One recent Saturday evening, Ben and I settled down with a bottle of red wine to watch The Last Waltz, the Martin Scorsese directed film of the final concert given by the Band in 1976. We were prompted partly by the news of the death of musician and songwriter Robbie Robertson, but also by my realisation that I had never watched this landmark rock documentary, and lord knows I’m a sucker for a rock documentary.
Ben had seen the film when it came out in 1978. Musically he remembered it as not quite his thing, but some boys at school were referring to it as “important” and he went to the cinema in a spirit of checking out serious work. I honestly don’t think 16-year-old me even knew who the Band were, and if it had been described to me then I would have run a mile.
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