Rolling Thunder Revue
Tour by Bob Dylan | |
Location | North America |
---|---|
Start date | October 30, 1975 |
End date | May 25, 1976 |
Legs | 2 |
No. of shows |
|
Bob Dylan concert chronology |
The Rolling Thunder Revue was a 1975–76 concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with numerous musicians and collaborators. The purpose of the tour was to allow Dylan, who was a major recording artist and concert performer, to play in smaller auditoriums in less populated cities where he could be more intimate with his audiences.[1]
Some of the performers on the tour were
The release of Desire in January 1976 fell between the two legs of the tour, with many of the songs performed in the first leg taken from that yet-to-be-released album. The tour was thoroughly documented through film, sound recording, and in print.[2] A documentary about the tour, directed by Martin Scorsese, titled Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, was released by Netflix and in select theaters in June 2019.[3][4]
Origins
The idea behind the tour, Dylan said, was to "play for the people," the people who never get good seats at his larger concerts due to higher ticket cost and inconvenient locations. Dylan chose to play in smaller auditoriums because, he said, "the atmosphere in small halls is more conducive to what we do."[5] His New York musician friend David Blue felt that Dylan clearly wanted to get back to being closer to his audience after becoming a major music star, saying, "Bob's just an ordinary fucking guy, a great songwriter who got swept up in this whole fame thing and was smart enough to know how to control it, who rode with it and was shrewd, damn shrewd. And now he's just paying everyone back with this tour. It's like a family scene."[5]
Dylan named the tour after hearing the continuous sounds of thunder one day.[6] He conceived the tour in the summer of 1975 while he was living in Greenwich Village, and began co-writing with his friend, Jacques Levy, with whom he wrote various songs, including "Hurricane".[5]
In October 1975, soon after completing Desire, Dylan held rehearsals for his second tour in two years (following an eight-year hiatus) at New York City's midtown Studio Instrument Rentals space. Bassist Rob Stoner, drummer/pianist Howie Wyeth and violinist Scarlet Rivera were retained from the Desire sessions for the rehearsals. Joining them were T-Bone Burnett (electric guitar, piano), Steven Soles (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals) and David Mansfield (dobro, mandolin, violin, pedal steel guitar). Although the trio had been dismissed during the Desire sessions in an attempt to focus the overall production, Dylan yielded to his original instincts and decided to rehire them for the tour. [citation needed] Luther Rix (drums, percussion) was also added at an indeterminate point.[7]
I've known these guys for a long time and I love them dearly, but everybody is slightly unstable. But it's delightful working with Bobby again. He's relatively impossible to follow and that's a challenge, but I need that.
When rehearsals began, many of the musicians were apparently uninformed about plans for an upcoming tour. At the same time, Dylan was casually inviting others to join in with the band. According to Stoner, the group rehearsed "for like a day or two – it [was] not really so much a rehearsal as like a jam, tryin' to sort it out. Meanwhile, all these people who eventually became the Rolling Thunder Revue started dropping in. Joan Baez was showing up. Roger McGuinn was there. They were all there. We had no idea what the purpose for these jams was, except we were being invited to jam."[8]
According to Lou Kemp, a friend of Dylan's who eventually organized the tour, the Rolling Thunder Revue "would go out at night and run into people, and we'd just invite them to come with us. We started out with a relatively small group of musicians and support people, and we ended up with a caravan."[9] Uninterested in performing in a country/folk milieu, Patti Smith amicably declined Dylan's invitation.[10] Bruce Springsteen also turned down an invitation "because he had plenty of touring commitments of his own and was on a roll" following the breakthrough success of Born to Run, released that August.[11][12] However, Dylan did add one surprising element to the Rolling Thunder Revue when Mick Ronson agreed to join the tour. Ronson was the lead guitarist and arranger in David Bowie's former backing band, The Spiders from Mars.
Another musician invited on the tour was introduced to Dylan on October 22, when Dylan went to see
However, the same day Blakley showed up for rehearsal, Dylan returned to the recording studio to re-record "Hurricane" (due to legal concerns involving the song's original lyrics).[16] Employing Blakley as a substitute for Emmylou Harris (who had prior engagements to attend to), Dylan quickly recut "Hurricane", the last recorded work done for Desire before its release in January 1976.
