#bob dylan fave

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Bob Dylan and The Rolling Thunder Revue in Providence, November 4, 1975 (Mick Ronson and Scarlett Rivera just right of center), my edit of original by George Lange

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Bob Dylan on The Rolling Thunder Revue, 1975, my edit of original by Ken Regan

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Bob Dylan goes electric! 1965, by Jerry Schatzberg

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Avedon Does Dylan in New York: 132nd St & East River 1963, and Central Park 1965, via smithsonianinstitution

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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.

*If this is gone by the time you see this post, here’s a hyperlink to the YouTube search so you can try to find it again. :-)

And note that this is the ‘76 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. Prepare yourself to be changed.

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Bob Dylan with his Fender Jazzmaster, Forest Hills NY 1965, by Daniel Kramer

*Thanks to the folks who corrected the original caption’s reference to a Strat...which I got from the source! For folks whose tumblr themes don’t show sources in posts, here’s the link, where you can see that the actual title (not just its caption) of the photo is “Bob Dylan with Stratocaster”. All the more reason I can’t thank you all enough for helping me get it right. Peace, Tim