The all-star tribute to the Band‘s Robbie Robertson is going on the road. The Life Is a Carnival: Last Waltz Tour ’24 launches two days after that previously announced Oct. 17 show at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, featuring Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Jamey Johnson, Don Was and others.
Tickets go on sale at 10AM ET on Friday, Aug. 16. Also included on the bill: Ryan Bingham, John Medeski, Cyril Neville, Terence Higgins, Dave Malone, and Mark Mullins and the Levee Horns, who’ll again follow Allen Toussaint’s original arrangements. (Lukas Nelson will take Johnson’s place during three shows in Colorado.)
A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to local charities. See a complete list of dates and cities below.
READ MORE: Why the Band’s ‘Last Waltz’ Concert Almost Didn’t Happen
The Life Is a Carnival: Last Waltz Tour ’24 kicks off in October at the Warfield in San Francisco, just over a mile from the site of the original Last Waltz concert, held on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25, 1976, at the Winterland Ballroom. Other key stops include New York City, Denver, Boston and Philadelphia before the shows wrap in Toronto, where Robertson was born in July 1943.
The tour-launching Los Angeles tribute concert will be executive produced by Robertson’s longtime friend and collaborator Martin Scorsese, director of The Last Waltz. Robertson died on Aug. 9, 2023, at age 80, after a battle with cancer. He’d just completed work on the soundtrack Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, which was later nominated for 10 Oscars – including Best Original Score.
Highlights of Previous ‘Last Waltz’ Tours
Promoter Blackbirds Presents has sponsored a series of recent Last Waltz-themed tours featuring Johnson, Was, Higgins, Medeski, Malone and guests like Michael McDonald, Warren Haynes and Dr. John. Garth Hudson, now the only surviving member of the Band, appeared during the 2016 dates.
Co-creator Keith Wortman describes these new dates as a culmination. “This band, made up of these artists, playing these songs, is what Don [Was] and I dreamed of when we began planning this tour,” Wortman said in an official statement. “Now the dream is a reality.”
Campbell and Tench, both former members of Tom Petty‘s Heartbreakers, will also appear at the initial LA concert. They most memorably reunited in 2023 as part of Bob Dylan‘s backing group at Farm Aid.
Life Is a Carnival: Last Waltz Tour ’24
10/19: San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
10/22: Boise, ID @ Revolution Concert House and Event Center
10/24 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
10/25 – Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theater
10/26 – Beaver Creek, CO @ Vilar Performing Arts Center
10/29 – Omaha, NE – Orpheum Theater
10/30 – Rockford, IL @ Coronado Theatre
11/1 – Louisville, KY @ The Louisville Palace
11/2 – Cincinnati, OH @ Brady Music Center
11/4 – Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Center for the Arts
11/6 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
11/7 – Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre
11/8 – Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre
11/9 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
11/12 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
11/14 – Schenectady, NY @ Proctors
11/15 – Rochester, NY @ Kodak Center
11/16 – Toronto, ON @ Meridian Hall
Top 10 Concert Films
The next time you’re in the mood to watch a classic rock artist tear it up in front of a screaming crowd, reach for one of these movies.
Gallery Credit: Jeff Giles