The Last Waltz

On Thanksgiving night, 1976, The Band played their farewell concert at Bill Graham's Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, the very hall where they'd made their debut under their own name in 1969. They invited their friends. The result, captured by Martin Scorsese, has as good a claim as any film to being the greatest concert film ever made.

The night itself

The audience of 5,000 was served a Thanksgiving turkey dinner; there was a ballroom orchestra and a poetry reading. Then The Band played, and were joined by a procession of guests, each a chapter of their history. The promoter Bill Graham mounted the whole thing with over 300 staff.

The guest list

It reads like a roll-call of an era:

• Ronnie Hawkins, their old boss, whose Hawks they had once been
• Bob Dylan, the man they backed when the world booed
• Muddy Waters, tearing through “Mannish Boy”
• Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Eric Clapton
• Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Paul Butterfield
• Ringo Starr and Ron Wood in the closing jam

Two of the film’s best-known performances weren’t from the night at all: Emmylou Harris on “Evangeline” and The Staple Singers on “The Weight” were filmed afterwards on a studio soundstage.

Scorsese's film

Robertson, knowing Scorsese loved music from Mean Streets, brought him in to film it. What began as a 16mm idea became a full studio production shot on seven 35mm cameras, shot from a script of around 200 pages that Robertson and Scorsese prepared, with musical director John Simon briefing Scorsese on who sang and soloed when.

Released in 1978 and interleaved with candid interviews, it set the template for the modern concert film.

A farewell that wasn't

It was meant to end the story on a high. In truth it ended only one chapter: the four others reformed without Robertson in the 1980s, and the rift over who deserved the credit, and the glory, never fully healed. But for one night, it was perfect.