On October 23, 1975, owner
Sometime in October, Dylan also contacted an old friend and filmmaker, Howard Alk. Dylan's ambitions apparently included a film of the tour, and Alk accepted Dylan's offer to shoot the film. When the tour rehearsals were still in progress, Alk reportedly began filming scenes in Greenwich Village for possible inclusion in the film.
Dylan contacted actor/playwright
While Ginsberg accompanied the tour for most of its 1975 run, his planned recitations, as well as some performances by other Revue members, were cut before the opening date to keep the concerts at a manageable length.
1975 fall tour
He [Dylan] was electric during those tours, and had boundless energy and incredible strength of performance. When he sang "Along the Watchtower," it was just riveting. The words were like staccato bullets, and every song had a peak energy.
It was such a powerful and magical experience . . . We received outrageous reviews worldwide and the tour was an enormous sensation. . . It was confirmed for me that I was with a living genius, on the level of Shakespeare of our time. Just profound, prolific and profound.
tour violinist Scarlet Rivera[20]
Scarlet Rivera, Roger McGuinn, and Bob Dylan
On October 30, Dylan held the first Rolling Thunder Revue show at the War Memorial Auditorium in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Intended to contrast with the bombast of his 1974 tour with The Band, the first leg of the tour was small, spanning only thirty shows. The majority of the first Revue was booked at intimate venues, including smaller arenas, theaters and gymnasia; aside from two shows in Upstate New York, a four-show Canadian leg and the concluding concerts in the New York metropolitan area, the tour's itinerary was entirely confined to New England. However, the secrecy surrounding the Revue's intended destinations, the new material Dylan was premiering, and the inclusion of Joan Baez on the same bill as Dylan for the first time in a decade ensured prominent media coverage.[5][21]
On November 2, 1975, the tour stopped at the University of Lowell. Dylan's inspiration for playing Lowell was Jack Kerouac, a pivotal influence on his oeuvre who was born and raised in the city. Dylan, Beat Generation colleague Ginsberg and various band members visited Kerouac's gravesite.[22]
According to Larry Sloman, who documented the tour in On the Road with Bob Dylan (1978), "Onstage it was like a carnival. Bobby Neuwirth and the back-up band [dubbed 'Guam'] warmed up the audience. Next, Dylan ambled on to do about five songs. After intermission, the curtain rose to an incredible sight, Bob and Joan, together again after all these years."[16]
Dylan and Baez often opened the second half of the show duetting in the dark on "Blowin' in the Wind".[23] Then Baez would take center stage with a dynamic six-song set, followed by a solo set from Dylan. He was joined by the band for a few numbers, until the finale song, Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," featuring everyone on stage.[24] The spirit was considered extremely warm, leading to Joni Mitchell, who only intended to play one concert, to stay on for the remaining three nights of the tour.[16]
The dramatic finale of the tour took place on December 8 in Madison Square Garden, where, to an audience of 14,000, Dylan performed a benefit concert for imprisoned boxer and Dylan's latest cause, Rubin Carter.[25] The concert was titled "The Night of The Hurricane," in reference to Dylan's song, "Hurricane", which was released in November 1975.[26] Among those appearing on stage were Muhammad Ali and Coretta Scott King, wife of slain civil rights activist, Martin Luther King Jr.[27]
Performers included
Dylan made the surprising theatrical choice of wearing whiteface make-up at many of the shows. In some shows, he walked on stage wearing a plastic mask, only to toss it aside after the first song to play harmonica on "It Ain't Me, Babe".[8] According to Rivera, one heckler asked Dylan "Why are you wearing a mask?" to which Dylan replied, "The meaning is in the words."[30]
Critical responses and film
A number of critics highly praised the tour. "The Rolling Thunder Revue shows remain some of the finest music Dylan ever made with a live band", wrote Clinton Heylin. "Gone was the traditionalism of The Band. Instead he found a whole set of textures rarely found in rock. The idea of blending the pedal-steel syncopation of Mansfield, Ronson's glam-rock lead breaks, and Rivera's electric violin made for something as musically layered as Dylan's lyrics...[Dylan] also displayed a vocal precision rare even for him, snapping and stretching words to cajole nuances of meaning from each and every line."[31] According to Riley, "These are rugged and inspired reworkings of many Dylan standards—[Dylan] even talks casually to the audience (now a thing of the past). He lights into a biting electric version of 'It Ain't Me, Babe,' and then a thoroughly convincing rock take of 'The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll'...and an 'Isis' that makes the Desire take sound like a greeting card."[32]
There is a critical consensus that the tour failed in one regard, the making of the film Renaldo and Clara.[33][34] Shepard soon discovered that his nominal function as screenwriter was somewhat superfluous, for most of the film's dramatic sequences would be entirely improvised with little guidance or direction from Dylan. Shepard elected to record his impressionistic divagations in a journal eventually published as The Rolling Thunder Logbook (1977).
