Bob Dylan UK dates 2009

[GubGub (Al)]

Hyde Park
London, England
29 June 1996



 Concert # 338 with the 9th Never-Ending Tour Band: Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), Bucky Baxter (pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar), John Jackson (guitar), Tony Garnier (bass), Winston Watson (drums & percussion).

Guests were Ronnie Wood and Al kooper.Kooper had played shortly before at two concerts in Liverpool.
 
 
 

Was this with the Who doing Quadrophenia or am I getting Hyde Park gigs confused?  If so, I was at this.  Didn't EC also come on stage with him (he'd played earlier as well hadn't he?)....There...I've probably confused 3 gigs into 1 imaginery one!

That is certainly the gig I am thinking of. I don't remember Clapton playing with him but actually i don't remember very much about the day other tha Quadrophenia being excellent and Clapton being dreadfully dull on a very cold evening so we left early and went to the pub. The only thing I can recall about Bob's set was that he played a great version of Silvio but I think the rest was pretty ordinary.

[davidmjs]

I don't remember Clapton playing with him but actually i don't remember very much about the day other tha Quadrophenia being excellent and Clapton being dreadfully dull on a very cold evening so we left early and went to the pub.

Clapton being dreadfully dull doesn't exactly register as a surprise in my neck of the woods I'm afraid  

[GubGub (Al)]

I don't remember Clapton playing with him but actually i don't remember very much about the day other tha Quadrophenia being excellent and Clapton being dreadfully dull on a very cold evening so we left early and went to the pub.

Clapton being dreadfully dull doesn't exactly register as a surprise in my neck of the woods I'm afraid  

No, I tend to agree. I don't really do Clapton after about 1974.

[billy]

The only time as far as i can remember that i saw Clapton on stage with Dylan was Wembley 1984.Clapton and The Who were on after Bob at Hyde Park 1996 but i left after Dylan,too many people for me.I didn't go to Blackbushe,just three at Earl's Court.

[billy]

Hyde Park set...........


Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
All Along The Watchtower
Positively 4th Street
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (acoustic)
Silvio
Seven Days (Ron Wood on vocals)
(encore)

Highway 61 Revisited

[peterwales]

I'm pretty sure Clapton came on for an encore with Dylan at Blackbushe, but don't remember them playing together at that Hyde Park concert. I thought Clapton was pretty good that day. That was also only the second time I'd ever seen the Who play, (the first being in the early 70's at the Valley, Charlton's football ground). I also think they weren't actually calling themselves the Who that day at Hyde Park, as they had several other guest musicians on stage- one who I've got a vague memory of being pulled out at the last minute, was I think, the awful Paul Gadd, (aka Gary Glitter), as this was when his liking for young girls was first coming to light.

[Poor Will (Bill)]

I too was at the Hyde Park bash.
Pretty sure that Clapton didn't join Dylan on stage.

[GubGub (Al)]

I'm pretty sure Clapton came on for an encore with Dylan at Blackbushe, but don't remember them playing together at that Hyde Park concert. I thought Clapton was pretty good that day. That was also only the second time I'd ever seen the Who play, (the first being in the early 70's at the Valley, Charlton's football ground). I also think they weren't actually calling themselves the Who that day at Hyde Park, as they had several other guest musicians on stage- one who I've got a vague memory of being pulled out at the last minute, was I think, the awful Paul Gadd, (aka Gary Glitter), as this was when his liking for young girls was first coming to light.

No, Glitter wasn't pulled. He was there. Famously he hit Roger Daltrey in the eye with a microphone (accidentally) the day before the gig and Daltrey had to play the show wearing an eye patch.

[billy]

I too was at the Hyde Park bash.
Pretty sure that Clapton didn't join Dylan on stage.

He didn't,the band was Dylan,Jackson,Baxter,Garnier and Watson.The guests were Wood and Al Kooper (as already posted)

SILVIO

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lujQqh0gOX8

[billy]

Another UK Show?

No more news at the moment.

Another Studio Album?

Again, no more news at the moment.

Another Sell-Out – and More Besides?

Reuters January 30th –

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Bob Dylan and will.i.am: Together at last? The musicians both appear in a Pepsi commercial that is being considered for placement during Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast, singing a song written specifically for the ad. Further details on the ad were unavailable, but Pepsi Co. North America executives said they also are considering selling the song on iTunes. The company has two or three minutes of total advertising time during the February 1 game.

