With the recent release of The Complete Budokan 1978, I’ve been thinking a lot about Bob Dylan in Japan. Well, actually I started thinking about Bob Dylan in 1978. I’ve always loved the original At Budokan release and I still find his sound to be really interesting during that period. So, I thought it would be fun to post all the shows he played in 1978. Then I realized I had already done that. (Some of those links are down, but if you will make a request for them on each post I’ll put them back up.)

Then I got to thinking about Dylan in Asia, but that seemed like too big of a project so I narrowed it down to just Japan. That still wound up being a big project, but I tackled it anyway.

As per usual, I have not had time to listen to all of these shows so I do not have recommendations in terms of performance or sound quality. You’ll have to discover the gems on your own.

I don’t have any insight into Bob touring Japan. I do find it interesting that he very rarely toured Japan during most of his career, he only made it to that country four times in the first 40 years of performances, but he’s made it back five times since 2010. It is also interesting to me that he usually tours there in the early Spring – late March and throughout April. Maybe that’s when the famous cherry blossoms bloom. I don’t know.

I believe with this I have shared every single time Dylan played in Japan, but it is possible I missed something. If I did please let me know. Also please let me know if any of the links are messed up. I have not collected every source for every show, but if you have additional sources and would like to share them, I’d love to have them.

I had a lot of fun collecting these shows, and I hope you all enjoy listening to them. 

1978

1978 – Far East Tour
1978.02.20 – Tokyo, Japan
1978.02.21 – Tokyo, Japan
1978.02.23 – Tokyo, Japan
1978.02.24 – Osaka, Japan
1978.02.25 – Osaka, Japan
1978.02.26 – Osaka, Japan
1978.02.28 – Tokyo, Japan
1978.03.01 – Tokyo, Japan
1978.03.02 – Tokyo, Japan
1978.03.03 – Tokyo, Japan
1978.03.04 – Tokyo, Japan

1986 – w/Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

1986.03.05 – Tokyo, Japan
1986.03.06 – Osaka, Japan
1986.03.08 – Nagoya, Japan
1986.03.10 – Tokyo, Japan

1994

1994.02.05 – Sendai, Japan
1994.02.07 – Yokohama, Japan
1994.02.08 – Tokyo, Japan
1994.02.09 – Tokyo, Japan
1994.02.11 – Nagoya, Japan
1994.02.12 – Osaka, Japan
1994.02.14 – Kokura, Japan
1994.02.15 – Kokura, Japan
1994.02.16 – Hiroshima, Japan
1994.02.18 – Urawa, Japan
1994.02.20 – Tokyo, Japan

1997

1997.02.09 – Tokyo, Japan
1997.02.10 – Tokyo, Japan
1997.02.11 – Tokyo, Japan
1997.02.13 – Kurashik, Japan
1997.02.14 – Fukuoka, Japan
1997.02.16 – Nagoya, Japan
1997.02.17 – Osaka, Japan
1997.02.18 – Osaka, Japan
1997.02.20 – Sendai, Japan
1997.02.22 – Akita, Japan
1997.02.24 – Sapporo, Japan

2001

2001 – Rare Songs From the Japan Tour
2001.02.25 – Saitama, Japan
2001.02.27 – Sendei, Japan
2001.02.28 – Akita, Japan
2001.03.02 – Yokohama, Japan
2001.03.03 – Tokyo, Japan
2001.03.04 – Tokyo, Japan
2001.03.06 – Osaka, Japan
2001.03.07 – Osaka, Japan
2001.03.09 – Fukuoka, Japan
2001.03.10 – Hiroshima, Japan
2001.03.12 – Nagoya, Japan
2001.03.13 – Hamamatsu, Japan
2001.03.14 – Tokyo, Japan

2010

2010.03.11 – Osaka, Japan
2010.03.12 – Osaka, Japan
2010.03.13 – Osaka, Japan
2010.03.15 – Osaka, Japan
2010.03.16 – Osaka, Japan
2010.03.18 – Nagoya, Japan
2010.03.19 – Nagoya, Japan
2010.03.21 – Tokyo, Japan
2010.03.23 – Tokyo, Japan
2010.03.24 – Tokyo, Japan
2010.03.25 – Tokyo, Japan
2010.03.26 – Tokyo, Japan
2010.03.28 – Tokyo, Japan
2010.03.29 – Tokyo, Japan