1976 spring tour
A second Hurricane Carter benefit was held at the
Rehearsals for the spring leg were held in
The penultimate show of the tour took place on May 23 at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado. Comments about it typified the feeling about the spring tour: "Although the band has been playing together longer, the charm has gone out of their exchanges", wrote Tim Riley.[36] "The Rolling Thunder Revue, so joyful and electrifying in its first performances, had just plain run out of steam", wrote music critic Janet Maslin for Rolling Stone.[37]
The final Rolling Thunder show took place in Utah on May 25, at Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.[38][39] It was the first time Dylan had ever performed in Utah. News journalist David Beck, who came to the show, wrote that "in ensemble, they are, if anything, even better than alone. Put together by Dylan with rigid professionalism, the show is quick, well-paced, varied, funny and exciting. . . it was as good as you would expect it to be, with artists of this caliber; better, because of the time these people have spent together, because of their obvious admiration for one another, because of the unifying and uplifting presence of the Rolling Thunder band. Long may it roll.[39]
The show in Utah would be Dylan's last performance for twenty-one months (save for a short set backed by The Band at The Last Waltz in November 1976),[40] and it would be another two years before Dylan recorded another album of new material.
Legacy
I've been seeing Bob perform since 1966. I've never seen him as good as he was during the Rolling Thunder tour, night in, night out. He was just amazing, phenomenal energy, and incredible passion. They tried to go out and do something unique and they succeeded. It was just amazing music every night--the most incredible conviction and spirit.
Larry Sloman, Rolling Stone writer[14]
The May 23 Colorado show was filmed for the September 1976
Dylan and Shepard's completed film, now the symbolist-romance-cum-concert-film Renaldo and Clara, would not be released until 1978 to a largely negative critical reception.[41] For many years, it was the only official release documenting the live shows from the fall 1975 leg. However, a majority of the film consisted of the haphazard, fictional drama filmed during the tour. Later in 1978, an edited version of the film appeared that omitted many of the dramatic scenes in favor of focusing more on the performances.
