Scarlet Rivera is an American violinist who was plucked from obscurity to play a prominent role on both Bob Dylan’s ‘Desire’ album and his Rolling Thunder Revue tour. In this interview she discusses being discovered by Dylan, working with his co-writer at the time, Jacques Levy, recording ‘Desire’ and her experiences on the road with the Rolling Thunder band. Published on YouTube in 2013.
All the available footage from these two gigs are here collected in one video, it was meant to be a TV-concert/TV-show but it was rejected and shelved. We don’t know why it wasn’t shown, please tell us in the comments if you have some information about this.
Starlight Ballroom Belleview Biltmore Hotel Clearwater, Florida 22 April 1976
Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal)
Scarlet Rivera (violin)
T-bone J. Henry Burnette (guitar & piano)
Steven Soles (guitar)
Mick Ronson (guitar)
Bobby Neuwirth (guitar & vocal)
Roger McGuinn (guitar & vocal)
David Mansfield (steel guitar, mandolin, violin & dobro)
“I was just sitting outside my house one day thinking about a name for this tour, when all of a sudden, I looked into the sky and I heard a boom! Then, boom, boom, boom, boom, rolling from west to east. So I figured that should be the name.”
– Bob Dylan
This is my favourite of Bob Dylan’s bootleg series, and one of the best live albums ever released.
The Rolling Thunder Revue was a concert tour Bob Dylan with a traveling caravan of notable musicians, including Joan Baez,Roger McGuinn, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Bob Neuwirth assembled the backing musicians, including T-Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, David Mansfield, Steven Soles, and from the Desire sessions, violinist Scarlet Rivera, bassist Rob Stoner, and drummer Howie Wyeth. The tour included 57 concerts in two legs—the first in the American northeast and Canada in the fall of 1975, and the second in the American south and southwest in the spring of 1976.
“This final night of the 1975 leg, when a huge entourage of musicians, celebrities and guests descended upon Madison Square Garden to raise awareness and funds for the defense of boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, is the most monumental show of that tour.”
– Wolfgang’s Vault
This is a fantastic bootleg and a historic document, the sound is amazing. Why this wasn’t included in the official Bootleg series is a mystery to me.
“What the concert lacked in consistency it made up as a broadly inclusive compendium of musicians united in a cause. For all of the inevitable slow moments when guests shunt in and out of the spotlight, it made, for a long, relaxed yet—in Mr. Dylan’s parts, at least—zany, high‐energy, high‐intensity good time…
With this tour and with last night’s marathon concert, Mr. Dylan has reinvigorated the flagging New York folk‐rock scene, and he may well have reinvigorated the fashion of political commitment among artists. Most important of all. however, he has reinvigorated himself.”
– New York Times (Dec 9, 1975)
This is a very special upload. This was recorded on December 8, 1975, the final night of the first leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue. The next tour date was January 22, 1976.
– Swingin’ Pig (Youtube)
As usual from Swingin’ Pigs’ uploads, the video and especially the audio is excellent. It is very well edited and part of his alternative Rolling Thunder film.
Just too good to not share.
“I was just sitting outside my house one day thinking about a name for this tour, when all of a sudden, I looked into the sky and I heard a boom! Then, boom, boom, boom, boom, rolling from west to east. So I figured that should be the name.”
– Bob Dylan on why he called it The Rolling Thunder Revue
Sara by Bob Dylan last concert of the 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue:
The Rolling Thunder Revue was a concert tour Bob Dylan with a traveling caravan of notable musicians, including Joan Baez,Roger McGuinn, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Bob Neuwirth assembled the backing musicians, including T-Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, David Mansfield, Steven Soles, and from the Desire sessions, violinist Scarlet Rivera, bassist Rob Stoner, and drummer Howie Wyeth. The tour included 57 concerts in two legs—the first in the American northeast and Canada in the fall of 1975, and the second in the American south and southwest in the spring of 1976.
This is a true gem, everyone should watch it while they can, I need to say it again, it is fantastic!
Statement from Swingin’ Pig (editor):
Here it is. I spent about a month editing this video together. I ripped the footage from a bootlegged tape of “Renaldo & Clara,” a 1978 film that was edited by Howard Alk and Bob Dylan himself. Some snippets are from Martin Scorsese’s incredible Netflix documentary “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story.” If you’d like to see “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “One More Cup of Coffee” (both of which are in this compilation) in 4K quality, do yourself a favor and watch it. There are other incredible performances in it that weren’t in “Renaldo & Clara.” Continue reading “Rollin Rain and Hard Thunder – An alternative Bob Dylan Compilation Film”→
