With at least 200,000 people in attendance, Dylan closes his triumphant European tour at the Blackbushe Aerodrome, in Camberley, Surrey. Twenty five days after the last Earls Court show, Dylan brings a very different set back, performing 10 songs not performed at his previous show in England: “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” “Girl from the North Country,” “Is Your Love in Vain?,” a tentative “Where Are You Tonight’,” an acoustic “Gates of Eden,” “True Love Tends to Forget,” and a first encore of “Changing of the Guards” with Eric Clapton on guitar. Also performed are “Simple Twist of Fate” and “To Ramona,” both performed only one night at Earls Court. Surprisingly, though, Dylan omits “She’s Love Crazy,” “The Man in Me,” and ”I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” all performed regularly on the mainland European dates. Nevertheless, few in the massive crowd notice such omissions, as Dylan proves his pulling power is undiminished by his years away, attracting the largest crowd for a pop festival in Britain since the Isle of Wight nine years earlier.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
Blackbushe Aerodrome Camberley, England 15 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)
In his first tour of Europe in 12 years, Bob Dylan played Nürnberg on July 1. Organized by the new “Rock im Park” festival which was established in 1976 with Santana and Chicago, 1978 featured both Eric Clapton and Dylan in front of 80,000 spectators.
The show is imbued with additional meaning since the Zeppelinfeld was constructed in the ’30s and was the site for the Nazi Party rallies between 1933 and 1938 and can be seen in the film Triumph Of The Will. That a Jewish artist such as Bob Dylan preformed there 40 years later provides a special irony for the setting.
~gsparaco(collectorsmusicreviews.com)
Zeppelindfeld
Nuremberg, West Germany
1 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)
–
Eric Clapton (guitar) on I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight & The Times They Are A-Changin’
You mistreat me, baby, I can’t see no reason why
You know that I’d kill for you, and I’m not afraid to die
You treat me like a stepchild
Oh, Lordy, like a stepchild
I wanna turn my back and run away from you
but oh, I just can’t leave you babe
Interview – 2 December 1978 – Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
–
Q: Do you do any new songs in concert now?
BD: Once in awhile we do some, yeah.
Q: How have they been responded to?
BD: Ah, fine.
Q: Will you be doing any tonight?
BD: We’ll probably do one or two, maybe one.
Q: What is your favorite one?
BD: Well, I don’t know if I’ll record it. But I have a song called “Baby, Am I Your Stepchild?”
Q: Is that different from a lot of the songs on Street Legal?
BD: No. Umm, content-wise, it’s not. It’s a more simplified version of, ah, just a man talking to a woman, who is just not treating him properly.
Am I Your Stepchild?
Words and music Bob Dylan
Played around 50 times during the fall 1978 tour, with constantly changing lyrics.
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