It’s actually not a song written specifically for the ad – it’s a take of Forever Young, not the album version but one I recognise from somewhere or other. Watch it here:

http://video.mediapost.com/index.cfm?clientfile=PepsiRefreshAnthemSuperBowl.mov

[davidmjs]

 

Another Sell-Out – and More Besides?

  

Reuters January 30th –

Sell out?  To whom?  It's his stuff, he can do what he wants with it.  I rather like the fact he doesn't give a monkey's about all the stuff and nonsense about him any more.....

[billy]

I agree with you,i'm just posting information from my friendly ticket supplier...........here is some more.

Desolation Row Information Service
February 10th 2009

Another UK Show?

No more news at the moment. I do expect an announcement very soon

Another Studio Album?

Contacts in the music industry have told me that they will be attending a listening session of the new album at Sony headquarters in London on the 10th. It is likely that there will be other sessions in other countries as well as listening sessions for the music press over the coming week or two.

Ticket Orders
I’ve now received the tickets that  I ordered for all shows except London O2 and Edinburgh – these are on their way – and we’re starting to pull orders together and will continue to do so over the next few weeks. There are around 450 individual orders and I won’t send any out until the last is complete and I’m satisfied that I haven’t made any mistakes. They should be with you by the end of the month.

The Dylan Watch by Oris

In my last email, I mentioned the following -
As a tribute to Bob Dylan, Oris has created a special edition Rectangular model, limited to just 3000 pieces worldwide. The stainless steel cased watches carry Bob Dylan’s signature on the finely patterned dial. His portrait is engraved on the case back along with the limited edition number of the watch. A small glass window offers a glimpse of the complex mechanical movement with the famous Oris red rotor.

Here’s some additional information that I’ve garnered.

The steel edition described above will be released in April. As yet, I don’t have a price. There will also be a more prestigious gold edition released in August. As mentioned earlier, these watches come with a Hohner harmonica – for the gold edition, the harmonica will bear the Bob Dylan engraved signature.

So long as I’ve remembered, I’ve attached 3 files showing the presentation box with harmonica, the face of the gold watch and the rear of the steel edition.

A good UK outlet for this watch is Jura Watches of Mayfair who, possibly, are the only authorised source for internet sales that can provide a guarantee of authenticity. More about them later when they send me further info.

On BBC TV & Radio This Week

Thursday 12th February,          
23:00 - Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour – BBC Radio 2
Friday 13th February,                
20:00 - Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Sound Of The Sixties - BBC4
20:10 - Festival (Newport Folk, 1963-6) - BBC4
21:40 - Sings Dylan (cover versions) - BBC4
22:30 - Roger McGuinn et al, Folk America At The Barbican – BBC4
Saturday 14th February,
22:00 - Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour - BBC Radio 2
Sunday 15th February,
24:00 - Bob Dylan, Theme Time Radio Hour - BBC 6 Music

[billy]

from ISIS magazine...............

Additional Rumours About The New Album
There are several additional pieces of information about the new album. One is that Dylan recorded thirteen songs in all, of which ten are expected to be on this release. Speculatively, this would leave out-takes for use in “My Own Love Song”, but nothing more has been heard regarding Dylan’s involvement with this film.

Another strong rumour is that Mike Campbell (of the Heartbreakers) and David Hidalgo (of Los Lobos) are amongst the musicians on the new album. These two guitarists are said to have worked with what has been described as the nucleus of Dylan’s tour band. The Heartbreakers’ keyboard player Benmont Tench is also said to have played on the album.  

There is also speculation of a video to go with the album release, but there are no details as yet. Of course, that rumoured animation-video prepared for ‘Mississippi’ (from “Tell Tale Signs”) never saw the light of day, so perhaps that could be used – who knows?

[billy]

 

DYLAN RECORDS SURPRISE 'MODERN TIMES' FOLLOW-UP
Dark new disc with a bluesy border-town feel arrives in April
By David Fricke

I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver/And I'm reading James Joyce/Some people tell me I got the blood of the land in my voice," Bob Dylan sings in a leathery growl, capturing the essence of his forthcoming studio album - raw-country love songs, sly wordplay and the wounded state of the nation - in "I Feel a Change Coming On," one of the record's 10 new originals.

