Band – The Last Waltz

Happy Thanksgiving! Watching The Last Waltz is just as part of Thanksgiving as the meal with the family…that and listening to Alice’s Restaurant.

The Band on Thanksgiving in 1976 at the Fillmore West. The film starts off with THIS FILM MUST BE PLAYED LOUD! A cut to Rick Danko playing pool and then it then to the Band playing “Don’t Do It”…the last song they performed that night after hours of playing. Through the music and some interviews, their musical journey and influences are retraced.

This film is considered by many the best concert film ever made. It was directed by Martin Scorsese. I love the setting with the chandeliers that were from the movie Gone With The Wind. The quality of the picture is great because it was shot with a 35-millimeter camera which wasn’t normally done with concerts.

Before the Band and guests hit the stage, Bill Graham, the promoter, served a Thanksgiving dinner to 5000 people that made up the audience with long tables with white tablecloths.

The Band’s musical guests included

Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Dr. John, Paul Butterfield, Van Morrison (my favorite performance), Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton and Muddy Waters

The Staple Singers and Emmylou Harris also appear but their segments were taped later on a sound stage and not at the concert.

Robbie wanted off the road earlier and that is what the Last Waltz was all about…the last concert by The Band with a lot of musical friends. He was tired of touring and also the habits the band was picking up… drugs and drinking. Richard Manuel, in particular, was in bad shape and needed time.

The rest of the Band supposedly agreed but a few years later all of them but Robbie started to tour as The Band again. Richard Manuel ended up hanging himself in 1986. Rick Danko passed away in 1999 at the end of a tour of a heart attack attributed to years of drug and alcohol abuse. Levon Helm died of cancer in 2012.

The Band sounded great that night and it might be the best version you will ever hear of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.

The Last Waltz is a grand farewell to a great band and a film that I revisit at least twice a year… once always around Thanksgiving.

The complete concert is at the bottom…without cuts.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

50 thoughts on “Band – The Last Waltz”

  5. It would have been nice to see the Grateful Dead at this show instead of Neil Diamond, as they were not even friends. I read that the Grateful Dead were not invited to be at the Last Waltz because Bill Graham felt if Garcia was there it would turn into a majority Dead crowd, and he didn’t want that. Bloody hell, Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, and Ringo were all there and Garcia was not bigger than any of them. Levon Helms autobiography says everyone was handpicked for some reason or another, and it never mentions that the Dead were in consideration.

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    1. Now that you mention it…they did do some concerts together…that would have been an interesting mix.
      Robbie was producing an album for Diamond at the time…the others were not happy he was in it.

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      1. As for influence, probably so …they changed Clapton’s musical trajectory & the Beatles adored them. Commercially though,no, Guess who, Rush, even *shudder* 5cents is what they’re worth, Nickelback did more in international sales, probably others too.
        While my sweetie took a post-turkey nap tonight I got the remote & played around without streaming service & found a channel with a ‘Canadian Classics’ list…The Band were on there rightly so,so too Rush, good ol’ Gordon , my buds Blue Rodeo, Tragically Hip, Neil Young…was amazing for here in Texas!

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      2. Oh yea in influence… because it is hard to compare eras…although The Guess Who were in the same era…they had more hit singles for sure but not as high of regarded albums. Rush outsold both together probably… but it was a different time… lol I’m treating them like baseball eras.

        Oh that sounds like a cool channel. You will know most of it!

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  9. My family gathering got postponed because my older son is down with what he thinks is bronchitis but he’s quite sick, whatever it is (I think it’s covid but the tests keep saying it isn’t.) After your reminder I’m going to sit down and watch The Last Waltz. Happy TGiving Round 2!

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  10. The Band are tight tight tight. Diamond looks a bit incongruous in this company I have to say. This was around the time of Neil’s days of wearing the same ‘style’ of clothes Evel Knieval was jumping around in, and he just didn’t fit in with the rest musically somehow.
    Levon is sooo at home on ‘Up On Cripple Creek.’

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    1. I always questioned Diamond in this one…there were other people who would have fit more for sure.
      I have to give a lot of credit to the Band in this. That many different songs…this wasn’t like just one of their normal concerts…that is a lot of songs!

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  12. Watched it last night. What a peach of a concert. I understand why you picked Van as your favorite performance because you’re such a big fan. I can’t pick a favorite but loved “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (flawless!) and Dylan back with them at the end had the tears flowing knowing almost all of The Band are dead now 😦 Looking for the movie disk I found all of the music CDs also and need to give them a listen. I also found some other movies and things I forgot I had.

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      2. Yes I have a long time ago…I need to see it again. He is always interesting…well the entire band is… I just read another book…speaking of books…on Mal Evans…a “roadie” for the Beatles…more like friend than roadie….sad sad story.

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      4. I just can’t believe…of all the ones I have…that is one that I don’t…
        Look around that shared link…I think you might like a lot of them.

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