In a certain sense, Don Was has done this before.

On stage at the Seaenger Theater the last Saturday night of Jazz Fest, April 30th, Was, holding with his bass guitar and wearing a most funky felt Fedora-style hat, was introduced as musical director for The Last Waltz New Orleans, a celebration of the fabled farewell concert (and landark rock-umentary) by The Band occasion of its 40th anniversary. A Grammy-winning musician and producer, Was served as musical director last Jazz Fest for “Nevilles Forever” at the Saenger plus, in tandem with Blackbird Presents, similar all-star tributes to Dr. John, Gregg Allman and Kris Kristofferson.

Despite some disappointment over the announced “special guests” not including special guests in town for the last weekend of Jazz Fest—original Last Waltz performers including Neil Young, Mavis Staples, and Dr. John—Was and Warren Haynes and company, equipped with superb musicianship, love of the material and a swinging joie de vivre, succeeded in evoking the timeless sound and mythic vibe surrounding seminal roots-rock The Band’s swan song held over Thanksgiving 1976 at the Winterland in San Francisco.

Renowned for absurdly complex arrangements in a sprawling, organic rock groove, The Band made music for the masses and the sophisticates. To tackle this considerable canon, Was teamed up with Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Allman Brothers Band) to recruit a band consisting of New Orleans native Terence Higgins (drums), John Medeski (keys), Michael McDonald (keys, vocal), and for that “Down South” flavor crucial to The Band—comprised of Canadians but anchored by the soul of the late Levon Helm, born in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas—Jamey Johnson, an outlaw-country crooner and guitar-shredder. A superb horn section highlighted by local trombonist Mark Mullins was featured throughout the show. As befitting a Last Waltz tribute, marked in stage décor by two large, elegant chandeliers hung above the stage, a parade of special guests continued throughout the night.

Jamey Johnsoon, unfamiliar to many in the preppy hippie, neo-groover crowd, showed he came prepared and ready to rock when he took lead vocals on the opening “Cripple Creek.” Haynes declared, “I know we’re in Louisiana, but it’s still appropriate,” before a cover of Ray Charles’ “Georgia”—one of a handful of tunes not in the original Last Waltz—with McDonald and McDonald trading verses on lead vocals. An expected, but most exuberant, “Down South in New Orleans” by Bobby Charles followed, propelled by guests Cyril and Ivan Neville and which featured the night’s first explosive jam. Willie Nelson’s son Lukas Nelson (in town with Neil Young’s back Promise of the Real) sang “It Makes No Difference” next. Haynes then described how they approached the Band’s song with the intent to mix up arrangements, proving so with up-tempo gusto as Dave Malone’s voice and axe-handling on the early-Elvis romp, “Mystery Train.” With Johnson back on vocals, a thunderous “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” closed.

Organ/piano maestro John Madeski led a chunky, funky keys jam to drive “Rag Mama Rag” to open the second set. Nelson soon returned to lead on “Helpless,” in honor of Neil Young’s haunting contribution (edited-out coke nose notwithstanding) to the Band’s final gig, which fell flat if for other reason than Young’s looming absence and was bludgeoned by McDonald, well, McDonalding all over the vocals. Coming on the 33rd anniversary of Muddy Waters’ death, with promises to “wake him up,” members of Waters’ old bands took the stage for a blistering “Mannish Boy,” with local bluesman Smokey Greenwell fervently working his harmonica to reach both heaven and hell. An annoy euphoria clouded the crowd sing-along of “Forever Young,” a trait that continued in subsequent songs “Caravan” (no Van Morrison), “The Weight” (what was Mavis Staples doing that night?), and the concluding “I Shall Be Released.”

Taking the stage for the encore, Haynes said to the crowd, “I’ve been told this is the last song The Band ever played,” before sailing into a rollicking “Don’t Do It.” A plea for mercy from the one you love, the song sent the sold-out Saenger audience out onto a Canal Street Saturday Night, smiling and satisfied to a heartfelt tribute to the Band  they love and miss that, despite a few shortcomings, was northing short of life-affirming.

Setlist:

Set I: “Cripple Creek,” “The Shape I’m In,” “Stage Fright,” “Georgia,” “Down South in New Orleans,” “Ophelia,” “It Makes No Difference,” “Mystery Train,” “Wheels on Fire,” “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” (67 mins)

Set II: “Rag Mama Rag,” “Life Is a Carnival,” “Helpless,” “King Harvest,” “Mannish Boy,” “Further Down the Road,” “Forever Young,” “Caravan,” “The Weight,” “I Shall Be Released” (65 mins)

Encore: “Don’t Do It”