Stage, an arena presentation of David Bowie’s 1978 Isolar II concerts rebuilt by Moonage Daydream director Brett Morgen, will have its world premiere at Berlin’s Uber Arena on 14 February 2027 in association with the 77th Berlin International Film Festival, the show’s producers announced on Tuesday 27 October. The Uber Arena holds up to 17,000 people, and the show plays it during the festival’s first weekend.
Key facts
- Stage (Wonderworld, the David Bowie Estate and Brett Morgen): world premiere on 14 February 2027 at Berlin’s Uber Arena, presented with the Berlinale
- Built from 35mm footage of Bowie’s two 1978 shows at Earls Court in London, largely unseen for almost 50 years
- 77th Berlinale: 10–21 February 2027; Morgen is also a headline speaker in the European Film Market talks
- Presale through Eventim opens on 28 October at 10:00 CET, general sale on 30 October at 10:00 CET; prices not yet published
The booking takes a concert film, staged as a live event, out of the festival’s cinemas and into a sports and concert arena. Variety called it a rare move into alternative programming for the festival. The Berlinale already screens films at the Uber Eats Music Hall, on the same square as the arena, as the venue’s 2026 festival page shows. Bowie called Berlin home in the mid-1970s, Deadline noted.
What the show is
The footage comes from two Earls Court concerts that Bowie had filmed in the summer of 1978, on the tour behind Low and “Heroes”. The Guardian reported that Bowie commissioned the actor and director David Hemmings to shoot them and that, according to Bowie’s associates, he meant the film to play concert venues in place of touring himself. It was never released. The Guardian quoted Bowie saying in 2000 that he “didn’t like the way it had been shot”. The tour’s live album, also titled Stage, came out in September 1978, but it was recorded at US dates in Philadelphia, Providence and Boston, according to the official Bowie site’s fact file.
According to the producers’ press release, Morgen came across the original footage about a decade ago while making Moonage Daydream, and talks with the estate about taking the material to arenas began in 2018. The Guardian reported that he used its “Heroes” performance in that film. He has since spent close to 10 years editing, grading and hand-painting the film. The project moved forward in 2024, when Rob Hallett, a former president of AEG’s international live business, joined through his company Wonderworld.
On the night, the film runs across three screens that combine large projections with transparent LED panels, according to Deadline. Patrick Woodroffe, whose lighting credits include the Rolling Stones and Elton John, designed the light show. Paul Massey, who won an Oscar for the sound of Bohemian Rhapsody and also mixed Moonage Daydream, made a new 7.1 surround mix for the show. The release says the set-up is built for venues with a capacity of 5,000 and up.
The band on screen is the 1978 touring line-up: Carlos Alomar and Adrian Belew on guitars, George Murray on bass, Dennis Davis on drums, Roger Powell on keyboards, Sean Mayes on piano and Simon House on violin.
Who is behind it
Morgen is a US documentary director who was Oscar-nominated for On the Ropes (1999). His credits include the Kurt Cobain portrait Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015) and Jane (2017), built from archive film of Jane Goodall. Moonage Daydream, which Deadline describes as the first film the Bowie estate officially authorised, premiered in the Midnight Screenings at Cannes in 2022 and won the Grammy for best music film in 2024. In statements carried by Deadline and Variety, Hallett called the material “an extraordinary treasure” and said the team was working with the estate to keep the show faithful to Bowie’s legacy, and Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle said that holding the world premiere in Berlin, “a city so closely connected to David Bowie, makes the experience especially meaningful”.
The festival has marked Bowie before: it paid tribute to him at its 2016 edition, weeks after his death. Morgen’s EFM talk is the second part of his Berlin booking; the market runs 10–16 February.
Dates and what is not known
The 77th Berlinale opens on 10 February, a day earlier than usual, and adds two public Audience Days on 20 and 21 February, the festival said in March. Its programme press conference is on 20 January 2027. Ticket prices, the running time and the tour cities after Berlin have not been announced. Nor has it been said whether Stage will be listed in a festival section or sold only as an arena event; the release describes it as presented in association with the Berlinale.
Elsewhere on the festival circuit, our coverage includes the Torino booking for You Can See Everything, the A-list festival debate in Tokyo, where Berlin sits among the 17 FIAPF A-festivals, and the jury line-up in Doha. More in Festivals & Markets.
Our reading
Festivals sell scarcity, and an arena world premiere is scarcity at volume. A sold-out arena night would hold up to 17,000 people, several times the audience of a gala screening, and the presale opens months before the 2027 Competition line-up is named. For the Berlinale, the gain is reach and a story beyond the industry. The cost is that the premiere slot is attached to a touring product whose economics are set by ticketing, not by sales or distribution.
For producers of music documentaries, the model is the point to watch. Stage treats archive footage as a live show, with a lighting rig and a sound mix, rather than as a cinema release. If Berlin sells out, the producers will have a model to offer other festivals with large venues. The next evidence is the Eventim presale this week, then the list of cities after Berlin.
Sources
- David Bowie “Stage”, official site (Wonderworld)
- Wonderworld and David Bowie Estate press release, as published by TotalNtertainment, 27 October 2026
- Deadline, 27 October 2026
- Variety, 27 October 2026
- The Guardian, 27 October 2026
- Berlinale, festival dates 2027
- Berlinale press release, 24 March 2026: new festival dates for 2027
- Berlinale press release, 2 February 2016: tribute to David Bowie
- Uber Arena, venue facts
- davidbowie.com, Stage album fact file
- Recording Academy, Best Music Film winners