In many households it is a Thanksgiving tradition to watch The Last Waltz, the movie version of The Band’s 1976 final concert on Thanksgiving at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. But five years earlier on a few nights leading up to New Year’s Eve, they played a series of shows at the New York Academy of Music that more faithfully represents the group at the height of their powers.
The Weight
Captured on the double album Rock of Ages, the show included a good portion of their well-known catalogue of songs. On Saturday, November 28 at Brooklyn Bowl, musicians who played and collaborated with members of the original group will recreate and occasionally re-imagine all 28 tracks. The core of the ensemble will be The Weight, a band created for the purpose of keeping the music of The Band vital for old and new fans. Led by Jim Weider, who played guitar in the second incarnation of The Band, the group also includes Randy Ciarlante, also of the “new Band, Byron Isaacs and Brian Mitchell from the Levon Helm Band and Marty Grebb.
The musicianship in The Band was famously excellent and for the Rock of Ages show they were joined by a mighty horn line playing charts by the late Allen Toussaint. This time, the King Harvest horns — Lauren Sevion, Aaron Heick, James K. Smith and Clark Gayton – will bring that magic. The show will be dedicated to Toussaint.
Brooklyn Bowl is located at 61 Wythe Ave, Brooklyn. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here:
Kay Cordtz has been fascinated by music and musicians since elementary school when she ran home from school every day to watch American Bandstand. Since then, she has been a newspaper reporter, political spokeswoman, government science writer and freelance chronicler of local music scenes during a 30+-year career. She is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism