Credit: Warner Bros.

From Bob Dylan to Joni Mitchell: rare footage of The Band’s ‘The Last Waltz’

Fri 4 November 2022 5:00, UK

The legendary farewell show of The Band, known as The Last Waltz, has been a part of music’s rich legacy for decades. Filmed by the director of Goodfellas and Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese, the concert not only saw Robbie Robertson et al. say goodbye to their fans, but they also had an all-star list of friends who also came out to help them on their way. It means the fact The Band never really gave up their day jobs is a moot point because with this, perhaps the greatest concert film ever made, they made history.

Seeing the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in one place is pretty impressive on its own. However, the real draw of The Last Waltz was that the group and their wider entourage all seemed absolutely delighted to be taking part. There were no egos and no demands, this was a celebration of a triumphant band through the only expression that made sense: beautiful music. While the concert film is legendary, we bet you haven’t seen this view of the proceedings before.

If any group could be described as the distilled defiance of a generation, then The Band are it. The band garnered as much mystique as they did musicianship from 16 years travelling the rough roads with Bob Dylan and the likes, eventually infusing their own music with everything they had learnt. Martin Scorsese teamed up with them for the fabled farewell concert in San Francisco and lent his expert cinematic craftsmanship to the show. The gig itself is an important chapter in the history of music, the bill featured an array of wrongfully forgotten musicians, including the likes of Bobby Charles, and in a way, it captured the night that the 1970s finally drove the ’60s down.

The film is simply a fantastic document of superb musical performances from, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters and more, but the gleaming jewel in its crown is the teary-eyed tear down of ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ which features musicians at the culmination of a journey, giving it absolutely all they’ve got. However, viewed through the clips below, we get a much rawer sense of the show as they document the night without glitz or glamour.

The videos below, split into three parts, are taken from the house cameras at the venue are provide an unedited and entirely visceral showing of the night. considering the age of the cameras the video and audio quality is of a great standard and the unedited nature of the films — complete with a chunk of cocaine in Neil Young’s nose — mean that this is perhaps the definitive view of the night that bid farewell to one of the best band around.

It may be a far cry from the smooth and smoky versions of the songs you see in the film, and there is certainly a sense of perfection lost within the somewhat scratchy videos, but there is also a magnetism that is hard to ignore and a beautiful vulnerability that protrudes through the screen. This was a selection of the finest songwriters around, and they all put their egos and differences aside to pay their dues and thank The Band.

Watch a rare alternate take of The Band’s The Last Waltz, split into three parts, below.