Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan Concerts, The Band

April 13: Bob Dylan Sydney, Australia 1966 (audio)

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bob dylan sydney 1966

By the time we did the Australia and Europe tours we had discovered whatever this thing was. It was not light, it was not folky. It was very dynamic, very explosive and very violent.
~Robbie Robertson

By this point, Dylan, Robertson, and Co. knew instinctively that what they were doing was right, in every sense of the word. If the Hawks had been a little hesitant in their playing back in the fall of 1965, the music they were producing now was stately, immense, compelling. The sound itself had a thousand precursors, but no precedent. It was, indeed, ‘very explosive and very violent.’
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited)

Dylan’s 66 world tour is the best tour ever… by anyone. I know you all agree.

The Bob Dylan World Tour 1966 was a concert tour undertaken by American musician Bob Dylan, from February to May 1966. Dylan’s 1966 World Tour was notable as the first tour where Dylan employed an electric band backing him, following his “going electric” at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The musicians Dylan employed as his backing band were known as The Hawks; they subsequently became famous as The Band. The 1966 tour was filmed by director D. A. Pennebaker. Pennebaker’s footage was edited by Dylan and Howard Alk to produce a little-seen film, Eat the Document, an anarchic account of the tour. Drummer Mickey Jones also filmed the tour with an 8mm home movie camera. Many of the 1966 tour concerts were recorded by Columbia Records. These recordings produced one official album, the so-called “Royal Albert Hall” concert, and also many unofficial bootleg recordings of the tour.Dylan’s 1966 Tour ended with his motorcycle accident on July 29, 1966. Subsequent to Dylan’s withdrawal to Woodstock, he refrained from undertaking a major tour until 1974.
~Wikipedia

Sydney Stadium
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
13 April 1966

  1. She Belongs To Me
  2. Fourth Time Around
  3. Visions Of Johanna
  4. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
  5. Desolation Row
  6. Just Like A Woman
  7. Mr. Tambourine Man

    –
  8. Tell Me, Momma
  9. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
  10. Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Eric von Schmidt)
  11. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
  12. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
  13. One Too Many Mornings
  14. Ballad Of A Thin Man
  15. Positively 4th Street

–
Personnel

  • 1–7 Bob Dylan (vocal, harmonica & guitar)
  • 8–15 Bob Dylan (vocal & electric guitar)
    Robbie Robertson (electric guitar)
    Garth Hudson (organ)
    Rick Danko (bass)
    Richard Manuel (piano)
    Mickey Jones (drums)
  • 9 Bob Dylan harmonica
  • 14 Bob Dylan piano

bob dylan sydney 1966 2

Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. It is on Australia’s south-east coast, on the Tasman Sea. In June 2010 the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people. Inhabitants of Sydney are called Sydneysiders, comprising a cosmopolitan and international population.
The site of the first British colony in Australia, Sydney was established in 1788 at Sydney Cove by Arthur Phillip, commodore of the First Fleet, as a penal colony. The city is built on hills surrounding Port Jackson which is commonly known as Sydney Harbour, where the iconic Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge feature prominently. The hinterland of the metropolitan area is surrounded by national parks, and the coastal regions feature many bays, rivers, inlets and beaches including the famous Bondi Beach and Manly Beach. Within the city are many notable parks, including Hyde Park and the Royal Botanic Gardens.Sydney is a high ranking world city and has hosted multiple major international sporting events, including the 1938 British Empire Games (now known as the Commonwealth Games) and the 2000 Summer Olympics. The main airport serving Sydney is Sydney Airport and its main port is Port Botany.sydneyThe Sydney Stadium was a sporting and entertainment venue in Sydney, New South Wales, which formerly stood on the corner of New South Head Road and Neild Avenue, Rushcutters Bay. The venue was built in 1908 on the site of a former Chinese market garden leased by boxing promoter Hugh Donald Macintosh and the building was originally unroofed.The Stadium had a seating capacity of approximately 10,000. Colloquially known by performers as “The Old Tin Shed” (from the mid 1960s), it was mainly used as a venue for boxing matches until the mid-1900s. From 1954 onwards it was frequently used to host concerts by visiting overseas performers—notably the groundbreaking “The Big Show” package tours promoted by expatriate American entrepreneur Lee Gordon—as it was the only large-capacity indoor venue in Sydney at that time. It was also notable as the venue for the Sydney concerts performed by The Beatles during their 1964 Australian tour.The Sydney Stadium was demolished in 1970 to make way for the Eastern Suburbs Railway. Its former site is now marked by a commemorative plaque, which is on little Weigall at Sydney Grammar School Edgecliff Preparatory.sydney stadium“Never in the history of showbiz, in any major city anywhere in the whole wide world has there ever been anything like it for a big night venue — whether it be a world championship boxing stoush, dwarf wrestling, roller derbies, religious revivals, pop and jazz concerts … you name it. The Stadium … was just something else. It was uniquely Oz. Uniquely Sydney. Nowhere else was there or could there have been a joint like the Old Tin Shed.”
– John ByrellWikipedia

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-Egil

19 thoughts on “April 13: Bob Dylan Sydney, Australia 1966 (audio)”

  1. I am looking for a 1966 concert t-shirt that has Dylan’s name on it and Sydney (Australia). size, XL

  3. While I agree this was the best tour ever, I love the Gospel tour 79-80 even more. On the 66 tour at least a large part of the audience got what they wanted. Either the opening acoustic set or the electric set. I saw the Charleston,WV Feb. 1980 shows. Charleston is a very conservative religious area. A part of the Bible belt so to speak. Yet there great amounts of people disappointed and angered by the shows.

    1. Thanks for commenting James.

      My top 3 Dylan tours:

      1. 66 world tour
      2. RTR 75/76
      3. Gospel tour 79/80

      We are going to have a poll at our FB page soon to get the opinions of the JV community..

      1. My top three:
        1. Fall 1980
        2. Gospel Tour 79/80
        3. The 81 Tour
        As you can see my favorite period. I would love to see a Slow Train Coming reissue with Trouble in Mind and other songs from the sessions

      2. Agree 100%. (including the Fall ’80 Saved tour). The 1984 European Tour was rather poor. And the Supper Club shows (Fall of ’93) were an entity onto themselves–I attended 3 of the 4 shows. When is the audio/video going to be officially released??!!

  5. I was into animating slides into movies back in the 70’s. I shot and recorded two tour 74 concerts in Toronto and cut it into a slick little animated production called Forever Young.
    It has since been dismantled but at the time it went over very well with audiences.

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    1. Thanks Me Sullivan,

      I agree.. Dylan’s 66-tour was maybe his best tour… I’ll probably post 4/5 more from this tour the coming weeks.

      -Egil

  8. Where oh where are the official films of Tour 74??!?!??!? I’ve never seen a one. Not a minute. I find it inconceivable that Dylan and Co. would not document any of those performances! It often appears that not a minute of his life hasn’t been filmed (I’m talking FILM, not crap video). Maybe the creator of this amazing page would know the story behind this conundrum. Plenty of gorgeous, magical, mystical stills….but no movies…?????~E

    1. Hi Eric,

      Sorry.. I’ve never read anything about available/upcoming (professional) videos from this tour.
      Anyways I don’t think Dylan would put anything out from this tour if he had/has a say…

      -Egil

    2. I did one of the Toronto leg. I used to be into still animation at the time. I showed it in a lot of church basements, living rooms, and halls. It had great sound too.

  9. Tell Me Momma, etc. An aural orgasm…..the time machine works! His lyrics…different every performance!!!! Dummy lyrics if necessary…he’s channeling…..surreal…THANK YOU for these gemstones!!!!~E

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