Star-studded line-up announced for Robbie Robertson tribute concert
To celebrate the life of The Band’s Robbie Robertson, who passed away in 2023, a tribute concert has been announced in memory of the late musician at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.
Titled, ‘Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson’, the event is set to take place at the iconic Californian venue on October 17th. Robertson’s longtime collaborator, Martin Scorsese, who he first worked alongside on the 1978 documentary, The Last Waltz, which captured The Band’s iconic farewell in San Francisco, is among those executive producing the tribute show.
The Last Waltz sparked a lengthy partnership between the pair with Robertson producing the soundtracks for a variety of the director’s movies, including Raging Bull, Casino, The Departed, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon, which was released after his death.
Earlier this year, Scorsese said of Robertson’s death, “I just miss Robbie, period. The friendship, the work, the tales he told — all of it.”
Scorsese isn’t the only individual involved with The Last Waltz that is linked to the tribute concert in Inglewood as Mavis Staples, Eric Clapton and Van Morrison will also be paying homage to their late friend.
Bob Weir and Taj Mahal have also been announced for the show, although they didn’t play at the aforementioned concert. Meanwhile, contemporary names set to pay tribute to Robertson include Noah Kahan, who has been dominating the charts over the last 12 months on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as Eric Church, Allison Russell, Nathaniel Rateliff, and Margo Price.
Other talent includes Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Trey Anastasio, Daniel Lanois, Jim James, Warren Haynes, Bruce Hornsby, Don Was, Robert Randolph, Ryan Bingham, and The Heartbreakers duo Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench.
Following Robertson’s death, Clapton spoke highly of the guitarist and revealed that he would have joined The Band if an offer was made, telling The Real Music Observer, “That was their thing – even their name was anonymity. That was also what was magnetic for me because I always wanted anonymity, I wanted to be in the rhythm section. And if that would have been possible to sneak in, even if I’m disguised, and played rhythm guitar then we could have done it. But it was never gonna happen.”
Robertson’s death was announced by his manager, Jared Levine, who confirmed that the musician passed away following a “long illness”. Levine also said, “Robbie was surrounded by his family at the time of his death, including his wife, Janet, his ex-wife, Dominique, her partner Nicholas, and his children Alexandra, Sebastian, Delphine, and Delphine’s partner Kenny. He is also survived by his grandchildren Angelica, Donovan, Dominic, Gabriel and Seraphina.”
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