Robbie Robertson was the special guest Saturday night at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville for the finale of The Last Waltz: An All-Star Celebration of The Band’s Historic Farewell Concerttour.
In addition to the tour's cast of regulars, including Warren Haynes, Don Was and Lukas Nelson, Saturday night's show also featured Michael McDonald, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, Cyril Neville, Nathaniel Rateliff, Margo Price and Darius Rucker.
Robertson, who along with the original Band, staged The Last Waltzin 1976 on Thanksgiving in San Francisco, came out to talk about planning that show.
"In September of 1976, I had a crazy idea," he said. "I thought The Band and I could invite some of the most extraordinary musicians to ever walk the earth to come together and have a celebration of music and that we would call itThe Last Waltz.
"See, it wasn't such a crazy idea after all."
Some of the guests at that 1976 show were Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Hawkins, Stephen Stills and Ronnie Wood.
Robertson then strapped on his Fender Stratocaster, which he had dipped in Bronze for that 1976 show, to perform on "The Weight," “I Shall Be Released” and the encore of “Don’t Do It.”
In other Robertson news, in addition to his new album,Sinematic, his documentary,Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, and doing the score for his friend Martin Scorsese's new movie,The Irishman, Robertson has released a new Christmas song, "Happy Holidays."
He says, "We love Christmas and the Holidays, it brings good cheer, and also stress and depression, so I wanted to do a song that celebrates both sides and have a little fun.”