More Than 50 Musicians Come Together In Boulder For The Last Waltz Revisited: Review, Photos & Videos
By Ted Rockwell Nov 21, 2016 • 9:01 am PST
Words & Videos by: Ted Rockwell
The Last Waltz Revisited :: 11.18.16 :: Boulder Theater :: Boulder, CO
For the past 12 years Tori Pater and CR Gruver have organized an event around the Thanksgiving holiday that has become part musical odyssey, part family reunion. The Last Waltz Revisited is an annual event held in Boulder and Denver near the Thanksgiving holiday benefiting the Denver Rescue Mission.
This past Friday night at the Boulder Theater in Boulder over 50 guest musicians including a full horn section played over 30 songs from The Band’s extensive catalog, focusing primarily on songs played at The Last Waltz. While CR and Tori anchored every song, the core of the house band included The Dyrty Byrds rhythm section Spanky McCluer and Andy Clapp. The extended group of musicians who came together to celebrate for a good cause was a veritable who’s-who of Colorado musicians.
Elephant Revival’s Bridget Law has been a fixture of The Last Waltz in recent years and on this night she sang and played fiddle throughout the show. One of the highlights of the evening was when she partnered with Eric Martinez, of Bloodkin and The Dyrty Byrds, singing a heart wrenching version of Neil Young’s “Helpless.” The surprise guest of the evening was Paul Hoffman of Greensky Bluegrass. He played mandolin on a few songs and then took to the mic to sing the Bob Dylan classic, “Forever Young.”
On Wednesday night this group of musicians will continue the tradition at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver. It promises to be a really special evening and this author thinks it is likely you will walk away richer for the experience if you do. The Last Waltz is one of the most important events supporting the official Denver Rescue Mission Holiday Drive. This year, for $50 fans have the opportunity to take part in an intimate sound-check dinner with the band, receive an event poster and get access to a reserved box. Plus any attendee that brings canned food items to the venue (on the day of the show) will receive a free poster.
Year after year this ends up being a great show and its participants find themselves with many opportunities to spread the love generated by that music to the less-fortunate. This is truly a musical-reunion-tradition not to be missed. Here are some videos of the Friday Boulder Theater show to whet your appetite for this Denver Thanksgiving institution.
