#26 - The Last Waltz

If you claim to love rock and roll...no...if you claim to love, or even enjoy music, then you MUST watch this movie. This is what music is about at its very core. It is an expression of something rich and powerful that comes from within, but is derived from a place in the past and headed towards somewhere in the future. It is enjoyment. It is communal. It is hypnotic. It is social history. It is personal history. It is a celebration. This movie expresses all of that in what might be the best live concert documentary I have ever seen.

Ok, I haven't seen that many. The Song Remains the Same, some Rage Against The Machine, some Bob Marley, a little Woodstock, a little Metallica, and a little Pink Floyd is what comes directly to mind. But this movie is more than just a showcase for one band. Its more than a filmed documentation of a particular event. Its more than just interviews from musicians. Its all of these things combined to celebrate a band, its legacy, and an era of music that in all intents and purposes is no longer with us.

So what is The Last Waltz you ask? Its the next movie in the Marty S boxed set and is also a concert documentary of the last performance of the musical group The Band. They play their hits, which you may not think you know, but you do. Trust me. You do. But they have a number of music icons come and play with them. We are talking the likes of Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Neil Young and more. What makes this a celebration of music is that they are playing their songs along with The Band. It's their songs, its the songs of their peers, and its the songs of their influences. It was a moment that wasn't intended for them to fulfill some self-gratifying ego. Instead, it was a moment for one last jam with themselves, their friends, and for an audience.

It was tremendous. The music was great. The interviews were great. Even the songs that were done in a studio at another time were good. Now, its not my usual plan to comment on the DVD extras because I'm not doing this for the extras. Sometimes I don't even watch them. But this one had something special. It was an improv jam with guys from The Band coming and going with Ringo Starr, Ron Wood, Neil Young and others jamming along. They just played on. This scene was not in the film because in the middle of this jam the film cameras stopped working. Apparently they had been recording this concert for hours beyond what the cameras were built for. How awesome is that. They just played and played and played. It wasn't about following a set list, having an encore and then leaving. They were there to play, and play they did. Fantastic. What music should be.