A Fan Experience
Bob Dylan’s brief but transcendent performance at Live Aid in 1985 has generally been overlooked amidst the hype over Phil Collins playing on both sides of the Atlantic, Mick Jagger and Tina Turner’s “wardrobe malfunction” and the Led Zeppelin reunion. But sandwiched in between the bombast of the Mick & Tina show — which concluded …
Read More “Rank #5. Live Aid, July 13, 1985. JFK Stadium, Philadelphia.”
Bob Dylan studio albums are often masterpieces, but his live shows are an entity unto themselves. Classic recorded songs you know from the first note are often nothing like that live. And that changes from tour to tour. Many people don’t like Dylan live, but for me it is a chance to get insight into …
Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersJuly 6, RFK Stadium, Washington DC (With The Grateful Dead)July 19 & July 20, 1986, The Spectrum, Philadelphia Following his Christian trilogy in the late 1970s-early 1980s, Dylan returned to more secular music, with the excellent Infidels and Empire Burlesque albums in his recent past and the quirky Knocked …
The third night of a three-show run at Philadelphia’s warehouse of music, the Electric Factory, brought a packed, general admission show with special guest Patti Smith opening the evening. This 10-show outing was dubbed “The Paradise Lost Tour,” and this was the first night I had been out since the birth of my first son …
Read More “Rank # 2. Electric Factory, Philadelphia, Dec. 17, 1995.”
This was my first Dylan concert, and still the best (but I’m always hoping for a new one to top it). The album Shot of Love was out at the time, and Dylan was starting to emerge from his so-called “Born Again” phase and mixing up his setlist to include songs from all eras. I …
Read More “Rank #1. October 24, 1981 Recreation Hall, Penn State University, State College, PA.”
Upcoming articles include: My Dylan Concerts Dylan Compilations Live Albums The Bootleg Series Dylan Cover Albums
Together through life, that’s how it is with me and Bob Dylan. My earliest recollection of his music was “Blowin’ in the Wind.” I’m not sure if it was his version or Peter Paul and Mary’s, but I knew the song, remember discussing it with my mother, and I knew Bob Dylan wrote it. I …
A few weeks into the pandemic and lockdown, a mysterious thing happened. A new song, “Murder Most Foul,” appeared on the Bob Dylan Facebook page. As the weeks went on, a few more songs were released, and eventually the album Rough and Rowdy Ways was available. The album was critically well-received, but where did it …