Set for late April,the as-yet-untitled album arrives a few months after Dylan's outtakes collection Tell Tale Signs nad it "came as a surprise," says a source close to Dylan's camp. Last year, filmmaker Olivier Dahan, who directed the 2007 Edith Piaf biopic, La Vie en Rose, approached Dylan about writing songs for his next feature. Dylan responded with "Life Is Hard," a bleak ballad with mandolin, pedal steel and him singing in a dark, crystal clear voice, "The evening winds are still/I've lost the way and will." (The song appears in the film My Own Love Song, starring Renee Zellweger.)

Inspired, Dylan kept writing and recording songs with his road band and guests, with Los Lobos' David Hidalgo rumored on the accordion. Dylan produce the album under his usual pseudonym, Jack Frost.
The disc has the live-in-the-studio feel of Dylan's last two studio records, 2001's Love & Theft and 2006's Modern Times, but with the seductive border-cafe feel (courtesy of the accordion on every track) and an emphasis on struggling-love songs. The effect - in the opening shuffle, "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," the Texas-dance-hall jump of "If You Ever Go To Houston" and the waltz "This Dream of You" - is a gnarly turn on early-1970's records like New Morning and Planet Waves.

Dylan makes references to the national chaos, as on the viciously funny slow blues "My Wife's Home Town" ("State gone broke, the county's dry/Don't me lookin' at me with that evil eye"), culminating in the deceptive rolling rock of "It's All Good." Against East L.A. accordion and a snake's nest of guitars, Dylan tells you how bad things are - "Brick by brick they tear you down/A teacup of water is enough to drown" - then ices each verse with the title line, a pithy shot of sneering irony and calming promise. "You would never expect the record after Modern Times to sound like this", the source says. "Bob takes all of those disparate elements you hear and puts them into a track. But you can't put your finger on it - 'It sounds exactly like that.' That's why he's so original."

[Poor Will (Bill)]

I'm pretty sure Clapton came on for an encore with Dylan at Blackbushe, but don't remember them playing together at that Hyde Park concert. I thought Clapton was pretty good that day. That was also only the second time I'd ever seen the Who play, (the first being in the early 70's at the Valley, Charlton's football ground). I also think they weren't actually calling themselves the Who that day at Hyde Park, as they had several other guest musicians on stage- one who I've got a vague memory of being pulled out at the last minute, was I think, the awful Paul Gadd, (aka Gary Glitter), as this was when his liking for young girls was first coming to light.

No, Glitter wasn't pulled. He was there. Famously he hit Roger Daltrey in the eye with a microphone (accidentally) the day before the gig and Daltrey had to play the show wearing an eye patch.

If I remember rightly, the eye patch was designed like the Who red, white and blue target logo.

[billy]

Whilst nothing seems to ever go the way one expects – look how long it’s taken for any real news of the new album to surface – Sony’s current intention is to issue a press release about the new album this coming Monday. Once that is out, the UK Promoters will be able to release information about the extra London show to be held on April 26th. Not long to wait. I understand that the bonus DVD will contain some previously unreleased tracks that are unconnected with the studio sessions for this album or the previous album plus something else a little more out of the usual for an official Dylan release. Sony will let us know more in due course.

[billy]

From Mojo online on March 12th –

 

YESTERDAY, MOJO HEARD seven of what may turn out to be ten or eleven Bob Dylan originals to be released by Columbia Records in April, possibly the week of the 27th in the U.S. and Europe. The album is not yet titled and final track selection, sequence and artwork are still being finalized. Sources confirm what many have already heard: French filmmaker Olivier Dahan, who directed La Vie En Rose, the blood-on-the-tracks biopic of Edith Piaf, asked Dylan to contribute something to My Own Love Song, a road movie starring Forest Whitaker and Renee Zellweger about a wheelchaired singer and pal who travel cross-country to Memphis. Bob offered up Life Is Hard, a gorgeous ballad with a descending melody line that is reminiscent of the Bing Crosbyish, early 20th Century pop that Bob displayed on both "Love And Theft" and Modern Times.

