Star-Packed Robbie Robertson Tribute Set For Kia Forum

A concert celebration honoring the legendary Robbie Robertson is set for Inglewood, California’s Kia Forum October 17.

The packed, star-studded, once-in-a-lifetime bill includes Trey Anastasio, Ryan Bingham, Mike Campbell, Eric Church, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Warren Haynes, Bruce Hornsby, Jim James, Jamey Johnson, Noah Kahan, Daniel Lanois, Taj Mahal, Van Morrison, Margo Price, Robert Randolph, Nathaniel Rateliff, Allison Russell, Mavis Staples, Benmont Tench, Don Was, Bobby Weir and Lucinda Williams.

Tickets for the general public go on sale Aug. 2 at 10 AM Pacfic at Ticketmaster.com. Citi cardmembers can access presale tickets July 30 at 10 AM until Aug. 1, at 10 PM through the Citi Entertainment program. For complete presale details, visit citientertainment.com.

Executive Producers of “Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson “are Martin Scorsese, Jared Levine, and Keith Wortman. Live Nation shall serve as the event promoter. A portion of the proceeds from the concert event shall be donated to The Woodland Cultural Centre that funds and operates a range of arts, history, and education programs on the Sixth Nations Reserve in Canada.

Robertson, the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the seminal group The Band, died Aug. 9, 2023, in Los Angeles. He was 80.

Born in Toronto in 1943, Robertson began playing guitar at 10 and joined the band the Hawks, rockabilly giant Ronnie Hawkins’ back-up band, at 16. The group — drummer Levon Helm, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson, in addition to Robertson — left Hawkins in 1964 and began supporting Bob Dylan soon thereafter (occasionally with Helm but usually not) when he went electric the next year.

The band became The Band, in a sort of cheeky knowingness to their place in the hierarchy of the conceit. There was Dylan and there was “the band” and with him they recorded the famed Basement Tapes in 1967.

Signed to Capitol in their own right in 1968, their first two albums — Music from the Big Pink and The Band — formed the basis of what we now call, for better or worse, Americana music. There is, yes, more than a little irony given that The Band was largely Canadian.

Songs penned by Robertson — “The Weight,” “Up On Cripple Creek,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” — are a formidable legacy, all feeling as if they have been with us since the beginning, passed down at hoedowns and picking parties. Virgil Caine is not a real soldier but his story is authentic as any in a history book. You cannot find a place called Nazareth where Carmen and the Devil walk hand in hand, but you know exactly what it looks like. Maybe there really is a girl named Bessie in Lake Charles who will bet on the ponies with you and listen to Spike Jones, but probably not.

Much of Robertson’s late life was spent indulging his love of film, scoring numerous Martin Scorsese films. He spent seven years as creative executive for DreamWorks Records. He continued to produce, to write (books and music), to reissue and reminisce.