August 6th

  

 It was on August 6th, 2010 that I saw Levon Helm headline the Friday night of the 2010 Edmonton Folk Music Festival.

3 Years Ago Today...August 6th

It was three years ago today that I saw the Levon Helm Band play at the Edmonton Folk Festival.

Levon Helm Book Review

I just finished reading the book "This Wheel's On Fire, Levon Helm and the Story of the Band" by Levon Helm with Stephen Davis, this book came out in 1993.

This was a great read about the Band, and how Kevon got his start by playing drums for the legendary Ronnie Hawk, playing mostly in Canada and Arkansa. While playing in the Hawks, Levon and Ronnie met the other four members that made up The Band in Canada, them being Garth Hudson,Robbie Robertson,Rick Danko and Richard Manuel. After some enticing, all these guys would end up with the Hawks only to finally disband and start up their own band, called The Band that got there start in Woodstock, NY. Eventually backing up Bob Dylan for a few years and tours.

Something I learned from the book was how little respect Levon ended up having for guitarist Robbie Robertson. Robbie schmoozed it up with their manager Albert Grossman eventually becoming the leader of the band and getting more royalties and song-writing credits then he deserved. Levon never forgave him for that. As well the last concert The Band played that was billed as The Last Waltz performed at the Fillmore was a show that Levon wanted no part of right from the begining. Levon had no intentin of disbanding, but eventually did do the show, much to his chagrin.

Of course the book also has the stories of the drugs and alcohol battles. Stories of musicians he had met and performed with. All and all an interesting read.

It was just over a year ago that Levon Helm passed away. RIP Levon Helm.

Levon Helm Band At Edmonton Folk Fest 08/06/10

Last night my buddy Buzzard and I made our way to the Edmonton Folk Fest again, this time to see The Levon Helm Band play. Again another night of great weather and music in a beautiful setting in a packed Gallagher Park with a strong aroma of pot in the air. This was my second time seeing Levon in concert, the first time being in 1989 when he was part of Ringo Starr's all-star band.

Levon's set opened with The Band's song Ophelia with Levon singing, while his voice wasn't the greatest, having just been through throat cancer, it was still good to hear him bark out the song, he was looking frail, but can still hold down the beat as the drummer. The opening song was the only one he sang through out, and then only doing background vocals the rest of the night. The hour and a half set was all songs by The Band, which kind of surprised me as I was hoping to hear a few songs from his last two excellent solo albums "Dirt Farmer" and "Electric Dirt" but to no avail. It was nice to see Levon smiling through out the show and acknowledging the crowd and generally having a lot of fun. His back up band was really good too, with everyone switching off with vocal parts. One of his back up singers Theresa Williams was especially good and guitar player Larry Campbell was laying the licks down like Robbie Robertson of The Band. Another highlight was hearing keyboard player Brian Mitchell play The Shape I'm In, the set ended with Levon bring out Australian band The Waifs for the song The Weight. All and all a really enjoyable set. At 70 years old Levon still puts on a good show. I would give this show an 8 out of 10.













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Next up... Tomorrow night at The Fest is Alejandro Escovedo and The Sensitive Boys, Jakob Dylan and The Three Legs and closing out the Festival John Prine.