Tag: bob dylan

Show Review: Bob Dylan and the Band – Oakland, CA (02/11/74)

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Furthering my attempts to add more music discussion at The Midnight Cafe, I thought I’d add to my reviews of officially released live music by reviewing some unofficially released tunes as well. That’s maybe slightly a falsehood in this case, as Dylan has released all of these shows in a magnificent boxed set, but he left out all The Band’s solo performances. And this review is not of the officially released discs but of a ROIO.  

Some time ago on my music blog I posted a Bob Dylan and The Band show from 1974, or maybe it was a compilation. I don’t remember.  It doesn’t matter. The point is, I posted something from their tour together at that time, and I made a comment about how it was one of the greatest tours ever.  The thing is I didn’t really know that to be true. I hadn’t really listened to much of that tour. I don’t think I’d even listened to Before the Flood all the way through. But I knew it was a big tour that played big venues to big crowds. I knew people were excited about it because this was the first tour after Bob Dylan’s long hiatus and that while The Band had toured with him in the 1960s, they were now a major rock and roll act in their own right.

Sometime after I posted my unrealized praise, I came to realize that quite a few hardcore Dylanheads weren’t really down with this tour. In fact, many downright loathe it. Turns out Dylan and at least some members of The Band felt it was a sellout tour, good for the pocketbook, but not for the soul. So I thought it would be fun for this, my first bootleg review in a long time to tackle a show from this tour.

I randomly picked this performance and this particular source. Dylan and the Band played some 40 gigs over the course of about two months (often playing two shows per day). This show was towards the end of the tour. They’d play three more gigs in Los Angeles after that, and then they were done. Lossless Bob lists some fourteen sources for this show. I have five of them. I chose LB-4455 to listen to. It is a nice sounding soundboard recording. Oddly, it contains parts of the early show and parts of the late show. The set lists were identical (or nearly so) and this bootleg basically cuts it in half. The split occurs in the middle of the Dylan solo acoustic set.

The tour changed a little bit from the early shows to the end of the tour but by this point they were playing mostly the same songs every night. It broke down like this: Dylan and The Band performed together, then The Band would play some of their songs without Dylan. The Band would leave and Dylan would do a few solo acoustic numbers. Then he’d leave again, allowing The Band to play a few more of their tunes, followed by Dylan being backed by The Band.

After listening to this performance a few times, I can definitely see where the hate is coming from, but also feel that it is overblown. This performance is a big rock and roll show. It is loud and brash, rowdy and racous. It is a big stadium rock and roll show. That’s great for bands like The Rolling Stones, but one usually expects something different from Bob Dylan. His music is suited for a more intimate setting where you can get more nuance. 

But often, it actually works. It starts with a rambunctious “Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine).” The music is played loud and fast, Dylan practically spits his words out. I dig it.  It is a powerful way to start the show. This is followed by “Lay Lady Lay”, which is a little more laid back but still rowdy. The song is meant as a seduction, but any girl listening to this would likely run for her life. Garth Hudson is playing some kind of new electric piano. It sounds like an organ here. Or maybe it is an actual organ. I’m terrible at figuring out who is playing what instrument.

I’m not going to do a song by song review. I just don’t have that much to say. I’ll try to list the highlights and maybe anything that seems weird or bad.

“Rainy Day Women” has a carnival feel which really works for the song. “It Ain’t Me, Babe” hangs onto that carnival sound. There are some droning organ chords which I kind of dig, but I can see how it might drive some folks nuts.  Then the piano kicks in and it sounds great. Ditto Robbie Robertson’s guitar playing.  The guitars get loud and rocking during “King Harvest.”

Here’s where I admit I’m not actually a huge fan of The Band. They were all incredibly talented musicians and great live performers. I freaking love The Last Waltz, but a lot of their songs just don’t do it for me. I’ve never been able to “get” Music From the Big Pink. I’ve got numerous recordings of their concerts without Bob and while the performances are often good, I can rarely get into them because of the songs.

