'It was electric': How The Band rocked Asbury Park during its legendary farewell tour

ASBURY PARK - On a hot July night in 1976, The Band played to a packed Casino Arena in this city by the sea. Few in the enthusiastic audience likely knew that the whole show was being filmed, or that the footage would still be available to view today.

Young concert promoter John Scher, who was booking the Casino Arena that summer, called the group's Asbury Park performance one of his favorites. The Band would also perform that year at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, the 3,200-seat venue that Scher acquired in 1971.

The show was part of the farewell tour immortalized in Martin Scorsese's "The Last Waltz," hailed as one of the best concert documentaries ever. In Asbury Park, The Band's original line-up — Garth Hudson, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, Richard Manuel, and Levon Helm — performed a 15-song set and a two-song encore.

At the Casino, Scher had a video system to record concerts, a pretty revolutionary set-up at the time. That's why you can watch The Band's entire set in black-and-white video and fairly decent audio. It's on YouTube, and at the start of the show, you can see a young Scher coming onstage to introduce the performers.

The 80-minute show is a time capsule of a group nearing the end of its touring life, but still tight and focused, playing at — or at least very near — their peak. The recent passing of guitarist and lead songwriter Robbie Robertson makes the footage even more poignant. Of the original lineup, only keyboardist Garth Hudson is still alive.

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"They did the identical set of 'The Last Waltz'," Scher said told The Asbury Park Press in 2015, referring to the November 1976 concert Scorsese filmed at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom. "The players were as good as you could get. The songs were fabulous. In those days, the brilliant writers, like Simon and Garfunkel — and Robbie Robertson was in that class — they were writing songs that, to my generation, really rang home."

Scher, who booked some of his first concerts at Asbury Park's Sunshine In, was that summer competing with legendary promoter Moe Septee, who was still putting his "Summer of Stars" series in Convention Hall, on the north side of the boardwalk. Scher would eventually take over Convention Hall from Septee, but in the bicentennial summer of '76, shows were happening on both ends of the boardwalk.

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Online "audio journal" Aquarium Drunkard describes the Casino Arena video and show as "nearly flawless," except for "some early feedback and a rough spot in the mix during 'Forbidden Fruit.' No frills, no special guests, just the band at peak live powers transmitted through the haze of aging film and tape. Titans in the clouds."

Eileen Chapman, director of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University, said the 1976 performance by The Band was her favorite show ever at the Casino.

"My family owned and I managed the Country Kitchen Fudge and Peanut Shop located on the northeast corner of the Casino building, with glass walls looking out onto the beach and northside Casino entrance," Chapman remembered. "On show nights I would work until shows began and then make my way in for the headliners.

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"The Casino shows were mostly standing general admission on the floor and fans lined up along the boardwalk early that day for a prime location close to the stage. By the time the show began there were hundreds of people listening from the beach; more than I had ever seen for any show," she said. "I entered the main entrance early and a friend who worked for the promoter brought me through the backstage and out to the Casino promenade off the east side of the building where the band members were having drinks and smokes.

"Inside was packed and hot so I was grateful to remain there until the show began. The entire crowd danced and sang along to all of the songs. It was electric. I’d say that The Band was one of my top favorite shows of all time and definitely my favorite Casino show," she said. "Leaving after the show a group of us went over to Mrs. Jays and noticed that most of the fans on the boardwalk (and beach) were still there."

Chapman said many of the exuberant fans likely remained there until morning.

Ken Viola was working the shows at the Casino that summer, marking his third year working there. "Despite the high ceiling and short length, the cavernous atmosphere could be adjusted to sound good," Viola said.

Viola said he has many great memories of working those shows, "yet one persists."

"A rare concert by The Band in 1976, a few months before The Last Waltz. The group was at their peak and rose to the occasion," Viola said. "If I close my eyes, I can still conjure Rick Danko singing 'It Makes No Difference,' his heart on display, Garth playing an extended intro to 'Chest Fever,' and Robbie presiding with stinging leads!"

Jean Mikle covers Toms River and several other Ocean County towns, and has been writing about local government and politics at the Jersey Shore for nearly 39 years. She's also passionate about the Shore's storied music scene. Contact her: @jeanmikle,  jmikle@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: The Band rocked Asbury Park Casino Arena during magical farewell tour