The special consisted of a performance of many of Orbison's hits at the then Ambassador Hotel's Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles, filmed on September 30, 1987, approximately fourteen months before his death. Three songs, "Blue Bayou", "Claudette", and "Blue Angel", were filmed but not included in the original broadcast due to time constraints.

Other celebrity admirers of Orbison were in the audience, including Billy Idol, Patrick Swayze, Sandra Bernhard and Kris Kristofferson. The backing band was the TCB Band, which accompanied Elvis Presley from 1969 until his death in 1977: Glen D. Hardin on piano, James Burton on lead guitar, Jerry Scheff on bass, and Ronnie Tutt on drums. Male background vocalists, some of whom also joined in on guitar, were Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther and Steven Soles. The female background vocalists were k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes and Bonnie Raitt. During the end credits, several of the band members are shown talking about how Orbison influenced them.

The audio from this special was released as an album by Virgin Records in 1989, titled A Black & White Night Live. After Orbison's death, his family provided the video to public television stations to air during their fund-raising campaigns.



Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PLq0_7k1jk&list=PLvPrczMM8gz3y1Iboy6CsZ432HjCWUQgR

Track listing

All tracks composed by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson, except where indicated

"Only the Lonely"
"Dream Baby" (Cindy Walker)
"Blue Bayou"
"The Comedians" (Elvis Costello)
"Ooby Dooby" (Dick Penner, Wade Moore)
"Leah" (Orbison)
"Running Scared"
"Uptown"
"In Dreams" (Orbison)
"Crying"
"Candy Man" (Fred Neil, Beverly "Ruby" Ross)
"Go Go Go (Down the Line)" (Orbison)
"Mean Woman Blues" (Claude Demetrius)
"(All I Can Do is) Dream You" (Billy Burnette, David Malloy)
"Claudette" (not on original 1989 LP) (Orbison)
"It's Over" (Orbison, Bill Dees)
"Oh, Pretty Woman" (Orbison, Bill Dees)
"Blue Angel" (available on Blu-Ray)