Van Morrison, Mavis Staples and Eric Clapton at the Life is a Carnival tribute concert for Robbie Robertson, October 17, 2024
The late Robbie Robertson was honored Thursday with an all-star tribute concert 14 months after his death in 2023 at age 80. Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson, held on October 17, 2024, at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, featured a whopping 34 performances by such stars as Eric Clapton, Bruce Hornsby, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench of the Heartbreakers, Van Morrison, Mavis Staples, and Lucinda Williams.
The lineup also included (alphabetically) Trey Anastasio, Ryan Bingham, Eric Church, Warren Haynes, Jim James, Jamey Johnson, Daniel Lanois, Taj Mahal, Margo Price, Robert Randolph, Nathaniel Rateliff, Allison Russell, Don Was, and Bob Weir. The event, a presentation of Blackbird Presents, was filmed by Martin Scorsese for a future release. The Academy Award-winning director first collaborated with Robertson for The Band’s concert film, The Last Waltz. (Many of the evening’s performers, including Clapton, Morrison and Staples were among those who joined The Band at that 1976 concert.)
Church began the evening with a spirited cover of “Up On Cripple Creek.”
The Heartbreakers’ Campbell and Tench were part of the house band for the evening. The longtime bandmates reportedly hadn’t played together since a 2018 benefit concert organized by Stephen Stills.) Three songs in, Campbell sang lead on the Tom Petty song “The Best of Everything” which Robertson produced for the Southern Accents album.
Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson featured performances of a diverse range of Robertson’s most beloved songs, from his solo work to classic tracks from The Band. The concert took place at the Forum 50 years after the venue served as the final stop on the famed tour of Bob Dylan and The Band, which marked Dylan’s return to touring after an eight-year hiatus and became known as one of the largest and highest-profile tours of the era (with the live performances featuring a number of Robertson’s hit songs documented in the critically acclaimed record release Before the Flood).
[Those 1974 concerts are the subject of a massive upcoming set, Bob Dylan and the Band: The 1974 Live Recordings. The collection, via Legacy Recordings, arrives September 20, 2024. It’s available to order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.]
Rateliff sang lead on three songs, including “Baby Don’t You Do It.”
He was followed by Van Morrison.
Clapton, who inducted The Band into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, began his five-song set with “The Shape I’m In” and later performed “Chest Fever.”
The concert took its name from a 1971 song co-written by Robertson and fellow Band members Rick Danko and Levon Helm. A portion of the proceeds from the concert event shall be donated to The Woodland Cultural Centre that funds and operates a range of arts, history, and education programs on the Sixth Nations Reserve in Canada.
With her family, the Staple Singers, Mavis Staples performed “The Weight” on a soundstage, following The Last Waltz concert in 1976. Scorsese filmed it and included the performance in the concert movie. On this night, she led the house band with a great rendition of the song.
Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson, Kia Forum, October 17, 2024 Setlist (With lead vocalist in parentheses)
Set 1
Up on Cripple Creek (Eric Church)
Ophelia (Ryan Bingham)
The Best of Everything (Mike Campbell)
Evangeline (Margo Price)
Acadian Driftwood (Alison Russell)
Straight Down the Line (Robert Randolph)
Who Do You Love? (Taj Mahal)
Go Back to Your Woods (Bruce Hornsby)
King Harvest (Has Surely Come) (Bruce Hornsby)
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Jamey Johnson)
Set 2
Broken Arrow (Daniel Lanois)
Life Is a Carnival (Warren Haynes)
Whispering Pines (Lucinda Williams)
Twilight (Nathaniel Rateliff)
Across the Great Divide (Nathanial Rateliff)
Rag Mama Rag (Jamey Johnson)
Baby Don’t You Do It (Nathaniel Rateliff)
Tupelo Honey (Van Morrison)
Days Like This (Van Morrison)
Wonderful Remark (Van Morrison)
Set 3
The Shape I’m In (Eric Clapton)
Out of the Blue (Eric Clapton)
Forbidden Fruit (Eric Clapton)
Chest Fever (Eric Clapton)
Further On Up the Road (Eric Clapton)
Set 4
Forever Young (Nathaniel Rateliff)
It Makes No Difference (Jim James)
Stage Fright (Warren Haynes)
Caravan (Warren Haynes)
When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob Weir)
The Unfaithful Servant (Trey Anastasio)
Look Out Cleveland (Trey Anastasio)
The Weight (Mavis Staples)
I Shall Be Released (All star ensemble)
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2 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationHopefully there will an album of the best songs from this show.
Regarding the Dylan set, for what you get (22 discs) $129 isn’t expensive.
But I’d be a whole lot more interested if the producer picked the best single version of each song and made those selections into a manageable box set. To cite just one example, I see no need for 21 versions of “Lay Lady, Lay.” This box set is too unwieldy: It seems like their BS detector was on the fritz. But then again self-editing has never been Mr Zimmerman’s strong suit.
Only regret that Garth Hudson wasn’t part of this. I understand that he is not doing well. Even if he were able, there’s some doubt that the only surviving Band member would be willing, given the long-time discord between Robertson and the others.