The Last Waltz, The Band’s motion picture concert, was held 44 years ago today.
Performed on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, The Last Waltz was advertised as the end of The Band’s illustrious touring career.
The concert saw The Band joined by more than a dozen special guests, including Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood, Bobby Charles and Neil Young.
The event was filmed by director Martin Scorsese and made into a documentary of the same name, released in 1978. The film features concert performances, scenes shot on a studio soundstage and interviews by Scorsese with members of The Band.
A triple-LP soundtrack recording, produced by Rob Fraboni, was issued in 1978. The film was released on DVD in 2002 as was a four-CD box set of the concert and related studio recordings. The Last Waltz has been widely hailed as one of the greatest concert films ever made, although it has been criticized for its focus on Robbie Robertson.
Levon Helm, in his 1993 autobiography, “This Wheel's on Fire,” expressed serious reservations about Scorsese's handling of the film, claiming that Scorsese and Robertson (who produced the film) conspired to make The Band look like Robbie Robertson's sidemen.
He said that Robertson, who is depicted singing powerful backing vocals, was actually singing into a microphone that was turned off throughout most of the concert (a typical practice during their live performances).
Helm also discusses Manuel's and Hudson's minimal screen time, such as when Manuel sings during the closing number "I Shall Be Released," but Manuel is hidden behind the phalanx of guest performers. There are several shots catching Ronnie Hawkins looking around but not singing, yet Manuel remains invisible.
Helm went so far as to say that Last Waltz was "the biggest fuckin' rip-off that ever happened to The Band," citing that he, Manuel, Danko and Hudson never received any money for the various home videos, DVDs and soundtracks released by Warner Bros. after the project.
In the book, the producer John Simon also states that, except for Levon's drums and vocals, all of the soundtrack was overdubbed.
Here is the trailer for “The Last Waltz,” released in 1978
Bob Dylan with members of the Band
Thanksgiving dinner for 5,000 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco before the Last Walt concert, 44 years ago today
Photo by Gary Fong
The Band performs “The Weight” at the Last Waltz with the Staples Singers