Before they became The Band, the five men who made up the group had proven themselves time and again as live performers when supporting others. When it came time for them to make their debut live performance as The Band in 1969, however, only a hypnotist could help a severely ill Robbie Robertson, the group’s guitarist, get through the show.
The Band survived the incident, helped by the fact that their masterpiece self-titled second album was about to drop. But it was an example, albeit an extreme one, of how the quintet sometimes struggled to make the delicate magic they created in the studio come through in live performance.
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Waiting on The Band
After gaining notoriety in the music industry as a backup group, first for barnstorming rocker Ronnie Hawkins and then for Bob Dylan as he created music history on the fly, The Band settled with Dylan in Woodstock, New York, in 1967. They helped him devise mysterious, haunting songs that sounded like they were sourced from a much earlier time, and they’d recreate that vibe on Music from Big Pink, their debut album as The Band in 1968.
That album gained massive critical acclaim, creating a demand to see what these guys could do in front of a live audience. Then 1968 came and went without that happening, in part because of a car accident injury suffered by bassist Rick Danko, The delay only added to the hype.
The Band finally capitulated to doing their first live shows in 1969, right around the time they were starting to assemble songs for their second record. Noted concert promoter Bill Graham had become entranced with Music from Big Pink, and worked hard to secure The Band’s first shows for one of his venues. Graham agreed with Albert Grossman, the group’s manager, on two shows at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom in April 1968.
Robbie’s Woes
Considering it was their first time performing as their very own entity, and that expectations were through the roof based on Music from Big Pink, the men of The Band were nervous about how that first show would transpire. Perhaps that contributed to why, once they arrived in San Francisco, Robertson felt so ill that he could barely stand up.
After two days of pumping him full of medicine and vitamins, Robertson’s condition only worsened as showtime approached on Thursday, April 17. As a last resort, Graham sent out for a hypnotist, who came to Robertson and began to do whatever he could to get him propped up. Among his techniques: Whenever the hypnotist said the word “Grow,” it was supposed to give the guitarist a jolt of strength.
Perhaps because the hypnotist had messed with his mind a bit, Robertson felt he was OK to go on stage. But once he made it out there, despite the hypnotist shouting encouragement, he could barely stand. The Band made it through seven sloppy songs before finally giving up on a lost cause. Boos rained down from the angry Winterland crowd, who felt they’d been short-changed.
Stage Fright
Robertson felt well enough to get through the entire hour for the second show the following night. But the experience stuck with both him and the rest of The Band. It would always be something of a struggle for them to perform live with the same enthusiasm and gusto many of their rock contemporaries could muster.
Part of that was because they didn’t really have a frontman. They were also extremely focused on bringing the nuance of their studio performances to the stage, which didn’t leave a lot of room for crowd interaction. In any case, Robertson’s wariness of live performances stuck with him, which contributed to his decision to bring The Band to a close with The Last Waltz (also held at the Winterland in San Francisco) in 1976.
Robertson also penned the track “Stage Fright” for inclusion on The Band’s 1970 album of the same name. Some of the lines no doubt were sourced from that frustrating initial experience. It’s clear that hypnotist couldn’t quite wipe out the memories of that traumatic live debut.
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Photo by United Artists/Kobal/Shutterstock
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