The Band: Best rock 'n' roll group EVAH! lives on in videos

My friend Janet Lynch, who might just be the only other fan of The Band in Richmond County, has a couple of videos of the greatest rock 'n' roll band EVAH! on her facebook page and I had to steal 'em.

The videos are from The Band's final live performance in 1977, recorded for the movie The Last Waltz which I've written about before. The Band never sounded any better, particularly on The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down with a Dixieland horn section from New Orleans, arranged by Allen Toussaint, playing backup. Levon Helm sings the lead vocals on both these songs, but listen for Rick Danko and Richard Manuel to join in the choruses. The Band had three of the best rock vocalists EVAH!.

Robbie Robertson Rick Danko Levon Helm Richard Manuel Garth Hudson The Band The Last Waltz


And then here's Up On Cripple Creek from that same concert.

Rock 'n' roll don't get no better than this, more than 30 years later. Rest in peace Rick Danko and Richard Manuel, the two Band members who have gone on before us.

Finally here's Levon Helm, still rockin' in 2008 with his own band doing Ophelia, my personal favorite of all The Band's songs.