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 Winterland. 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.

38 thoughts on “Band – The Last Waltz”

  3. Great work Max! Happy Thanksgiving man! Great detail of that ’76 event. I saw Joan Jett at the Filmore West in ’88 great venue. The Band if I have it right were the backing band for Roy Orbison at one time in the middle 60’s there in Nashville & on the road. If I have it right.

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    1. Happy Thanksgiving Carl!
      Glad you got to go there. I saw her in 2016 open for The Who. They did back Bob Dylan in 1965-66… they could have backed Roy at some point in time or part of them.

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      1. All of this comes from my memories of when I used to tape ‘American Top 40’ way back when Casey Kasem was the host…come to think of it that may have been the Atlanta Rhythm Section that backed Roy Orbison & The Band was a part of Dylan’s fateful ‘Electronic’ period when Michael Bloomfield was jamming with ’em…I think. Makin’ me think this Thanksgiving morning Max…lol.

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      2. I listened to him as well growing up.
        That sounds right Carl but The Band played with so many people so I wasn’t sure.
        I was up at 7:30 watching the Macy’s Parade lol…so it’s a true Thanksgiving!

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      3. Ya’, watchin’ the parade now off & on…getting my fantasy lineup together & gettin’ ready to start cookin’. NatGeo has a great documentary on Native Americans struggle from the late 18th Century on.

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      4. A Canadian blogger named Deke…brought me in his espn Fantasy Baseball League so I will be getting ready in March.
        I love watching history

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  6. I have to agree with you about Van. All the performances are great, but his is the highlight. Of course, I’m a big fan, but he certainly revved himself up for the occasion. The high kicks at the finale just cap it perfectly.

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    1. Oh….this version of Caravan on The Last Waltz is the one I think of…. our band covered it a few times and this is the version we copied….without the kicks lol

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  13. Max, wasn’t it at Winterland, the venue where they played when they were just getting started? I just watched, “It Makes No Difference” the other day while youtube surfing. It’s one of the great concerts of all time. I got a big special set for it a few years back, including a giant book which is a reproduction of one Scorcese gave to Robbie back then. Such a wonderful tome to page through.

    Speaking of Scorcese, did you hear he directed a Beatles movie, Beatles 1964 (something like that) being released on Disney+ tomorrow? Saw a trailer of it yesterday and it looks WONDERFUL. Happy Thanksgiving, to You and the Peeps who hang out here.

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    1. You are absolutely right! He closed the West and then reopened a place as Winterland…it took the place of the Fillmore West….thats why I was thinking that…but i just changed it…thank you.
      Yes…I’ve seen some trailers from it from the Beatles Website…one of John and George outtakes of A Hard Day’s Night…it looks good.

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