I do love “Up on Cripple Creek” but, unfortunately, it cuts out on this recording.  “All Along The Watchtower” which brings Dylan back in with The Band cuts in. Dylan’s solo acoustic songs are fine. I love these songs and he performs them well. But this isn’t Dylan in the 1960s. The nuance and fire is gone.  

“Ballad of Hollis Brown” with The Band is terrific. It is not a favorite song of mine, but this version is fantastic. Great keyboard work, terrific guitar lines. “The Weight” is another song I do love from The Band is it is played with great enthusiasm here. Enthusiasm is a good word for the rest of the songs on this set. The last few songs are played with high energy.

So, yeah, this is good stuff.  It is a big rock and roll concert played with verve. But it does feel like maybe something is missing. It has to be weird playing in front of 20,000 people all cheering and shouting. That personal connection is going to get lost. Nuance and subtlety are hard to find in a massive arena. I look forward to listening to other shows on this tour, but I probably won’t do that for a while.  It is easy to see why Dylan completely deconstructed his concerts the next year with The Rolling Thunder group. But I’m also glad he did something like this.

You can view the entire setlist with notes about this recording here.

I’m not sure how I want to post this sort of thing. I had initally thought I’d upload all the images and text files (but not the music – if you want that send me a message and I can point you in the right direction.) But that seems like a hassle and maybe not that interesting to anyone. So, I’ll ask. Would anyone be interested in seeing that sort of thing? Would you like to have all the source information, just not the music? Is that worth it? Leave me a comment if you have thoughts on this, or anything else.

Shows in History: Bob Dylan – London, England (03/31/95)

bob dylan brixton academy

I managed to listen to this show this afternoon and then got busy and forgot to write anything about it.  And now it is late, and I have some other things to do, so this will be short.

Get this show. It is excellent. There are at least two versions of it over at Expecting Rain, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Bob is in excellent form, and the band is on fire.  And if that wasn’t enough, you get Elvis Costello (guitar & shared vocals), Chrissie Hynde, and Carole King on a couple of songs.

Here’s the setlist:

Brixton Academy 
London, England 
31 March 1995 

01 – Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood)
02 – SeÒor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
03 – All Along The Watchtower
04 – I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
05 – Tombstone Blues
06 – Shelter From The Storm
07 – Mr. Tambourine Man
08 – The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
09 – It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
10 – Highway 61 Revisited
11 – In The Garden
12 – Joey (Bob Dylan-Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)

  (encore)

13 – Like A Rolling Stone
14 – My Back Pages
15 – I Shall Be Released
16 – Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35

I uploaded “Shelter From the Storm” for your listening pleasure.

Other shows that were played on this date in history.

Miles Davis – Los Angeles, CA (03/31/46)

1984 (Featuring Brian May) – Teddington, England (03/31/67)

Queen – Tokyo, Japan (03/31/76)

The Million Dollar Bashers Celebrate Bob Dylan Going Electric

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On July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan plugged in and performed live with an electric guitar and an amplified rock and roll band for the first time ever. It would be stretching things to say this moment forever changed history, but its impact on the folk music scene and its influence on popular music cannot be overstated.

For the 60th anniversary of this momentous occasion, the Bob Dylan Center sponsored a concert at the historic Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 26, 2025.. An all-star cast of musicians performed songs by Bob Dylan from that era.

Led by musical director Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth, the house band featured Nels Cline (Wilco) on guitar, Ethan Miller (Howlin’ Rain) on bass, Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) on drums, and Mikael Jorgenson (Wilco) on keyboards. Rotating through was a selection of guests, including John Doe (X), Robyn Hitchcock, Emma Swift, Sunny War, Dean & Brita (Luna), plus Joy Harjo, the current artist in residence at the Dylan Center, and Doug Keith, the musical director.

There were actually two shows performed this night, an early show that started at 6:30 and a late performance starting at 9:00. The wife and I opted for the early performance. It would be nice, we thought, to get home from a concert before midnight. And they had seats (a rarity for the Cain’s), and we are old. We’ve attended many concerts at this venue, and while it is one of my favorites, I have to admit its usual standing room only status leaves my back aching by the end of the night.

