This is the complete performance of “Like A Rolling Stone.” While it appears to be the Manchester Free Trade Hall show from May 17, 1966 because of the “Judas” quote, a fellow Dylan fan pointed out that the actual performance of the song is from the May 21, 1966 Newcastle concert.
Bob Dylan and most, but not all, of The Hawks, later The Band.
This was originally shot for “Eat the Document,” the never officially released documentary of Dylan’s 1966 tour of England. Later it showed up in “No Direction Home,” the documentary that Martin Scorsese put together for Dylan.
I’ve been listening to various unofficial and official audio of Dylan’s Europe tour shows beginning in the early ’70s and they never get old.
Incredible.
[In August of this year I’ll be publishing my rock ‘n’ roll/ coming-of-age novel, “True Love Scars,” which features a narrator who is obsessed with Bob Dylan. To read the first chapter, head here.
Or watch an arty video with audio of me reading from the novel here.
–- A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
In 1971, searching the record store bins, I came across a Bob Dylan bootleg album that claimed to be recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1966.
I put that album on and my mind was blown.
What I heard was the moment when rock ‘n’ roll stares down all the lies, and speaks truth.
Bob Dylan stood on the stage in the Free Trade Hall in Manchester on May 17, 1966. He’d just played what already was the greatest live rock ‘n’ roll. A devastating set, the songs turned into huge bonfires, Robbie Robertson’s out-of-control guitar riffs shooting out of the flames.
But that moment.
A fan shouts out “Judas,” calling Dylan out for betraying all his folk music fans.
What that must have felt like if you were Bob Dylan, standing on that stage, putting everything on the line.
Dylan had already put up with abuse in the U.S., Australia and Europe. But this!
Imagine. Some idiot has the audacity to call Bob Dylan ‘Judas’!
But of course this was so much more. This was a scene that has been played out again and again through history. The old guard, the conservatives, the right wing Tea Party blind men who face a past that never existed and insist that we turn around and retreat back into it.
There’s laughter in the hall. But this is no laughing matter.
“I don’t believe you” Dylan says.
And the majestic sound that kicks off a song like no other, “Like A Rolling Stone,” begins and over it Dylan insists:
“You’re a liar!”
And then he sings his greatest song, delivering the best version of his career, a song that rips away the bullshit we put up with day after day. That insists we walk forward into the unknown no matter the danger.
The music, the words, the voice.
Dylan won’t settle for the world as it is. All the phonies.
Listen below and hear the song as it sounded that night.
[In August of this year I’ll be publishing my rock ‘n’ roll/ coming-of-age novel, “True Love Scars,” which features a narrator who is obsessed with Bob Dylan. To read the first chapter, head here.]
– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Today I found three excellent live performances by Bob Dylan.
The first is a version of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” from Town Hall, Birmingham, England, May 5, 1965:
Then there’s “This Wheel’s On Fire” with Dylan joined by Rick Danko. Dylan and Danko co-wrote the song. This is from a show at Oakdale Theater, Wallingford, CT, August 18, 1997:
And finally a terrific cover of “Pancho & Lefty” from the Bonnaroo Music Festival, Manchester, TN, June 11, 2004:
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –
Remember The Stone Roses? Really? It was 24 years ago that the group released the album that put them on the map, The Stone Roses. It remains an awesome album, but 24 years ago is a long time. Still, when the group reformed in 2011 and toured in 2012, the world didn’t yawn.
In England the group sold 220,000 tickets in an hour. Rolling Stone praised The Stone Roses’ 2013 Coachella appearance.
“Throughout the Stone Roses’ performance, [John] Squire took the songs to unexpected frontiers with unhinged, dimensional lead playing that felt both retro and futuristic, moving from full-on boogie to spectral echoes within the same passage,” Rolling Stone reported.
A film, “The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone,” was made of the reunion tour. It was released in the UK earlier this year,but now it’s coming to the U.S. It’ll be in theaters beginning Nov. 6, 2013 and the DVD and Blu-ray will be released Dec. 3, 2013.
Reviewing the film in England’s The Independent, Anthony Quinn wrote: “‘The Second Coming’ would have been a better title for this documentary about the return of The Stone Roses, but they’d already used it for an album.
“Tickled to be the chosen chronicler of the band’s momentous reunion in 2011, director Shane Meadows (‘This Is England’) presents a fan’s view of the story, which proves to be good news and bad. He loves the music, and conveys something of its headlong energy in both rehearsal and live settings. Just to hear the opening bass rumble of ‘I Wanna Be Adored’raised the hairs on the back of my neck.”
Here’s a promo for the film:
Here’s the original video for one of the group’s best songs, “I Wanna Be Adored”:
This is the Smith’s third ever public performance, according to Consequence of Sound. Which reminds me, Morrissey’s autobiography is due from Penguin Oct. 17, according to The Atlantic Wire.
As for the video footage from the group’s show at The Hacienda in Manchester on February 2, 1983, this is really awesome stuff, and there’s 29 minutes of it.
