Forty years ago, on January 3, 1974, the “Bob Dylan and The Band 1974 Tour” kicked off at Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois.
Eighteen thousand, five hundred fans were there to see the historic first show.
This was the only full-bore tour Dylan and The Band did together after The Hawks changed their name to The Band and became major stars themselves.
I saw Dylan and The Band when they played the Oakland Coliseum on February 11, 1974. I was about halfway back, a ways up, but for me it was incredible.
It was my first time seeing Dylan, and while the Oakland Coliseum is big, it’s not that big. The sound was good and I was blown away. I’d seen The Band at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco previously, but to seem them with Dylan — it was on a whole other level.
I know that Dylan has talked about being on autopilot by the time he got to Oakland, but it sounded damn good to me.
Here’s the only video with Bob Dylan and The Band that seems to be available from the first Chicago show. They started off with a blistering version of “Hero Blues.” Dig it!
Here’s The Band playing “Stage Fright” the next night in Chicago:
Bob Dylan and The Band at Capital Center, Landover Maryland on January 15, 1974 — full show:
Bob Dylan playing “Desolation Row” at St. Louis Arena, St. Louis, Missouri, February 4, 1974:
Bob Dylan, “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” Oakland Coliseum, February 11, 1974:
Bob Dylan, “Gates Of Eden,” Oakland Coliseum, February 11, 1974 (sound is iffy at first but then it’s pretty great):
Bob Dylan and The Band, “Highway 61,” Oakland Coliseum, February 11, 1974:
Bob Dylan & The Band, “Maggie’s Farm,” Oakland Coliseum, February 11, 1974:
Here’s the setlist played that first night in Chicago (from bjorner.com):
Chicago Stadium
Chicago, Illinois
3 January 1974
1. Hero Blues
2. Lay Lady Lay
3. Tough Mama
4. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Robbie Robertson)
5. Stage Fright (Robbie Robertson)
6. Share Your Love With Me (Briggs/Malone)
7. It Ain’t Me, Babe
8. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
9. All Along The Watchtower
Holy Cow (Alain Toussaint)
King Harvest (Has Surely Come) (Robbie Robertson)
10. Ballad Of A Thin Man
Up On Cripple Creek (Robbie Robertson)
11. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
12. The Times They Are A-Changin’
13. Song To Woody
14. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
15. Nobody ‘Cept You
16. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Life Is A Carnival (Robbie Robertson – Rick Danko – Levon Helm)
The Shape I’m In (Robbie Robertson)
When You Awake (Richard Manuel – Robbie Robertson)
Rag Mama Rag (Robbie Robertson)
17. Forever Young
18. Something There Is About You
19. Like A Rolling Stone
(encores)
The Weight (Robbie Robertson)
20. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)
1-3, 9, 11, 17-20 Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar, harmonica), Robbie Robertson (guitar), Garth Hudson (organ, piano and clavinette), Richard Manual (keyboards), Rick Danko (bass), Levon Helm (drums).
4-5 Bob Dylan (guitar), Robbie Robertson (guitar), Garth Hudson (organ, piano and clavinette), Richard Manual (keyboards), Rick Danko (bass, vocal), Levon Helm (drums).
6 Bob Dylan (harmonica), Robbie Robertson (guitar), Garth Hudson (organ, piano and clavinette), Richard Manual (keyboards), Rick Danko (bass), Levon Helm (drums, vocal).
10 Bob Dylan (piano).
12-16 Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar, harmonica).
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Jeff Mangum performing in January of this year (2013) in Houston.
Since reuniting onstage in Baltimore in early October, Neutral Milk Hotel have been out on tour. The group just expanded its 2014 itinerary to include dates in March and April. Check out the itinerary here.
Here are some videos from their show at the Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit, October 25,2013, Asheville, North Carolina:
This first video is excerpts from the show and includes bits of “Two-Headed Boy,” “The Fool,” “A Baby For Pree,” “King of Carrot Flowers” and others:
“King of Carrot Flowers”:
“In The Aeroplane Over the Sea”:
“Song Against Sex”:
“Two Headed Boy Pt. 2”:
“Engine”
-– A Days of the Crazy-Wild blog post: sounds, visuals and/or news –-
Daryl Hannah (second from left) and Neil Young (center), with Athabascan Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam, left, during a visit to the Chipewyan Prairie First Nation in Janvier in September. Photo via the Edmonton Journal.
Neil Young will perform four “Honor The Treaties” benefit shows in Canada to raise money for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) Legal Defense Fund.
The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is suing Shell Oil to stop the corporation from undertaking additional oil sands extraction projects the Indian group says will encroach on lands and resources protected by an 1899 treaty.
In September Young spoke at a press conference in Washington D.C. with Senators Harry Reid and Debbie Stabenow.
”I am against the Keystone pipeline in a big way,” Young said. “The fact is, Fort McMurray [Alberta] looks like Hiroshima. Fort McMurray is a wasteland. The Indians up there and the native peoples are dying. People are sick. People are dying of cancer because of this. All of the First Nations peoples up there are threatened by this. Their food supply is wasted, their treaties are no good. They have the right to live on the land, like they always did, but there’s no land left that they can live on. All the animals are dying.”
Supporting Young at all four dates is Diana Krall.
The shows will take place in Toronto (Jan. 12), Winnipeg (Jan. 16), Regina (Jan. 17) and Calgary (Jan. 19).
This past Saturday an essay by Josephine Wiggs of the Breeders on group reunions, and the Breeders’ current reunion tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Last Splash, went online at The Talkhouse, a music site I check out with some frequency.
If you’re a Breeders’ fan, you’ll want to read the essay.
Wiggs writes:
Prior to unexpectedly finding myself taking part in one, I have to admit to ambivalence — yes, even negative feelings — about the reunion tour phenomenon. After some thought I realized that this is because the word “reunion” is tainted by many unfortunate associations, perhaps especially when conjoined with the words “high school.” Anyone who knows me will not be surprised to learn that I have never been to a reunion of any kind, but their primary feature seems to be the stress of being judged by people you haven’t seen in, let’s say, 20 years, and with whom all you had in common was a) going to the same school and b) being a teenager. Worse still, when “reunion” is paired with “tour,” the Beach Boys unavoidably come to mind: a stage spectacle featuring pre-recorded vocal tracks and film footage to stand in for several now-deceased Beach Boys and an eight-piece band comprised entirely of the musician offspring of said Boys. Needless to say, all this leaves an unpleasant taste.
