The Band Performing ‘Music From The Big Pink’ Live
By Andy Kahn Jul 1, 2018 • 6:38 am PDT
A new edition of Music From The Big Pink commemorating the 50th anniversary of The Band’s landmark debut album is due out on August 31. Filled with eventual classics such as “The Weight” and “I Shall Be Released,” the record introduced several staples of The Band’s live performances during their storied career.
This installment of Sunday Cinema presents a collection of videos of The Band performing many of the songs on Music From The Pink. Footage is available for all but four of the 11 songs on the original album (“To Kingdom Come,” “In A Station,” “We Can Talk” and “Lonesome Suzie”).
Richard Manuel shows off his signature vocals at Woodstock in 1969 on a version of “Tears Of Rage,” while Rick Danko leads a live take on “Caledonia Mission” at Woodstock ’94 (featuring a lineup without Robbie Robertson and the late Manuel).
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Drummer Levon Helm steers a version of “The Weight” from the 1970 Festival Express train tour of Canada – where the other members of The Band were born – with the likes of the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin. Their arrangement of “Long Black Veil” was performed with the Robertson-less lineup on New Year’s Eve 1983 while opening for the Grateful Dead at San Francisco Civic Auditorium.
Keyboardist Garth Hudson starts up “Chest Fever” with his signature organ intro in footage from Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1976. Danko takes charge of “This Wheel’s On Fire” at Pittsburgh’s Syria Mosque in November 1970 and the set closes with Manuel’s tender rendering of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” in an undated video of the original lineup.
