The Weight
The film The Last Waltz features the all-star farewell performance of Bob Dylan’s onetime backing group, the Band. It turned out to not be farewell after all, as several players later regrouped sans guitarist Robbie Robertson, but now the only members remaining from The Last Waltz who haven’t passed away are Robertson and Garth Hudson. Several players from latter-day incarnations of the Band have joined with musicians from various Band solo projects to form the Weight, which’ll play the Belly Up on April 29. Neither Hudson nor Robertson will be participating in the performance, mostly paying tribute to the Band’s back-catalog, but Robertson’s post-Waltz replacement Jim Weider (who played on three of the final Band albums) will be manning the guitar, alongside someone who often played with the late Band drummer Levon Helm in a dual-drum format, Randy Ciarlante. The Weight is rounded out by members of solo groups once fronted by Helm, Hudson, and late Band bassist Rick Danko: Brian Mitchell, Marty Grebb, Michael Bram, and Albert Rogers. Their debut album as the Weight was just released, World Gone Mad.