The Band accident in Texas, Robertson urged the Band to retire from touring, and conceived of a massive "farewell concert" known as "The Last Waltz". Following an October 30th appearance on "Saturday Night Live", the event, including turkey dinner for the audience of 5,000, was held on November 25 (Thanksgiving Day) of 1976 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, California, and featured a horn section with arrangements by Allen Toussaint and a stellar list of guests, including Canadian artists Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. Two of the guests were fundamental to the Band's existence and growth: Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan.
The Band The Band The Band was a Canadian-American roots rock group including Rick Danko (bass guitar, vocals), Garth Hudson (keyboards, saxophone), Richard Manuel (keyboards, vocals), Robbie Robertson (guitar, vocals), and Levon Helm (drums, vocals). The members of the Band first came together as rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins's Toronto, Ontario-based backing group, the Hawks, which they joined one by one between 1958 and 1963. In 1964, they separated from Hawkins, after which they toured and released a few singles as Levon and the Hawks and the Canadian Squires. The next year, Bob Dylan hired them for his U.S. tour in 1965 and