Having recently seen the now 70 year old Levon Helm in concert at Massey Hall, we decided to take another look at The Last Waltz, the Scorsese directed documentary of The Band’s 1976 concert extravaganza at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
I was 18 when the film was released in 1978. It featured many of the musicians that really interested me at that time. I was listening to The Band a lot, and Bob Dylan and Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton and so on. It was quite the thing to see all those musicians up on the stage playing and singing together. That’s really what I remembered about the film.
Seeing it again, I still loved much of the music. There were a few weak spots but many really fantastic moments too. It seemed weird to see Robbie Robertson talk about retiring from the road. I mean he was a young man, and music was, after all, his vocation. Let’s put it in perspective. Thirty-five years later, Bob Dylan at 70 is still touring extensively. Levon Helm is too, back with a vengeance after serious health problems stopped him from singing for a decade. But then again, maybe Robertson was just sensible. Richard Manual would later check out early by hanging himself in a motel room at age 43. Rick Danko checked out in 1999 at age 56, his death related to his drug use.
The film included some footage shot after the concert on a sound stage featuring The Staples and also Emmylou Harris. In the fullness of time, the inclusion of this material in a concert movie just doesn’t seem to fit. I would rather have seem more of the concert material that was omitted from the film or not filmed at all.
All that said, I really enjoyed watching The Last Waltz again. It featured some fabulous performances.
27th Street 