The Last Waltz

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The Last Waltz

Martin Scorsese

The Last Waltz  was a  concert  by the Canadian-American rock group  the Band , held on American  Thanksgiving Day , November 25, 1976, at  Winterland Ballroom  in  San Francisco .  The Last Waltz  was advertised as the Band's "farewell concert appearance", [ 2 ]  and the concert had the Band joined by more than a dozen special guests, including their previous employers  Ronnie Hawkins  and  Bob Dylan , as well as  Paul Butterfield ,  Bobby Charles ,  Eric Clapton ,  Neil Diamond ,  Emmylou Harris ,  Dr. John ,  Joni Mitchell ,  Van Morrison ,  Ringo Starr ,  Muddy Waters ,  Ronnie Wood , and  Neil Young . The musical director for the concert was the Band's original record producer,  John Simon . The concert was produced and managed by  Bill Graham  and was filmed by director  Martin Scorsese , who made it into a  documentary  of the same title, released in 1978.  Jonathan Taplin , who was the Band's tour manager from 1969 to 1972 and later produced Scorsese's film  Mean Streets , suggested that Scorsese would be the ideal director for the project, and Rock Brynner introduced  Robbie Robertson  and Scorsese. Taplin served as executive producer. The film features concert performances, intermittent song renditions shot on a studio soundstage, and interviews by Scorsese with members of the Band. The soundtrack and DVD were later released. The Last Waltz  is hailed as one of the greatest documentary  concert films  ever made. In 2019, the film was selected by the  Library of Congress  for preservation in the United States  National Film Registry  for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Plot [ edit ] Beginning with a  title card  saying, "This film should be played loud!" the  concert documentary  covers the Band's influences and career. The group consisted of Rick Danko on bass, violin, and vocals, Levon Helm on drums, mandolin, and vocals, Garth Hudson on keyboards, saxophone and accordion, songwriter Richard Manuel on keyboards, drums, percussion and vocals, and guitarist-songwriter Robbie Robertson on vocals. The Band, with Bob Dylan and guests, during "I Shall Be Released" Various other artists perform with the Band: Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Dr. John, Neil Diamond, and Eric Clapton. Genres covered include  blues ,  rock and roll ,  New Orleans R&B ,  Tin Pan Alley   pop ,  folk , and  rock . Further genres are explored in segments filmed later on a  sound stage  with Emmylou Harris ( country ) and  the Staple Singers  ( soul  and  gospel ). The film begins with the Band performing the last song of the evening, their  cover version  of the  Marvin Gaye  hit " Don't Do It ", as an  encore . The film then  flashes back  to the beginning of the concert, and follows it more or less chronologically. The Band is backed by a large  horn section  and performs many of its hit songs, including " Up on Cripple Creek ", " Stage Fright ", and " The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down ". The live songs are interspersed with studio segments and interviews conducted by director Martin Scorsese in which the Band's members reminisce about the group's history. Robertson talks about Hudson joining the band on the condition that the other members pay him $10 a week each for music lessons. The  classically trained  Hudson could then tell his parents that he was a music teacher instead of merely a rock-and-roll musician. Robertson also describes the surreal experience of playing in a burnt-out  nightclub  owned by  Jack Ruby . Manuel recalls that some of the early names for the Band included "The Honkies", and "The Crackers". Because they were simply referred to as "the band" by Dylan and their friends and neighbors in  Woodstock, New York , they figured that was just what they would call themselves. Danko is seen giving Scorsese a tour of the Band's  Shangri-La studio , and he plays a recording of "Sip the Wine", a track from his then-forthcoming 1977 solo album  Rick Danko . A recurring theme brought up in the interviews with Robertson is that the concert marks an end of an era for the Band, that after 16 years on the road, the time had come for a change. "That's what  The Last Waltz  is - 16 years on the road. The numbers start to scare you," Robertson tells Scorsese. "I mean, I couldn't live with 20 years on the road. I don't think I could even discuss it." [ 6 ]