Author: Brian Harris

I’ve seen Dylan in many different venues — hockey arenas, 100,000-seat stadiums, and a variety of mid-sized theaters. But one time he decided to play a small club In Philadelphia, the Trocadero, and I was fortunate enough to grab a ticket from the box office when they went on sale, since I worked nearby.

The Troc, which closed in 2020, was an old burlesque theater from the 1920s converted into a music club that featured a wide variety of performances and DJ’s. Many of the musical acts were metal or alt bands, but it was here during the early winter of 1997 that Dyan arrived for a two-night stand in Philadelphia

On the heels of the excellent Time Out of Mind release, Dylan provided a mixture of his classic hits along with some choice deep cuts and new material in a much more-intimate setting.

At this point from the live shows that I’ve seen, I am less-interested in hearing Dylan play the “classic” material, and prefer to hear either new stuff or rarities. I got both on this night.

Opening with a ragged version of “Maggie’s Farm,” he then launched into “Senõr” from the extremely underrated “Street-Legal” album. I love this song and it was a good performance of something I had never seen him do before, so I was in for a good night.

He then proceeded to mix the classics, new songs, and the more-obscure, along with an acoustic set featuring a cover of a traditional number “Roving Gambler.”

Another rarity was “This Wheel’s on Fire” from his days with The Band, and he ended the main set with the always rocking “Highway 61 Revisited.”

Encoring with “Love Sick,” which was more stunning live than the studio version, and a nice acoustic “Forever Young,” Dylan ended this club date on a high note with a rousing but somewhat cliché “Rainy Day Women.”

While the Troc can be considered intimate with a capacity of 1,200 combined on the lower level and balcony, the one downside was that it was packed, I was not as close as I would have preferred, and the bar atmosphere detracted a bit from the overall enjoyment.

Nonetheless Dylan was having a good time playing at the club, and the vibe was shared by the audience, which made for an excellent evening.

Here is a clip of “I Don’t Believe You” taken from that night.

Here is the setlist, but I can’t find my ticket stub.

Maggie’s Farm
Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)
Cold Irons Bound
I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
Can’t Wait
Silvio
Roving Gambler (traditional cover) (Acoustic)
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (Acoustic)
Tangled Up in Blue (Acoustic)
Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again
This Wheel’s on Fire (The Band cover)
‘Til I Fell in Love With You
Highway 61 Revisited
Forever Young (Acoustic)
Love Sick
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

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I only started seeing Bob Dylan live in 1981 for a number of reasons: he did not tour from 1967 to 1974,  I wasn’t able to attend either the ’74 Dylan and the Band Tour or the 1978 Street Legal tour, and the Rolling Thunder Revue never made it to the Philly area.

But to make up for those lost times, Dylan helped me out by beginning his so-called Never Ending Tour in 1988, and except for the pandemic, he has been touring non-stop ever since. So it was great to see the beginning of the Never Ending Tour, even though I didn’t particularly know it at the time.

Not long after he finished touring with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, along with a summer tour with the Grateful Dead, something clicked within Dylan in which he decided to go on stage all the time, playing a restructured mixture of newer material and classic hits, with stellar musicians, and to use those same musicians on his recordings.

My first encounter with the new Dylan live show was in the summer of 1988, at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia, an older, smaller indoor/outdoor venue that also hosts Philadelphia Orchestra events.

Opening act was the Alarm, although I did not catch much of their set even though at the time they were one of the few new “message” bands.

Dylan’s set was a murky, quirky, distorted affair, in which he seemed determined to tear down his old classics, only to build them back up again. The set was heavily dependent on his 1960s material, along with Silvio, his current radio song from the Down in the Groove album, which was released in conjunction with the tour. But the brilliance of Dylan often lies in his looseness, unafraid to play however he wants.

I was able to go down to the front of the stage for the set-ending “Like a Rolling Stone,” and as he spit out the venomous lyrics it dawned on me what he was doing and it all made sense. Little did I know this was the start the phase of Dylan’s career still ongoing today, and I was lucky to be in on the beginning of it.

Below is the setlist.

Subterranean Homesick Blues
Just Like a Woman
Highway 61 Revisited
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Gotta Serve Somebody
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
To Ramona
Trail of the Buffalo ([traditional] cover)
Silvio
I Shall Be Released
Like a Rolling Stone
Encore
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Maggie’s Farm

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One of the more unique Dylan shows I have seen was the double bill with Paul Simon at this indoor/outdoor amphitheater in Camden, just across the river from Philadelphia. The venue changes its name each year it seems, but the place has been there for more than 25 years.

While this show was not a joint show, there was some crossover moments, and those moments were worth the price of admission alone.

Simon opened the show and did a mix of his Simon & Garfunkel tunes along with his more Afro-centric Graceland-era material. Quiet songs like the opener “Bridge Over Troubled Water” were followed by full-band arrangements of hits like “Mrs. Robinson,” “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,” “Late in the Evening” and “You Can Call me Al.”

After finishing his first encore with the wistful “Still Crazy After All These Years,” Dylan emerged and the pair broke into “The Sounds of Silence,” with both artists switching off on the verses. It was a perfect song for Dylan to perform with Simon and the results were stunning. Following that showstopper the two icons went back to their roots with covers of “That’ll Be The Day” and “The Wanderer,” and finishing it off with both artists taking turns on a playful, reggae-tinged “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” This was the day JFK Jr. died, so not sure if this song was in reference to that or not, but it was a fitting ending.

After intermission Dylan came out with a four-song acoustic set, highlighted by “Love Minus Zero, No Limit” and “Tangled Up in Blue,” and was then joined by his band for a fairly standard set of hits including “All Along The Watchtower,” “Highway 61 Revisited” and “Like a Rolling Stone.” Making the set special however were “Make You Feel My Love” and “Not Dark Yet,” two songs that were relatively new at this time. He closed the show with an acoustic “It Ain’t Me Babe” and “Not Fade Away” by the Crickets, although Paul Simon did not join him at all during his set. It was a solid performance, but the fireworks really happened when both artists performed together.

Below are setlists and an audio-only Dylan/Simon recording of their four songs together.

Dylan’s Setlist

Somebody Touched Me (Ruth Brown cover) (Acoustic)
Mr. Tambourine Man (Acoustic, with harp)
Masters of War (Acoustic)
Love Minus Zero/No Limit (Acoustic, Larry on pedal steel guitar)
Tangled Up in Blue (Acoustic, with harp)
All Along the Watchtower
Make You Feel My Love
Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again
Not Dark Yet
Highway 61 Revisited (Larry on slide guitar)
Encore:
Like a Rolling Stone
It Ain’t Me, Babe (Acoustic, with harp)
Not Fade Away

Paul Simon Setlist

Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel song)
Can’t Run But
The Boy in the Bubble
The Coast
Trailways Bus
Mrs. Robinson (Simon & Garfunkel song)
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Further to Fly
Graceland
The Cool, Cool River
Slip Slidin’ Away
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
You Can Call Me Al
Encore:
Late in the Evening
Still Crazy After All These Years

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