The group’s entire 11-song performance — including a cover of The Four Tops’ “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever,” is among the bonus material on “The Band: 50th Anniversary Edition”, a box set that came out November 2015. It sits among a newly remastered version of the album as well as 13 previously unreleased, alternate versions of the album tracks, and the group’s Robbie Robertson — who helped helm the reissue amidst projects such as his own new solo album, the Band documentary Once Were Brothers and scoring Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman — says pulling out the Woodstock tapes took him right back .
“When I listened to it, I had this flashback,” Robertson says with a chuckle. “We played on the final night and it had just gotten dark out and it was the perfect time to play, but we kinda thought, ‘I dunno if we fit in here.’ The audience was in ecstasy of their experience and the music and the mud and the partying and going crazy, and there’s people jumping up and down, screaming. And we go out and play this concert, and it was the equivalent of going out and playing hymns. It was so NOT what they were looking for. They stopped jumping up and down. Their arms weren’t in the air anymore. It was like they went into a spell, a whole different feeling. So we played and left and then they went back to the party.”
The set by The Band certainly speaks to the quality of The Band’s performance, though the group’s relative neophyte status as a live act on its own — after having toured with Bob Dylan — is what played a part in the recordings staying mostly in the vaults until now. “It was (manager) Albert Grossman who was saying, ‘I don’t think we should be part of that (film and album),’ although he had other acts on the show that were,” Robertson says. “I think because we had played many jobs as The Band before we played in front of 500,000 people he was quick to say, ‘When they play there’ll be nobody running around on stage with a camera. They have to be able to do their thing and communicate with one another musically, so no cameras’.” Robertson says there is Woodstock footage of The Band taken from a distance, but that remains in the vaults.
“I guess all these (audio) records were in a storage bin somewhere,” Robertson says. “I wasn’t paying close attention to it, but when we started working on “The Band” reissue they said, ‘This is a show you guys played in 1969. It’s a historic event; Maybe we should consider including it.’ It was, like, the original recording and original mix of it. It’s untouched, but it felt like it was appropriate to include in this.”
A coda to The Band’s Woodstock experience was their reception back in Woodstock itself, where the group was living at the time. “We got cold-shouldered,” Robertson remembers. “We were the only group actually from Woodstock, but (the festival) made it the most famous small town in the world and there were Volkswagen buses as far as the eye could see in every direction, coming toward Woodstock. The townspeople in Woodstock were not very happy that we participated.”
Levon Helm performed at Woodstock with ‘The Band’ as part of the Day Three line-up. From the moment the Woodstock festival was announced, people hoped that Woodstock, New York’s most famous citizen, Bob Dylan, would make an appearance. Seeing The Band on the posters and advertisements for the festival only poured fuel on the fire. Dylan didn’t come to the festival, but his former backing band did, and they performed most of their debut album for an enthusiastic audience.
Day Three, The Band Performed Sunday night, August 17th, 1969 from 10:00–10:50 PM
The Band Members at Woodstock: Robbie Robertson: guitar, vocals, Garth Hudson: organ, keyboards, saxophone, Richard Manuel: piano, drums, vocals, Rick Danko: bass, vocals, Levon Helm: drums, mandolin, vocals
The Band Woodstock Setlist: Chest Fever, Baby Don’t You Do It, Tears of Rage, We Can Talk, Long Black Veil, Don’t Ya Tell Henry. Ain’t No More Cane, This Wheel’s on Fire, I Shall Be Released, The Weight, Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever
“The Band” box set is just one of several active projects Robertson had been juggling recently. “Sinematic”, his sixth solo album, came out in September with guest appearances by Van Morrison, Citizen Cope and Derek Trucks — as well as the track “Once Were Brothers,” which is also the title of The Band documentary. Based on Robertson’s 2016 memoir Testimony, it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Fat Angel Sings 