Things got started with “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine),” an odd choice since Dylan didn’t debut the song in concert until 1974, but a rollicking one. They played it like those electric songs at Newport – fiercely, like it could veer completely out of control at any minute.

Emma Swift then came out to sing a lovely version of “The Times They Are A-Changin'”.” I gotta admit, folks, I teared up at that one. There was something electric in the air (pun intended, I guess). Everyone seemed to know this was something special. To hear these amazing musicians playing these amazing songs, songs that everybody there knew and loved, was incredible.

There were a couple of more times when the band played the songs like Dylan and his Band back in the early days, but mostly they made them their own.

I didn’t keep notes, so I won’t go through the setlist one by one. I’m not likely to remember who sang what. But I’ll try to give a good overview.

Everyone was clearly excited to be there. These are all busy, working musicians with their own songs to sing, their own tour to play. But they took time out to come celebrate Bob Dylan. Renaldo especially seemed to be having the time of his life. You could see him lip synching along, off-mike, to many of the songs as someone else took the vocals.

I’m a very casual fan of Luna, so I wouldn’t have been able to pick Dean & Brita out of a lineup, but as soon as he started to sing, I realized immediately who they were. They did their songs like duets. Their version of “Just Like a Woman” was especially sweet and beautiful.

I’m not particularly well-versed in John Doe or X, but he exuded an old-school cool on his two songs, and he was one of the only ones who actually spoke to the audience.

I’m not familiar with Sunny War at all, but she laid it down for “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” the only one of the night to do any kind of Dylan impression. She seemed quite shy, slipping on and off the stage like she hoped nobody would notice her.

I’m sure Joy Harjo is a fine poet, but she’s not a great singer. She was way off key, loud, and honestly, just bad. She sang like a poet, using her own rhythms and phrasings. I’m not opposed to that, Dylan often messes with the phrasings of his songs, but she couldn’t seem to quite get all the words out of her mouth before the music had moved on. And in songs like “Mr. Tambourine Man” when there are a lot of words, that just came out awful.

All of the other guests came out on a rotating basis, but the legendary Robyn Hitchcock played his two songs one right after the other. He played a terrific version of “Highway 61 Revisited” and then absolutely nailed “Desolation Row” with just him and Nels Cline on the stage. He called it one of the greatest songs ever written and “also one of the longest.” But he got all the lyrics just exactly perfect, and I never saw him once look at the teleprompter. Again, this was a group of musicians who just love the songs of Bob Dylan.

MVP of the night was Nels Cline. I’ve seen him multiple times with Wilco (several times at this venue) and at least once in those shows I’ll turn to my wife and say “Nels Fucking Cline!” – usually just after a mind-melting solo. The man is an absolute beast on guitar. This night he was more subdued, and more nuanced. On the big rock songs he jammed with the best of him, but on the softer ballads, he added beautiful textures and on “Desolation Ro,w” his took an acoustic guitar and made perfect Spanish sounding melodies. He was the only musician to stay on state the entire night.

But really the entire band was first-rate – world-class musicians filled with joy, playing music they love. This was not necessarily the greatest concert I’ve ever attended but it was probably the most fun I’ve ever had.

Everybody came out at the end for “Like a Rolling Stone.” It was an obvious choice – Renaldo even said so, while Hitchcock quipped (at least its not “Forever Young”). It was a fine version with everyone getting a verse and with faces filled with joy.

You can see the full setlist here.

Five Cool Things and Honey Don’t!

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I completely forgot to do a Pick of the Week this week, and since it is already Thursday, I guess I’ll just let it slide.

But I did write a new Five Cool Things. This week I’m talking about Twin Peaks, I See a Dark Stranger, Bob Dylan covering the Pogues, They Might Be Giants (the movie not the band), Platoon and a new movie from Ethan Coen. You can read all about it here.