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Bob Dylan: 5 Brilliant live performances from the year 1976

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Wikipedia:

Dylan then tried to recreate the Rolling Thunder Revue’s success in the spring of 1976. Rehearsals were held in Clearwater, Florida during April, and the first show was on April 18 at the Civic Center in Lakeland, Florida. The tour continued throughout April and May in the American South and Southwest.

The penultimate show of the tour took place on May 23 at Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado. 

The final Rolling Thunder show took place on May 25. Held at a half-empty, 17,000 seat Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, it would be Dylan’s last performance for twenty-one months (except for The Last Waltz in November 1976 for the Band), and it would be another two years before Dylan recorded another album of new material.

The Rolling Thunder 2 (spring 76) was a wonderful tour, one of his best for sure. Here are 5 lovely performances.

I´ve chosen not to include any performance from “Hard Rain” (album),  Everybody reading this have heard (and hopefully LOVE) “Hard Rain”. More interesting with performances not officially released.

Please use the Comments section to  post your personal favourites from 1976.

Civic Center
Lakeland, Florida
18 April 1976

  • Bob Dylan (guitar, harmonica & vocal)

If you’re making love to her, watch it from the rear
You’ll never know when I’ll be back, or liable to appear
For it’s natural to dream of peace as it is for rules to break
And right now I’ve got not much to lose, so you’d better stay awake
~Bob Dylan (“Lakeland 76” lyrics to If You See Her, Say Hello)

And then, with an ease I find terrifying, Dylan moves into one of the most nakedly personal performances of his career (something like “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,” but inverted, and
without the gloss of riddle and mystery): the 1976 version of “If You See Her, Say Hello.”
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986)

For a master of masks and distancing effects this is an extraordinary performance – no-one listening to it can feel anything other than that there is no distance at all between the author-performer and the performance.
~Andrew Muir (Troubadour: Early and Late Songs of Bob Dylan)

Brilliant, breathtaking & brave version of this great song.

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Starlight Ballroom
Belleview Biltmore Hotel
Clearwater, Florida
22 April 1976

  • Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal)
  • Scarlet Rivera (violin)

One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)

Your breath is sweet
Your eyes are like two jewels in the sky
Your back is straight, your hair is smooth
On the pillow where you lie
But I don’t sense affection
No gratitude or love
Your loyalty is not to me
But to the stars above

–

Starlight Ballroom
Belleview Biltmore Hotel
Clearwater, Florida
22 April 1976

  • Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal)
  • Scarlet Rivera (violin)
  • T-bone J. Henry Burnette (guitar & piano)
  • Steven Soles (guitar)
  • Mick Ronson (guitar)
  • Bobby Neuwirth (guitar & vocal)
  • Roger McGuinn (guitar & vocal)
  • David Mansfield (steel guitar, mandolin, violin & dobro)
  • Rob Stoner (bass)
  • Howie Wyeth (drums)
  • Gary Burke (congas)

Isis

I married Isis on the fifth day of May
But I could not hold on to her very long
So I cut off my hair and I rode straight away
For the wild unknown country where I could not go wrong




The Warehouse
New Orleans, Louisiana
3 May 1976 – Evening

  • Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal)
  • Joan Baez (guitar and shared vocal)
  • Scarlet Rivera (violin)
  • T-bone J. Henry Burnette (guitar & piano)
  • Steven Soles (guitar)
  • Mick Ronson (guitar)
  • Bobby Neuwirth (guitar & vocal)
  • Roger McGuinn (guitar & vocal)
  • David Mansfield (steel guitar, mandolin, violin & dobro)
  • Rob Stoner (bass)
  • Howie Wyeth (drums)
  • Gary Burke (percussion)

I Pity The Poor Immigrant

I pity the poor immigrant
Who wishes he would’ve stayed home
Who uses all his power to do evil
But in the end is always left so alone
That man whom with his fingers cheats
And who lies with ev’ry breath
Who passionately hates his life
And likewise, fears his death

–

Municipal Auditorium
San Antonio, Texas
11 May 1976

  • Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal).
  • Scarlet Rivera (violin)
  • T-bone J. Henry Burnett (guitar & piano)
  • Steven Soles (guitar)
  • Mick Ronson (guitar)
  • Bobby Neuwirth (guitar & vocal)
  • Roger McGuinn (guitar & vocal)
  • David Mansfield (steel guitar, mandolin, violin & dobro)
  • Rob Stoner (bass)
  • Howie Wyeth (drums)
  • Gary Burke (percussion)

Romance in Durango

Hot chili peppers in the blistering sun
Dust on my face and my cape
Me and Magdalena on the run
I think this time we shall escape

–

Some recommended shows:

  • 4/18/76 Lakeland FL
  • 4/21/76 Tampa FL
  • 4/22/76 Clearwater FL
  • 5/3/76 New Orleans LA
  • 5/11/76 San Antonio TX
  • 5/16/76 Fort Worth TX
  • 5/18/76 Oklahoma City OK
  • 5/23/76 Fort Collins CO

Earlier posts in this series

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Posts on Dylan live 1976:




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-Egil

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