Bob Dylan: 5 Great Live Versions of “I Shall Be Released”

They say ev’rything can be replaced
Yet ev’ry distance is not near
So I remember ev’ry face
Of ev’ry man who put me here
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

The whole world is a prison. Life is a prison, we’re all inside the body. Freedom only comes from knowledge and knowledge is power. So just because you’re out there in the desert, facing an endless sky and an unknown nothingness, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re free. You’re trapped in the desert. Only knowledge of either yourself or the ultimate power can get you out of it. I don’t know that much.
– Bob Dylan to Philip Fleishman (Feb. 1978)

Performances:

  • 51 acoustic w band – top year 2001 (18 times)
  • 28 acoustic – top year 1976 (27 times)
  • 1 time as an instrumental in 1978
  • 420 times w/band – top year 1978 (111 times)

First live performance: War Memorial Auditorium, Plymouth, Massachusetts – 30 October 1975.

Last live performance: Stodoła, Warsaw, Poland – 7 June 2008

They say ev’ry man needs protection
They say ev’ry man must fall
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Some place so high above this wall
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

Palace Theater
Waterbury, Connecticut
11 November 1975

  • Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar)
  • Bob Neuwirth (guitar)
  • T-bone J. Henry Burnett (guitar)
  • Roger McGuinn (guitar)
  • Steven Soles (guitar)
  • Mick Ronson (guitar)
  • David Mansfield (steel guitar, violin, mandolin ,dobro)
  • Rob Stoner (bass)
  • Howie Wyeth (piano, drums)
  • Luther Rix (drums, percussion)
  • Ronee Blakeley (vocal)

Standing next to me in this lonely crowd
Is a man who swears he’s not to blame
All day long I hear him shout so loud
Crying out that he was framed
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east
Any day now, any day now
I shall be released

Pavillon de Paris
Paris, France
4 July 1978

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Billy Cross (lead guitar)
  • Alan Pasqua (keyboards)
  • Steven Soles (rhythm guitar, backup vocals)
  • David Mansfield (violin & mandolin)
  • Steve Douglas (horns)
  • Jerry Scheff (bass)
  • Bobbye Hall (percussion)
  • Ian Wallace (drums)
  • Helena Springs, Jo Ann Harris, Carolyn Dennis (background vocals)



Hammersmith Odeon
London, England
4 February 1990

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • G. E. Smith (guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • Christopher Parker (drums)

Meehan Auditorium
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
17 April 1997

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Bucky Baxter (pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • Larry Campbell (guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • David Kemper (drums & percussion)

Corel Centre
Kanata
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
13 August 2002

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Larry Campbell (guitar, mandolin, pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • George Recile (drums & percussion)



Earlier posts in the serie:

-Egil

Egil

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