Most performances from the fall 1975 tour were professionally recorded (in addition to wide bootlegging). The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue, incorporating performances from a number of the fall shows, saw issue in 2002. As the first official release to capture the Revue at its peak, it was warmly received by fans and critics.[42] In August 2010, a source close to Dylan told Rolling Stone that a documentary about the Rolling Thunder tour had been in development for years and could be released relatively soon.[43]
In June 2019, Netflix released a pseudo-documentary about the tour, directed by Martin Scorsese, titled Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.[44] According to Netflix, the film "captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year. Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, 'Rolling Thunder' is a one of a kind experience, from master filmmaker Martin Scorsese."[3]
Tour dates
Autumn leg
Date | City | Country | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
North America | |||
October 30, 1975 | Plymouth, MA | United States | Memorial Hall |
October 31, 1975 | |||
November 1, 1975 | North Dartmouth, MA
|
Southeastern Massachusetts University | |
November 2, 1975 | Lowell, MA | University of Lowell | |
November 4, 1975 | Providence, RI | Providence Civic Center
| |
November 6, 1975 | Springfield, MA | Springfield Civic Center
| |
November 8, 1975 | Burlington, VT | Patrick Gym | |
November 9, 1975 | Durham, NH | Lundholm Gym | |
November 11, 1975 | Waterbury, CT | Palace Theater | |
November 13, 1975 | New Haven, CT | Veterans Memorial Coliseum | |
November 15, 1975 | Niagara Falls, NY | Niagara Falls Convention Center | |
November 17, 1975 | Rochester, NY | Community War Memorial
| |
November 19, 1975 | Worcester, MA | Worcester Memorial Auditorium | |
November 20, 1975 | Cambridge, MA | Harvard Square Theater | |
November 21, 1975 | Boston, MA
|
Boston Music Hall | |
November 22, 1975 | Waltham, MA | Brandeis University | |
November 24, 1975 | Hartford, CT | Hartford Civic Center
| |
November 26, 1975 | Augusta, Maine | Augusta Civic Center | |
November 27, 1975 | Bangor, Maine | Bangor Auditorium | |
November 29, 1975 | Quebec City | Canada | Colisée de Québec |
December 1, 1975 | Toronto | Maple Leaf Gardens | |
December 2, 1975 | |||
December 4, 1975 | Montreal | Montreal Forum | |
December 7, 1975 | Clinton | United States | Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women |
December 8, 1975 | New York City | Madison Square Garden |
Carter benefit show
Date | City | Country | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
January 25, 1976 | Houston | United States | Astrodome |
Spring leg
Date | City | Country | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
United States | |||
April 18, 1976 | Lakeland | United States | Lakeland Civic Center
|
April 20, 1976 | St. Petersburg | Bayfront Arena
| |
April 21, 1976 | Tampa | Curtis Hixon Hall | |
April 22, 1976 | Belleair | Starlight Ballroom | |
April 23, 1976 | Orlando | Orlando Sports Stadium | |
April 25, 1976 | Gainesville | Florida Field
| |
April 27, 1976 | Tallahassee | Tully Gymnasium | |
April 28, 1976 | Pensacola | UWF Field House | |
April 29, 1976 | Mobile | Mobile Expo Hall | |
May 1, 1976 | Hattiesburg | Reed Green Coliseum | |
May 3, 1976 | New Orleans | The Warehouse | |
May 4, 1976 | Baton Rouge | LSU Assembly Center | |
May 8, 1976 | Houston | Hofheinz Pavilion
| |
May 10, 1976 | Corpus Christi | Corpus Christi Memorial Coliseum | |
May 11, 1976 | San Antonio | San Antonio Municipal Auditorium | |
May 12, 1976 | Austin | Austin Municipal Auditorium | |
May 15, 1976 | Gatesville | Gatesville State School for Boys | |
May 16, 1976 | Fort Worth | Tarrant County Convention Center | |
May 18, 1976 | Oklahoma City | Jim Norick Arena | |
May 19, 1976 | Wichita | Henry Levitt Arena | |
May 23, 1976 | Fort Collins | Hughes Stadium | |
May 25, 1976 | Salt Lake City | Salt Palace |
Box office score data
Date (1976) |
City | Venue | Attendance | Gross | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
April 25 | Gainesville, United States | Florida Field
|
20,016 | $175,140 | [45] |
May 18 | Oklahoma City, United States | Jim Norick Arena | 10,909 | $94,600 | [46] |
See also
- Hard Rain (1976)
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue (2002)
- Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings (2019)
References
- ^ Photo of typical tour venue
- ^ Notable items include two books, two albums, a TV Special and a movie:
- Larry "Ratso" Sloman, On the Road with Bob Dylan. Helter Skelter Publishing, 2005, 466 pages. ISBN 1-900924-87-0
- ISBN 0-14-004750-6(pbk)
- Hard Rain 1976
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue (2002)
- Hard Rain, TV Special
- Renaldo and Clara
- Larry "Ratso" Sloman, On the Road with Bob Dylan. Helter Skelter Publishing, 2005, 466 pages.
