Dir: Alan Byron | Music biopic
Northern Soul: Still Burning, directed by Alan Byron, isn’t really a concert film in the traditional sense. It doesn’t just capture a single performance or tour; instead, it’s a documentary that blends interviews, archival footage, and live event snippets to explore how the Northern Soul scene has endured—and evolved.
Across the film, the music is the connective tissue. Classic tracks like Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) and Out on the Floor resurface, not as background filler but as cultural artifacts that shaped the movement. There’s also a continued reverence for Tainted Love, which still ignites dance floors decades after its initial release.
The documentary also nods to the artists who defined the sound—figures like Frank Wilson, Dobie Gray, and Gloria Jones—alongside deeper cuts from lesser-known performers whose rare 45s became prized possessions among collectors. Byron emphasizes how DJs and crate-diggers, as much as the artists themselves, shaped the canon.
Live footage in the film captures modern Northern Soul nights: packed dance floors, spinning, athletic dancers, and DJs keeping the tempo high with vinyl-only sets. But these moments are woven into a broader narrative rather than presented as full performances. You’ll see glimpses of bands and singers reviving the sound, but the focus stays on the culture—its devotees, its rituals, and its persistence.
What emerges is less a concert experience and more a cultural portrait. Still Burning is about continuity: how music from small American labels in the 1960s still fuels all-nighters in the UK today. It’s as much about the people who keep dancing as it is about the records themselves.
IN UK CINEMAS 15 MAY 2026