As Dylan concludes his moderately successful European tour, tragedy strikes with cwo deaths in the crowd. “Saved” is seconds old when the stage is shrouded in darkness as a member of the crowd falls onto the electrical cables. In the confusion a girl falls from a wall. Dylan and the band are forced to improvise some acoustic rhythms on stage until power is finally restored, after which Dylan performs a 25-song set to an enthusiastic crowd. The set includes five songs from Shot of Love: “In the Summertime,” “Shot of Love,” “Lenny Bruce,” “Watered Down Love,” and “Heart of Mine.”
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
In pouring rain, Dylan plays the open air Hughes Stadium at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. He has elected to film this show to replace the aborted TV special from Clearwater. In the longest set of the tour, there are several highlights, not all appearing in the TV special. … Included in the TV special, although in a most peculiar order, are second encore “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” the entire Dylan/Baez set (“Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Railroad Boy,” “Deportees,” and “I Pity the Poor Immigrant”); three songs from the first set (“Maggie’s Farm,” “One Too Many Mornings,” and “Mozambique”); and three from the last set (two tremendously powerful readings of songs from Blood on the Tracks, “Idiot Wind” and “Shelter from the Storm” and a faded “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”). Despite the storm clouds raging, the crowd appears to be very enthusiastic, even singing “Happy Birthday” for Dylan before the second encore.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
Hughes Stadium
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado
23 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)