- ^ a b "Bob Dylan, Martin Scorsese Reunite for ‘Rolling Thunder’ Film, Coming to Netflix in 2019", Variety, January 10, 2019
- ^ "Bob Dylan Details 14-Disc Rolling Thunder Revue Box Set", Rolling Stone, April 30, 2019
- ^ a b c d e f Sloman, Larry (December 4, 1975). "Bob Dylan and Friends on the Bus: Like a Rolling Thunder". Rolling Stone. pp. 9–10. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- ^ Rare photos of Bob Dylan's epic Rolling Thunder tour, CBS News, retrieved April 14, 2016
- ^ Maple Leaf Gardens show schedule
- ^ a b Heylin 2011, p. 407
- ^ Heylin 2011, p. 408
- ^ "Patti smith: Chapter from _wanted_man_".
- ^ Boss: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - the Illustrated History, Voyageur Press (2016) p. 56
- ^ Photo of Bruce Springsteen visiting Bob Dylan backstage during a Rolling Thunder show
- ^ Ronee Blakely discusses the Rolling Thunder tour, 1978 interview with Patrick Carr
- ^ a b Sounes, Howard. Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, Grove Press N.Y. (2001) pp. 295-299
- ^ Photo of Ronee Blakely and Bob Dylan during Rolling Thunder tour
- ^ a b c Sloman 2002, p. 35-28.
- ^ Photo of Dylan with Sam Shepard
- ^ Photo of Sam Shepard with Patti Smith
- ^ Gray M, op.cit. 371
- ^ Movie, Rolling Thunder and The Gospel Years, Highway 61 Productions (2006) Chapter 7, interviews with Scarlet Rivera
- ^ Photo of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez at the first Rolling Thunder tour
- ^ Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg at gravesite of Jack Kerouac
- ^ Riley 2010
- ^ "Remembering Bob Dylan's 1975 Tour Stop At The University Of Vermont", Vermont Public Radio (VPR), October 21, 2016
- ^ News headline about the Rubin Carter concert
- ^ "Hurricane", performed live by Bob Dylan in 1975
- ^ Photo of Bob Dylan and Muhammad Ali at benefit
- ^ "Dylan Returns to Garden With Rolling Thunder Revue in Benefit for Carter", New York Times, December 9, 1975
- ^ Flippo, Chet. "Hurrican'e Night: Thunder in the Garden", Rolling Stone, January 15, 1976 p. 10
- ^ Heylin 2003
- ^ Heylin C.,loc. cit [clarification needed]
- ^ Riley 2010, p.257
- ^ Maslin, Janet (January 26, 1978). "Movie Review – 'Renaldo and Clara,' Film by Bob Dylan:Rolling Thunder". NY Times. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
- ^ "Music Video Review: Bob Dylan's Renaldo & Clara".
- ^ "Still on the Road, 1976 Rolling Thunder Revue II"
- ^ Riley 2010, p. 258
- ^ Maslin, Janet (July 12, 1979). "Album Reviews: Bob Dylan: At Budokan". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 17, 2007.
- ^ "Bob Dylan drives '70's into oblivion", Deseret News, Salt Lake City, UT, May 26, 1976.
- ^ a b Rock Artists Score Big in Salt Palace Show", The Salt Lake Tribune, May 26, 1976
- ^ "Forever Young", video clip from The Last Waltz
- ^ "Renaldo and Clara". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (November 26, 2002). "Bob Dylan Live 1975". allmusic.com. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
- ^ Rolling Stone article: "Dylan's New 'Bootleg' to Feature Unearthed Live Show."
- ^ "In ‘Rolling Thunder Revue,’ Scorsese Tries to Capture a Wild Dylan Tour", New York Times, June 12, 2019
- ISSN 0006-2510.
- ISSN 0006-2510.
Sources
- Heylin, Clinton (April 1, 2011). Behind the Shades: The 20th Anniversary Edition. Faber & Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-27241-9.
- Heylin, Clinton (April 29, 2003). Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-052569-9.
- Riley, Tim (December 29, 2010). Hard Rain: A Dylan Commentary. ISBN 9780307773043.
- Sloman, Larry (2002). On the Road with Bob Dylan. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-1-4000-4596-9.
External links
- Bjorner's Still on the Road tour dates and set lists, 1975 leg
- Bjorner's Still on the Road tour dates and set lists, 1976 leg