Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, Ft Collins CO, May 23, 1976, recorded for an NBC TV special “Hard Rain”, aired September 13. #fingernails
I went crazy for this! Still one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen on TV. Like another peak classic rock TV experience, Bowie’s “1980 Floor Show” (also on NBC), it has never been released officially, and Sony keeps taking the videos down…but for now anyway, feast your ass on THIS, an electrified version of “Shelter From The Storm”, featuring Bob playing SLIDE.
Bob had already been famous (and infamous) for switching songs up live for over a decade, but this was the first time I’d heard one of his solemn, intimate prayers that I knew like the back of my hand turned up, blown out, and howling – and I was hooked for life.
Turn it up! It won’t really make sense until your ears are bleeding.
*nb: This clip gets taken down a LOT. If the embed is busted by the time you see this post, here’s a hyperlink to the YouTube search so you can try to find it again. :-)
Note too that this is the 1976 leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue. Most of the attention, including the Martin Scorsese documentary, is focused on the more civilized 1975 leg. That one was Bob telling his friends, “C’mon everybody! It’ll be fun!” Emphasis on Rolling.
1976 wasn’t about friends. This was Bob saying, “If I stop, I’ll die, so I’m gonna keep going until I can’t….then I’ll go a little further still.” Emphasis on Thunder.
Hell yeah it’s a mess. This is a man on fire, playing for keeps. Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn, baby. Prepare yourself to be changed.