I don’t know if The Last Waltz is really the best concert film of all time (Stop Making Sense, maybe?), but it’s definitely close, although it has the benefit of direction by Martin Scorsese, which generally helps. If you’re a fan of Americana at all, however, The Last Waltz is a must watch, not just for featuring a ton of songs by The Band, who were performing live for the last time (sort of), but because the group performed as the backing band for Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Dr. John, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, and for some reason, Neil Diamond. It’s just a great movie for people who love music, and I have to imagine that it’ll look great on the Fox’s big screen. Even though you should probably be mildly insulted by the ticket prices for movies at the Fox, this should totally be worth it.
The movie’s trailer:
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 2, 2011.
Nah, if you want to see a great concert film this weekend, you should see ‘Flor de Muertos’ at the Rialto Theatre. Locally-produced and directed, the film is a poetic evocation of the borders between life and death, the US and Mexico, Anglo and Mexican, with a soundtrack by Calexico, shot live in concert at the Rialto in 2009 following the 20th Annual All Souls Procession—which is another part of the film, documenting the procession, its history and the fiery finale, performed for the last time at the Franklin Docks in Downtown Tucson. Saturday, 8 pm, Rialto Theatre.
The Last Waltz is the greatest concert film of all time. Maybe not the greatest documentary of a band ever, but the greatest concert film, hands down. Happy to help you out with that.