The Band’s 1971 French TV Appearance Surfaces On YouTube

Footage of The Band performing during their early ’70s heyday is extremely rare, so we were very excited to come across a clip of the Hall Of Fame rockers tearing into Little Richard’s “Slippin’ And Slidin'” at Paris venue L’Olympia on May 25, 1971. The clip was just uploaded to YouTube yesterday and is one of only three videos of The Band from 1971 on the site.

Sadly, we only get to see three minutes of the cover, but we’re hopeful there’s more where this came from. According to the description, “Slippin’ And Slidin'” was originally broadcast on French TV: Pop deux émission du 12 juin 1971. Apparently eight tracks from this same show (including “Slippin’ And Slidin'”) were broadcast on French AM radio and a poor recording circulates among fans.

Watch The Band perform “Slippin’ And Slidin'” at L’Olympia in Paris:

Recently we reported on a new reissue of The Band’s famed Rock Of Ages concerts and since that time a tracklisting has surfaced. Unfortunately, the DVD included in the box set includes surround sound versions of the Academy Of Music concerts and only two video clips -“King Harvest (Has Surely Come)” and “The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show.” Guess our thoughts of a full video release of The Band’s legendary New Year’s Eve ’71-’72 show will stay in our dreams.

[via Bob Dylan & The Band]