Thirty years later, The Last Waltz inspires today’s Canadian roots rockers

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This article was published 22/11/2006 (7251 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO (CP) – It was 30 years ago that Canadian roots-rockers the Band staged a legendary mega-concert known as The Last Waltz, a celebratory send-off notoriously played through a haze of drugs, conflict and controversy.

This week, tribute concerts in Toronto and elsewhere commemorate that star-packed show.

Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Ringo Starr, Ron Wood and Ronnie Hawkins were among the luminaries to appear alongside the Band at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom on U.S. Thanksgiving, Nov. 25,’76.

A two-day tribute concert that began Wednesday in Toronto features a collection of modern-day folk, rock, blues, jazz and roots artists who owe their heritage to the Canadian icons.

The special guest is Band organist Garth Hudson, who says he remembers well that final show, captured on film by director Martin Scorsese in his’78 movie “The Last Waltz.”

Hudson, now 69, jokes that he and his bandmates – guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson, drummer and singer Levon Helm, bassist and singer Rick Danko, and pianist Richard Manuel – never got to eat any of the turkey served to audience members beforehand.

And at the time he didn’t believe that the show would be his last with the original lineup.

“Always in the air was the thought that we would get together, until finally, I think, there was a conclusion made shortly thereafter that we would not,” Hudson says before heading to the concert at the CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio.

“I was maybe not as disappointed as Richard was and Rick and Levon that that could not be carried on. I just took it as it came and I’ve had an interesting life after that, for sure.”

Robertson declined to participate in the Toronto show, but sent an e-mail saying he was touched by the tribute, said one organizer.

Chances were never good that the Band’s surviving members would ever share a stage for the anniversary.

Helm and Robertson are famously estranged, their animosity dating back to that farewell show which was fiercely opposed by Helm.

It was Robertson’s idea to call it quits after 16 years, and decades later the concert has come to be known as one marked by controversy and bitterness.

Dylan reportedly refused his performance to be filmed until the last minute; numerous accounts depict a backstage party fuelled by drugs; and a fish-out-of-water cameo by Neil Diamond bothered Helm, who never understood why the pop crooner was on the bill. Robertson had recently recorded an album with Diamond.

Helm’s’93 autobiography, “This Wheel’s on Fire,” criticizes the concert film for glorifying Robertson while neglecting the rest of the band, and states that frequent shots of Robertson enthusiastically singing backup actually show him mouthing into a microphone that was turned off for most of the show.

Hudson says none of that unease was apparent backstage in’76, although band members held a jumble of emotions.

“I believe there was a certain tension backstage which was a good sign that everybody was committed and earnest,” Hudson says in a slow drawl.

“It looked like everybody was serious and so it wasn’t just a big party or a ramble backstage, everybody was ‘standing-to,’ as they say in the Armed Forces. Ready to go.”

Hudson agrees that Helm may have been slighted in the film, which largely features one-on-one interviews with Robertson.

“Levon Helm is one of the best in relating a scenario that I’ve seen or heard,” he says. “The interviews were overdone.”

The tribute show’s musical director, Colin Linden, says those darker moments should not cloud the Band’s legacy.

“People, they have disputes, they have fights, business, being around each other for a long time can all contribute to that kind of thing,” says Linden, who befriended Band members after they re-formed for a spell without Robertson in’83.

“I don’t think that sullies any of the greatness of the music that they made together, nor does it take away the joy of celebrating this music in the same way that the fact that Rick Danko and Richard Manuel aren’t around is a heartbreaking reality.”

Manuel’s suicide in’86 came after a lengthy battle with alcoholism that saw him consume as many as eight bottles of liquor a day, Helm revealed in his autobiography. Danko died in his sleep in’99.

This week’s tribute show in Toronto is anchored by Linden’s group Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. Guest performers include Luke Doucet (singing “Ophelia”), Kathleen Edwards (singing “Evangeline”), Jason Collett (singing Dylan’s “Forever Young”), Tom Wilson of Junkhouse (singing Morrison’s “Caravan”), Stephen Fearing (singing Young’s “Helpless”) and Dionne Taylor (singing “The Weight”).

Another tribute in Atlanta, Ga., this weekend features the Last Waltz Ensemble, which will reproduce the set list of the’76 concert.

Linden last saw the now 66-year-old Helm in January, when they performed together in Woodstock, N.Y.

Helm and his band regularly play a two-hour set of American roots music for 100 guests at his home. The show, known as the Midnight Ramble, is a remarkable feat given his diagnosis of throat cancer in’97. The disease reduced his voice to a whisper, but he has bounced back, says Linden.

“He’s singing as strong as ever, maybe a little bit more mellow in some ways, but just beautifully and playing great,” he says.

But it seems medical bills and financial woe have taken a toll. A posting on Helm’s website, www.levonhelm.com, states that ticket prices will double to $200 next year.

“We’re also at a crucial point with the bankruptcy and foreclosure and we need to prove to the court that Levon Helm Studios and Levon Helm can service his debt,” the site explains.

Linden says that although heartache remains between the surviving members, a Band reunion is not impossible.

“I don’t give up on human beings,” he says. “I think there’s plenty of past times that are great and plenty of future times that hopefully will be.”