt at reviving the original Woodstock from 1969, making use of a star-studded lineup composed of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Megadeth, Korn, Fatboy Slim, Alanis Morissette, and more to draw attention and media coverage. Despite this, the festival, which was supposed to become “a millennium-defining celebration of peace, love and great music,” is now infamously remembered for the inhumane conditions, destruction, violence, and crime present throughout its duration.
In 2022’s Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99, director Jamie Crawford pieces together “rare insider footage,” alongside “eyewitness interviews” with “festival staffers, performers, and attendees” in order to bring to light “the egos, greed and music that fueled three days of utter chaos.”
Watch Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99 on Netflix.
Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy
Following the success of the premiere of Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99, Trainwreck returned in 2025 for more documentaries on other infamous happenings. This brings us to another film in the series touches on a similarly tragic music festival: Astroworld 2021.
Serving as the third iteration of the event founded and organized by American rapper Travis Scott, Astroworld 2021 in Houston, Texas was supposed to be a grand comeback for the festival following the cancellation of its 2020 iteration due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, tragedy occurred during its first night, with 10 attendees dying and leaving hundreds injured due mismanagement and failure with crowd control.
Directed by Yemi Bamiro and Hannah Poulter, Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy taps into multiple accounts from the evening, sharing the stories and first-hand perspectives of the attendees, security personnel, festival staff, and paramedics present during the festival.
Watch Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy on Netflix.
FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
All live music events make promises to entice and encourage potential event-goers, with some doing more than most. On the otherhand, there are those who severely underdeliver, which was the case for 2017’s Fyre Festival.
Created by rapper Ja Rule and businessman Billy McFarland, the event was promised to be one of the most luxurious music festivals ever, held on a Bahamas private island with top-of-the-line amenities and featuring an exciting lineup composed of Pusha T, Tyga, Blink-182, Kaytranada, Lil Yachty, Skepta, and more. Sure enough, this attracted attendees — individuals who would eventually discover a disappointing reality far from what they expected as a result of poor planning and numerous other related problems.
In Chris Smith’s FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, viewers are granted a look into the creation of Fyre Festival and goes into the details of what eventually led the event to rescheduled and ultimately cancelled.
Watch FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened on Netflix.
Wacken Open Air: Heavy Rain And Heavy Metal
Capping of this list is a documentary about none other than the world’s biggest metal festival: Wacken Open Air.
Established in 1989, Wacken Open Air is widely regarded as the ultimate festival to attend for any metalhead in the world. Annually drawing in tens of thousands of fans from all over the world, the event is held every year in Wacken, Germany, becoming the epicenter of all forms of metal and the diverse crowds each band and subgenre brings with them.
In this film by WELT Documentary, viewers are taken on a journey during the festival’s 2023 iteration, detailing the the various experiences of showgoers and the stormy weather and muddy terrain they faced, as well as gaining firsthand insights from the artists who performed, alongside Wacken founder Thomas Jensen.
Watch the documentary on YouTube.