Levon Helm Tickets

I was fortunate to experience Levon Helm and his newest band at the magnificent Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor. The acoustics at the historic venue were terrific and so were Levon and his fellow musicians. Levon shared vocal duties with his daughter, Amy, and other members of the band. They played a good variety of music from The Band era as well as selections from Levon's solo recordings. I never got the chance to attend a concert by The Band but this was the next best thing for me. It was obvious that Levon and the others were having a good time and so was everyone in the audience. I attended the concert with my daughter who drove 7 hours for the chance to see a legend and she was not disappointed.

Rock and Roll in the beginning showed it's roots, Gospel, Jazz, Blues, Acadian, folk and African music influenced the sound of all the great and innovative Rock and Roll Bands. Levon keeps this alive. His show is Rock and Roll at its best pulling aspects of all his influenced into a truly unique sound and style. He is a gentleman with edge. The kind sounds played for the now late Richie Hayward of Little Feat was all class. Richie was ill when I attended his last show in July and Levon and his band acknowleged a down brother in a way that only a New Orleans trumbone player can lead. Tennessy Jed sounds like Robert Hunter wrote the song for Levon himself and performed live 15 years almost to the day that Jerry died. I saw it as another respectful tribute to a fallen brother. If I wasn't so happy to hear it live again I would have cried. The Weight and Shape , brought back echos of The Band's fallen brothers, if Danko was alive today he would have said Wow Man! Leadbelly would have been proud of the Bourgeois Blues. Grath Hudson's solos of the past were recreated by Larry Cambell on guitar. The spirits of Jerry, Leadbelly, Rick Danko were in the room that night and they were joined by many others and summond with respect and joy. Thanks Levon.

From the opening "Ophelia" to the encore (which included a visit from Elvis Costello), the thing that impressed me the most was everyone on stage seemed to be enjoying what they were doing. That always makes for the best shows.

I had the extreme pleasure of seeing Levon Helm and friends recently. By way of background, I'm essentially a fanatic of The Band, having many of their CD'a and DVD's of the Last Waltz and having read books on Ronnie Hawkins, The Band, and Levon Helm himself. The band was tight, and the songs were great. Having not listened to anything recent from Levon Helm I found the songs they played on Electric Dirt and his other recent album Dirt Farmer. I found these songs were sort of a New Orleans type of flavour with a great horns section. And naturally it was a pleasure to watch Levon on the drums. His singing Ophelia brought back lots of memories although unfortunately with him having throat cancer in the past and a cold this night his voice really wasn't what it used to be. The band section of the band consists of his daughter Amy, another female singer Teresa Williams, Larry Campell and Brian Mitchell. Brian was sort of a combination of Garth Hudson/Richard Manual in terms of his contributions, with a little bit of New Orleans jazz type flavour, he really was a treat to hear. Meanwhile Larry Cambell, surprised the hell out of me by playing the Garth Hudson invented into to Chest Fever, on guitar. Lastly Elvis Costello make a guest appearance and really rocked the place, with his rendition of "The Weight" and the show ended up with "I shall be released" Great show!!!

What a great concert, great blending of old and new tunes. His albums don't do his band's live show justice. It's not often anymore you get to enjoy 11+ musicians. Elvis Costello making a surprise appearance was definitely a bonus.

I am a big fan of the Band, have been for thirty or so years. I haven't really followed the career of Levon since, except to hear the odd song here or there. But, WOW..... This performance was so fantastic, his voice was scratchy...of course, but that did not matter. I cheered for him to sing, and he sang as much as he possibly could. His love for music came through, his love for his band members and his love for his home & roots. The energy was electrifying. I am a fan of Then....and I am a fan of Now. His band members are talented, and I never felt once that they were bothered to perform...they obviously care a great deal for Levon and share his love of the music. Loyalty is a hard thing to find sometimes...I love seeing it....

levon helm was fantastic, with special guest...Elvis Costello! Went with my 84 year old mother and my 18 year old cousin and they both loved it! talented muscians and timelss tunes.

Great show, I danced my ass of in my seat. Couldn't get up and shake it as it was Massey Hall. Great venue tho!! Unfortunatly our $65 seats sucked, we couldn't see Levon unless we stood up and looked over the balcony, could see the band though, who were excellent. A great night! He still can rock out, and when he can't the band takes up the slack.

The evening started off with John Hiatt doing hits like Feels Like Rain, Come on Baby, Drive South and Tikki Bar and many more great songs well sang, backed by a fab band especially the guitar player. 15 minute break Levon came on with a 6 piece horn section, amazing, two girls, one his daughter, a fearless band leader, Larry Campbell and a Dr. John type keyboard player. Great band!!! They did a lot of Band Hits and their version of Makes No Difference with the girls singing really should be recorded. It was excellent! They also did a lot of stuff off the second album again with harmonies from the whole band. Just a little dissappointed Levon didn't narrate much through out the concert and I wish they did more of the first album. Great venue!!!

A memorable night with the legendary Levon Helm, his drumming was perfect, his singing was perfect, the band was perfect!! Once in a lifetime experience!!!