Classic concert: Bob Dylan Hard Rain TV Broadcast Video (May 23rd, 1976)

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)

Dylan appeared on the September 11-17, 1976 issue of TV Guide and consented to a rare interview with the magazine to promote his first network television special.

Four of the eleven (ten in the video below) performances heard in the television broadcast (“Maggie’s Farm”, “One Too Many Mornings”, “Shelter from the Storm”, and “Idiot Wind”) were included on the nine track album of the same name released by Columbia records ten days before the special aired.

This is a fantastic historical TV-concert and a glimpse into one of the days of The Rolling Thunder Revue.

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)
• Rob Stoner (bass)
• Howie Wyeth (drums)
• Gary Burke (percussion)
• Joan Baez (shared vocal on 2-5)

1. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
2. Blowin’ In The Wind (Duet with Joan Baez)
3. Railroad Boy (Duet with Jaon Baez) – NOT ON THIS JAPANESE VERSION
4. Deportees (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos) (Duet wit Joan Baez)
5. I Pity The Poor Immigrant (Duet with Joan Baez)
6. Shelter From The Storm
7. Maggie’s Farm
8. One Too Many Mornings
9. Mozambiqu
10. Idiot Wind
11. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (Edited)

• Hallgeir