The Last Waltz "live" (en Yorick van Norden). Caprera Bloemendaal, 3 September 2022

Photo: Wout de Natris

Last Saturday after the Elenne May living room more musical stuff happened of a very different nature. One person in the audience said they were going to a movie showing of The Last Waltz in Caprera, an open air theatre in Bloemendaal. It resulted in five persons moving from the Elenne May show to Bloemendaal, after a rushed dinner.

The Last Waltz is a famous music movie directed by Martin Scorsese in which the final show The Band gave at the Winterland in San Francisco in November 1976 is shown. It invited many friends and artists the members had worked with before. I saw the movie, I think, in 1978 or something like it in an almost empty movie theatre in Breda. Some of the people I saw I had never heard from. Muddy Waters? Ronnie Hawkins? Staple Singers? Joni Mitchell? Others I saw for real for the first time, as they were not on "regular" television music shows. As for going to live shows from a village near Breda? That's not so easy as it would be today. Neil Young, Bob Dylan, you did not see them as they did not score hits. I only knew them from photo's and record sleeves. The same went for The Band itself. I knew the few hitsingles and that was it.

Much, much later I bought the DVD, but this showing was different. For starters, there were no surprises any more and several of those featuring I have seen live since (multiple times). The film was on a big screen, played through a PA and obviously in a stellar quality of remixing, mastering and digital whatever. What made this huge difference, was that I, and with me many others, sort of forgot we were watching a movie. Each song got an applause that grew ever louder as people set away their surprise, perhaps shame of applauding for 45 year old movie. "Yeah"s were filling the air. Artists were greeted. In short, fun was had by all.

And this included The Band. The interaction between four of the five members, the somewhat weird and enigmatic Garth Hudson is somewhat apart from it all it seems, was huge. This was a band on a roll, a band having a great time and playing at its very, very best. With three great singers and one great songwriter. At the same time The Band accompanied each guest artist as if it never did anything different. All these types of music, played effortlessly it seemed. All blended in as well, with, of course, Dylan standing out there. Although in his second song everything became better fast.

"Neil!  Diamond!" my girlfriend shouts.

Let's not forget The Band's own songs. What fantastic songs they are! I tend to forget them sometimes, but hearing 'Cripple Creak', 'Ophelia' and the hits once again in this context was some sort of an eye, well, ear, opener. More than ever before I noticed how good these guys could sing (together) and how good their songs are still.

From the interviews it became clear, to me, there was only one The Band member who wanted to stop the madness of living a rock and roll life, Robbie Robertson. He was literally in fear of not getting out alive. Later it turned out that The Band had a darker side, although I still have not read its biography. One of these days. Those who had listened to The Last Waltz' interviews could have surmised that already and did not need a biography in the late 90s or something for that.

Three of the members are already no longer with us, Richard Manuel, suicide on the road with The Band mach II, Rick Danko, of too much living and Levon Helm, from cancer. In The Last Waltz you can see them in their full glory. The Band carried that name fully justified.

Haarlem singer-songwriter Yorick van Norden played a short set before the movie with two bandmembers. He is a very amiable person and has great observatory and oral gifts where music is concerned. Unfortunately, his music does not catch me. It is nice, but two things are missing, originality and that spark that brings songs alive for me. I hear many people speaking very favourable of him, so it's me who has an issue. I cannot make more of it than that. "Parachute Woman" anyone who was present?

Wout de Natris