On November 25, 1976, The Band took the stage at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco for their final performance: The Last Waltz. They were joined on stage by a list of famous musicians like Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and Neil Diamond. With locally created concert Such a Night: The Last Live approaching in Dayton, Kaleidoscope host Juliet Fromholt spoke with Dennis McCaffrey about his experience witnessing the original historic concert.
"I was living and working in San Francisco at the time, I was actually in retail records." said McCaffrey. "The show was announced maybe a week before, it was put together really quickly. So it sold immediately before I got a ticket but I asked one of the record companies and I was able to buy a ticket. They were very expensive, but it also included a full Thanksgiving dinner. So I was very excited to get the tickets. I was very excited to go."
Around 5 PM over 5000 people were served turkey dinners. The entire floor was covered with tables and chairs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and other poets did readings, and, as McCaffrey recalls, it was quite a sight to behold that night.
"We drove up to San Francisco to Winterland and that dinner was still going on. There was also a waltz chamber orchestra playing, and Bill Graham had gotten decorations from the San Francisco Opera. He had chandeliers and stage curtains and stuff like that so it was really amazing."
The concert started around 9:00 PM and ended at about 2:15 AM with an encore performance from The Band. The whole concert was filmed and turned into a documentary by Martin Scorsese which was later released in 1978.
"I really do think it was a historic night." said McCaffrey. "The Band was so great, they gathered so many great musicians to perform with them. The guys that performed with them, you know, were often bigger stars than the band, but they just admired them and respected them. I remember reading, after The Band's second album came out, Eric Clapton wrote them a letter and asked if he could join the band and be a member. That's how much I think everybody respected them. Seeing them all together, it was an historic night and it only happened once. It wasn't a tour, it was one concert. So it was really something to be there."
For over a decade now Dayton musicians have carried the tradition of recreating that historic night in support of WYSO, and on November 26 that tradition returns to the Victoria Theatre. Tickets and more information about Such A Night: The Last Waltz Live can be found on Dayton Live's website.
