Bob Dylan: 5 Brilliant live performances from the year 1996

The Never Ending Tour 1996

Start date April 13, 1996
End date November 23, 1996
Legs 4
No. of shows 56 in North America
28 in Europe
84 in Total

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]It is not a year remembered with great fondness by most long-term fans. In contrast to the innovation and stellar performing levels of most of 1995, it was all too predictable; same band, same set structure, and not many song debuts. Overall the shows were solid enough, but, as in late ’93 and periods of ’94, just not particularly special. More alarmingly, some of the overlong, uninspired, unproductive guitar instrumentals were reappearing too.
-Andrew Muir, One More Night: Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Tempodrom
Berlin, Germany
17 June 1996

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Bucky Baxter (pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • John Jackson (guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • Winston Watson (drums & percussion)

Shake Sugaree (Elizabeth Cotten)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]I got a secret, and I ain’t gonna tell
I’m going to Heaven in a split pea shell[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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July 29: The Late Jacques Levy Was Born in 1935 – Watch a Great Interview on Working with Bob Dylan

levy

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]All of the songs from the Desire sessions are collaborations between Dylan (words and music) and Levy (words), with the exception of “Sara,” “Abandoned Love,” “One More Cup of Coffee,” and “Golden Loom,” all written by Dylan alone. It is of course uncharacteristic of Dylan to work with another writer-this marks only the first or second time he ever shared credit for the lyrics of a song, and still stands as his most extensive collaboration with another songwriter.
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986)[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]SongTalk: Your collaborations with Jacques Levy came out pretty great.
Bob Dylan: We both were pretty much lyricists. Yeah, very panoramic songs because, you know, after one of my lines, one of his lines would come out. Writing with Jacques wasn’t difficult. It was trying to just get it down. It just didn’t stop. Lyrically. Of course, my melodies are very simple anyway so they’re very easy to remember.
-From the Paul Zollo (SongTalk) interview with Bob Dylan – April 1991[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

This is a great interview from May 2004 uploaded to YouTube 2013. Sadly enough Levy passed away in September 2004.

Continue reading “July 29: The Late Jacques Levy Was Born in 1935 – Watch a Great Interview on Working with Bob Dylan”

July 27: Watch Bob Dylan Performing “Highlands” in New York City 1999

bob dylan 1999

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Well my heart’s in the Highlands gentle and fair
Honeysuckle blooming in the wildwood air
Bluebelles blazing where the Aberdeen waters flow
Well my heart’s in the Highland
I’m gonna go there when I feel good enough to go[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Lovely version.

Madison Square Garden
New York City, New York
27 July 1999

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Larry Campbell (guitar, mandolin, pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • David Kemper (drums & percussion)

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July 27/28: Watch Bob Dylan & Joan Baez Performing “With God On Our Side”, Newport, Rhode Island 1963

dylanbaez 1963 Newport

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Oh my name it ain’t nothin’
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I was taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The video is a splice between available footage from the July 27 & July 28 performances.

It starts with the first 4 verses from Freebody Park, Porch # 1 of Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island – 27 July 1963, and continues with 2 last verses from Freebody Park, Newport, Rhode Island – 28 July 1963.

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July 26: Watch Bob Dylan Performing “Chimes of Freedom” @ Newport Folk Festival in 1964

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Far between sundown’s finish an’ midnight’s broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Freebody Park
Newport, Rhode Island
26 July 1964
Newport Folk Festival

  • Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar & harmonica)

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July 26: Bob Dylan Performing “Visions of Johanna/Madonna” @ Tramps, NYC 1999

bobdylan1999

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]On the 26th of july, 1999, in a club in Manhattan, Bob Dylan delivered one of his greatest performances ever of his well-loved 1966 epic “Visions of Johanna.” As if to acknowledge and signal his awareness of the power and freshness of this latest reinterpretation, the singer-bandleader effectively changed the title of the song halfway through, by starting to sing the chorus as: “And these visions of Madonna are now all that remain/ … have kept me up past the dawn.”
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist Vol 3: Mind Out Of Time 1986 And Beyond)[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Tramps
New York City, New York
26 July 1999

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Larry Campbell (guitar, mandolin, pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • David Kemper (drums & percussion).

Continue reading “July 26: Bob Dylan Performing “Visions of Johanna/Madonna” @ Tramps, NYC 1999″