86 LIFE BOB DYLAN
interrupted by the Rolling Thunder Revue, was back in force.
Except for a memorable performance at a very special gig.D
ylan went away in 1976 with his canisters contain-
ing 240,000 feet (100 hours!) of film and started
stitching together Renaldo and Clara—meanwhile
wondering if he could stitch together his marriage, which
would not prove possible—as the acclaimed movie direc-
tor Martin Scorsese was embarking on quite another proj-
ect that would result in a more enduring film. Scorsese had
gotten to know the Band’s Robbie Robertson, with whom he
would collaborate on film music for years, and he knew of
that group’s intention to end its career as a touring act (even
though other members of the Band were displeased with
Robertson’s plans to quit the road). Robertson wanted to film
a farewell concert, and once Scorsese got involved the affair
grew into a production involving a 300-page shooting script,
scads of camera operators, 5,000 fortunate attendees at San
Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, dinner and dancing be-
fore the show, and then a concert, beginning at 9 p.m., that
included not only the Band but Eric Clapton, EmmylouHarris, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Muddy
Waters, Neil Young, bizarrely Neil Diamond, a half dozen
other performers and, of course, Ronnie Hawkins (who had
years ago fronted the Hawks, and who was one of the “stars”
of the Renaldo and Clara footage) and Bob Dylan. Cocaine
was as generously ladled that night as gravy for the Thanks-
giving turkey supper, and there were rough and ragged mo-
ments to be sure, but The Last Waltz—film and soundtrack—
lives on as an essential rock ’n’ roll document. And, as Terry
Curtis Fox would write in the Village Voice, “While osten-
sibly... about the Band, Scorsese’s editing makes no bones
about how much a Dylan event it became... Everything else
disappears behind his presence. Scorsese... does nothing to
hide or minimalize this effect.”
Interestingly, it was by no means certain, until the last
moment, that Dylan would take the stage. He was there at
Winterland, for sure, but was balking at being filmed, con-
cerned that Scorsese’s movie would steal thunder from
Renaldo and Clara if it was released first. In the end, he did
perform, and Scorsese later remembered the promoter Bill
Graham at his shoulder shouting, “ ‘Shoot him! Shoot him!80-96 LIFE_Bob Dylan 2020 Rolling.indd 86 FINAL 1/13/20 4:37 PM