The final show of the 1966 world tour. Thankfully the entire acoustic half has emerged on acetate. CBS in fact recorded both nights at the Royal Albert Hall for a possible live album. Before performing “Visions of Johanna,” Dylan launches into a verbal attack on those critics who accuse him of writing drug songs, informing them the next song, “is not a drurg [sic} song. It’s just vulgar to think so.” But the highlight of this, the final 1966 acoustic set is a six-and-a-half minute “Just Like a Woman,” Dylan veering in and out of control of his phrasing. During the electric set, tempers, both on and offrhe stage, become frayed. Before “I Don’t Believe You,” Dylan announces, “I get accused of dismissing my old songs. That’s not true. I luuurve my old songs.” At the time critics are divided as to the merits of the two London shows. Ray Coleman, in Disc and Music Echo, felt that Dylan, “insults his own talents … [with} a shamble of noise.” The London Times reviewer, writing up the first London show, much preferred the acoustic set, entitling his article, “The Better Half of Dylan.” After Dylan· s motorcycle accident, though, the shows will quickly achieve mythic status.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
Royal Albert Hall London, England 27 May 1966
Musicians:
Bob Dylan (vocal & electric guitar)
Robbie Robertson (electric guitar)
Garth Hudson (organ), Rick Danko (bass)
Richard Manuel (piano)
Mickey Jones (drums)
The last three songs of the May 27 acoustic set at Royal Albert Hall are good enough to stand next to the best work of any twentieth century artist (performer, painter, poet, mathematician… )
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan Performing Artist I: The Early Years 1960-1973)
In circulation from this show are three acoustic songs and three electric songs, part of the widely bootlegged Gelston acetates. Before “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” someone shouts something at Dylan, and he threatens, “Come up here and say that”” The offer is not taken up. Before a nine-minute “Like a Rolling Stone,” which Dylan dedicates to the Taj Mahal, he introduces the Hawks for the first and only time on the tour.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
It’s now also released officially in The 1966 Live Recordings Box-set (disc 30).
The last three songs on the album (“You’re a Big Girl Now,” “I Threw It All Away,” and “Idiot Wind“) are as powerful and exciting as anything Dylan has done (comparable, for instance, to the May 1966 versions of “Ballad of a Thin Man” and “Like a Rolling Stone”). As phenomenal as every aspect of each of these performances is, the unique orchestration of guitars, keyboards, violin, drums and voice on “Big Girl” must be singled out for particular praise. Stoner’s bass-playing while Dylan sings “Down the highway, down the tracks, down the road to ecstacy” on “Idiot Wind” will have a special place in my heart as long as I live.
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986)
Fantastic concert from the penultimate show of Rolling Thunder Revue 2. Five songs from this show were chosen to be included on Bob Dylan’s brilliant live album “Hard Rain”: Maggie’s Farm, One Too Many Mornings, Shelter from the Storm, You’re a Big Girl Now & Idiot Wind.
Hughes Stadium Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado 23 May 1976
May 22: Bob Dylan The Great Music Experience, Nara, Japan 1994 (video)
For the first time ever, Dylan was backed by a full orchestra, the New Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. The final day was widely televised and Dylan was in magnificent form. I remember being near tears as The Voice returned in all its full, expressive, raging glory. I watched the footage again and again, transfixed at what seemed the best ever rendition of “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and a magical and magisterial “Ring Them Bells”, with Dylan filmed beneath a huge statue of Buddha.
~Andrew Muir (One More Night: Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour)
Todaiji Temple Nara, Japan 22 May 1994 The Great Music Experience. Produced by Tony Hollingsworth.
)
)
)
)