In 2010, after performing with a group of musicians at the Kitchener Blues Festival, two-time Juno award-winning producer Lance Anderson knew they had stumbled upon something very special.
That inaugural performance of The Last Waltz — a celebration of The Band’s final live show of the same name on November 25, 1976 at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom — struck all the right chords with its audience. Twelve years and countless performances later, the magic of that night still resonates in a big way, not only for fans of the famed quintet’s timeless music but equally for those just now discovering the slice-of-Americana sound The Band brought forth.
On Wednesday, July 20th at Del Crary Park, Anderson will lead an ensemble of award-winning musicians in The Last Waltz (A Musical Celebration of The Band) as Peterborough Musicfest’s 35th season continues. As has been the case since July 1987, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is free.
Besides serving up a generous selection of the music performed on that special evening close to 46 years ago, the concert will feature a tribute to the late Ronnie Hawkins, featuring Peterborough’s own The Weber Brothers — Ryan and Sam — who were members of Hawkins’ band The Hawks.
During The Band’s farewell show, Hawkins — backed by Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson, and Richard Manuel — performed his signature hit “Who Do You Love?” as a rousing salute to the band that backed him from 1958 to 1963, when they were known as The Hawks.
Also in the mix for the Musicfest show will be guest performers Chuck Jackson (of Downchild Blues Band fame), Johnny Max, Matt Weidinger, and Quisha Wint, while Anderson (keyboards/vocals) will lead a stellar band featuring Helm’s godson Jerome Levon Avis (drums/vocals).
VIDEO: “The Weight” performed by The Last Waltz (A Musical Celebration of The Band)
Other band members are Terry Blersh (guitar), Wayne Deadder (bass), and Rob Gusevs (organ), with a stellar horn section comprised of David Dunlop (trumpet), Simon Wallis (baritone sax), Gord Meyers (trombone) and Chris Murphy (tenor sax).
In a 2015 interview with Patrick Langston of The Ottawa Citizen, Anderson recalled the inaugural Kitchener performance of The Last Waltz and what followed.
“Not only were we not ready for the audience’s response — people were crying, it was very emotional — but we had so much fun doing it that we went, ‘Well, we shouldn’t just do this once,'” he said, adding “We play in the style of The Band, not a note-for-note impersonation.”
Jerome Levon Avis — whose father Bill Avis, a Peterborough resident, was The Band’s road manager and, as such, was stage side at 1976 The Last Waltz concert — learned to play the drums with his godfather’s guidance.
“A lot of people say I play in Levon’s style, the way I attack the drums,” noted Avis in the same Ottawa Citizen article. “I’d always be at him to show me different things. I have a picture of Levon showing me licks on an old baseball glove when I was eight. I had it blown up and it’s on the front of my bass drum.”
Avis’ connection to Helm is as emotionally overwhelming today as it ever was. When a reprised version of The Band, including Helm, went on tour after the original group members parted ways, the Avis family sometimes joined them.
“My sister (Rebecca) and I spent summers on the road with the guys,” recalled Avis. “It was a pretty interesting childhood.”
In 2012, after the Arkansas-born Helm died of cancer at age 71, Jerome and his father were among a select few invited to his private wake in Woodstock, New York.
“Levon was a beautiful soul,” Avis said. I miss him.”
VIDEO: “Who Do You Love” – Ronnie Hawkins with The Band (from The Last Waltz film)
VIDEO: “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down Scene” – The Band (from The Last Waltz film)
At Peterborough Musicfest, Anderson et al will perform a number of The Band’s timeless songs, including “The Weight,” “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down,” “Up On Cripple Creek,” “Life Is A Carnival,” “The Shape I’m In,” “Rag Mama Rag,” and “Ophelia,” along with songs that were performed by The Band’s special guests all those years ago — an impressive lineup that featured Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison, and Ronnie Hawkins.
Formed in Toronto in 1967, after parting ways with Hawkins in 1963 over personal differences and performing as Bob Dylan’s backing band in 1965 and 1966, The Band revealed itself as something very special with its critically acclaimed debut album Music From Big Pink in 1968, followed by a series of studio and live albums until 1977, with all five original members performing together for the last time in 1978.
The Band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Meanwhile The Last Waltz film, directed by Martin Scorsese and released in 1978, is hailed as one of the greatest concert documentaries ever made.
Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 16 free-admission concerts during its milestone 35th anniversary season, each staged Wednesday and Saturday nights at Del Crary Park in downtown Peterborough.
Overseen by general manager Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission remains “to provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”
For more information on this concert or the entire 2022 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.
