Stage Fright  by The Band

The album Stage Fright was released on August 17, 1970, and is the third studio album by the iconic band The Band. It is considered a darker and more introspective work compared to its predecessors, reflecting the pressures the group was facing at that time.

The album mainly falls within the roots rock genre, with strong influences from blues rock and folk rock. While it was initially planned as a more relaxed and fun album, the final result combines "live" music with disillusioned and melancholic lyrics. It was recorded between May and June 1970 at the Woodstock Playhouse in Woodstock, New York. The band decided to record the album on the theater stage, without an audience, to capture a "live" feeling. In fact, because the studio was not ready, they set up an improvised control room on a stage behind the theater. For the first time, The Band took on the production themselves. The then-young Todd Rundgren played an important role as a sound engineer, while the final mix also included work by Glyn Johns.

The album reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200, marking the highest position the band ever achieved on the charts. The album Stage Fright went gold with sales exceeding 500,000 copies.