2014

2014.03.31 – Tokyo, Japan
2014.04.01 – Tokyo, Japan
2014.04.03 – Tokyo, Japan
2014.04.04 – Tokyo, Japan
2014.04.05 – Tokyo, Japan
2014.04.07 – Tokyo, Japan
2014.04.08 – Tokyo, Japan
2014.04.09 – Tokyo, Japan
2014.04.10 – Tokyo, Japan
2014.04.13 – Sapporo, Japan
2014.04.14 – Sapporo, Japan
2014.04.17 – Nagoya, Japan
2014.04.18 – Nagoya, Japan
2014.04.19 – Fukuoka, Japan
2014.04.21 – Osaka, Japan
2014.04.22 – Osaka, Japan
2014.04.23 – Osaka, Japan

2016

2016 – Beyond Here – Spring Tour
2016.04.04 – Tokyo, Japan
2016.04.05 – Tokyo, Japan
2016.04.06 – Tokyo, Japan
2016.04.09 – Sendai, Japan
2016.04.11 – Osaka, Japan
2016.04.12 – Osaka, Japan
2016.04.13 – Osaka, Japan
2016.04.15 – Nagoya, Japan
2016.04.18 – Tokyo, Japan
2016.04.19 – Tokyo, Japan
2016.04.21 – Tokyo, Japan
2016.04.22 – Tokyo, Japan
2016.04.23 – Tokyo, Japan
2016.04.25 – Tokyo, Japan
2016.04.26 – Tokyo, Japan
2016.04.28 – Yokohama, Japan

2018

2018.07.29 – Niigata, Japan

2023

2023.04.06 – Osaka, Japan
2023.04.07 – Osaka, Japan
2023.04.08 – Osaka, Japan
2023.04.11 – Tokyo, Japan
2023.04.12 – Tokyo, Japan
2023.04.14 – Tokyo, Japan
2023.04.15 – Tokyo, Japan
2023.04.16 – Tokyo, Japan
2023.04.18 – Nagoya, Japan
2023.04.19 – Nagoya, Japan
2023.04.20 – Nagoya, Japan

One of the challenges of trying to create these special projects (and one of the challenges of sharing shows in general) is trying to find shows that will be popular enough that at least a few people will be interested in downloading, but not so popular that anyone interested will already have them.

When I look at something like the Grateful Dead tour of Europe in 1972 or Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Tour in 1975-1976 I realize that those are generally terrific performances and well loved by fans. But I also realize that those shows are readily available elsewhere on other blogs and sometimes officially (I mean the Dead have released every show of that tour, sometimes twice), so what’s the point of me also sharing them?

Of course, sometimes I still do share those types of shows, because they are awesome. But I like to find things that maybe aren’t already easily obtained elsewhere.

You can get too obscure, sharing artists that no one has heard of, or shows from a popular artist from an unfavored period (Grateful Dead in 1995, anyone?) and then the files don’t get downloaded at all.

Of course, sometimes I still do share those types of shows, because people like me are completists.

Anyway, these are things I’ve been thinking about as I try to put together various collections.

On the Never Ending Tour, Bob Dylan often toured parts of Europe. He hit the continent twice in 2015 – in the summer he mostly did festival gigs and then in the fall he did a bunch of club shows.

I very randomly decided to collect and then share the summer tour. There really was no rhyme or reason for why I decided to do this. I haven’t heard anything spectacular about the tour, I haven’t heard anything about it at all, actually. I don’t think I’ve sat down and listened to any of it either. Just picked it out of a hat.

But I know Dylan fans, they like to collect every show he ever played and I figure this may give a few folks something they didn’t already have. I hope so at least.

2015.06.20 – Mainz Germany
2015.06.21 – Tübingen, Germany
2015.06.23 – Bamberg, Germany
2015.06.25 – Ljubljana, Slovenia
2015.06.26 – Wiesen, Austria
2015.06.27 – San Daniele, Italy
2015.06.29 – Rome, Italy
2015.07.01 – Lucca, Italy
2015.07.02 – Turin, Italy
2015.07.04 – Barcelona, Spain
2015.07.05 – Zaragoza, Spain
2015.07.06 – Madrid, Spain
2015.07.08 – Granada, Spain
2015.07.09 – Córdoba, Spain
2015.07.11 – San Sebastián, Spain
2015.07.12 – Albi, France
2015.07.13 – Saint Malô, France
2015.07.15 – Locarno, Switzerland
2015.07.16 – Lörrach, Germany