April 26th, 1978 Martin Scorsese’s “the Last Waltz” opens in theaters. This was the film documentary about what was supposed to be the final concert by The Band. The show features a lot of guests including, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Ron Wood, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Dr John, Paul Butterfield and Van Morrison. And that doesn’t cover all of the guests. Not just a great concert film, but a great live album as well. Although it ends up not being The Band’s final show. Robbie Robertson never joins the reformed group, but the rest of the members got back together and even released some new albums.
Today in 1986 Van Halen realizes there is lfe after David Lee Roth. Their album “5150″, their first one with Sammy Hagar as singer and front man, goes to #1 on the album chart. The album was named after Eddie Van Halen’s home studio, 5150, in turn named after a California law enforcement term for a mentally disturbed person. It shows that even though they are almost a completely different band with Sammy’s influence on the songwriting, they are still very popular.