 

Although the facts remain a mystery, evidently Dylan had more to say, more to write, or simply had accumulated enough songs for a new album. It took him four years to follow 1997's Time Out Of Mind with 2001's "Love And Theft", and five twixt Love... and '06's Modern Times, so no-one expected a new one so quickly. Details are sketchy about precise recording dates and personnel but sources say that Jack Frost (Dylan's nom de studio) produced and the line-up features Bob on guitar and keys as well as his road band and David Hidalgo from Los Lobos on accordion. Other possible contributors have been floated but have not been confirmed.

 

Your correspondent first heard of the possible existence of an album of new material on Dylan encyclopaedist Michael Gray's blog on January 22. The rumour quickly made the rounds of Bobsites, forcing sceptics to point to the alleged April release date as proof that this was an April Fool's joke. As recently as March 10, one naysayer posted on the New Yorker website that guesswork about the album's title was "the strongest evidence there won't be an album." After checking with a friend of Bob's who confirmed the rumour, arrangements were made with the appropriate gatekeepers. Drugged, blindfolded, and forced to switch transportation periodically, I awoke on a tropical island in a bamboo hut, sparsely outfitted with a lone stereo. Here's what I heard:

 

1) Beyond Here Lies Nothin' - A minor chord mid-tempo rocker. Like all the tracks and like Bob's last two albums, it's got a big, full, raucous, rocking sound, making the case that Jack Frost is indeed Bob Dylan's finest producer since the '60s and '70s. Likewise, his voice packs a punch; not the thin, reedy instrument that occasionally detracts during live sets. He's enunciating the lyrics with a fire and intensity we didn't hear on Modern Times. Hidalgo's soulful squeezebox is omnipresent here - and everywhere else.

2) Life Is Hard - The song that possibly buzzed his muse and encouraged him to write the others. "I need strength to fight that world outside," and "I'm on my guard / Admitting life is hard / Without you baby" are lines that leapt out in a paean to the notion that two are better equipped to weather tragedy than one. A forlorn twinkling mandolin and mournful pedal steel accentuate the deep blue lyrics.

3) My Wife's Hometown - Chicago blues has always been a huge influence on Dylan. From Bringing It All Back Home up through his most recent work, the ghosts of Chess Studios lurk inside the man from Minnesota. This one's reminiscent of Muddy Waters' I Love The Life I Live, I Live The Life I Love. Job loss is referenced (a topical theme, you may have heard), but Bob's black humour is in cheeky abundance: "I just want to say that hell's my wife's hometown" and "I'm pretty sure she'll make me kill someone," Bob sings and then laughs demonically at the end. Man, he's enjoying himself.

 

4) Forgetful Heart - Lots of tunes in minor keys on this record, including this one. A neat banjo barely audible in the mix and one of The Master's best lines ever: "The door is closed for evermore / If indeed there ever was a door."

5) Shake Shake Mama - More Chi-town chugga-lugga. Some artists retreat to servile reasonableness and bourgeois banality as they get older. Not Bob. He got Las Vegas out of his system at Budokan. "I'm motherless / I'm fatherless / Almost friendless too," he growls and you believe him.

6) I Feel A Change Coming On - Like Spirit On the Water from Modern Times, this one possesses a blithe jaunt and gorgeous melody. As in all his recent work, there are intimations of mortality ("And the last part of the day is already gone") but there's a devil-may-care wistfulness and a frisky sexuality in both lyrics and phrasing. Best lines: "I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver / I'm reading James Joyce / Some people they tell me / I've got the blood of the land in my voice."

 

7) It's All Good - Propelled by a John Lee Hooker boogie rhythm with a stinging slide guitar, here's Dylan taking on human woes: social, political, personal. He itemizes crimes ranging from "politicians tellin' lies" to environmental illness ("a teacup of water is enough to drown"), urban degradation, murder and adultery and sarcastically and scathingly responds to each in the chorus with that hideous New Age cliché referenced in the title. More proof that Bob never really stopped writing "protest songs".

 

Other song titles that I didn't hear but have been mentioned elsewhere include If You Ever Go To Houston and This Dream Of You. Yet what I heard offered ample proof of an artist steeped in the past but thoroughly living in the present, cognizant of everything, not afraid to point fingers or laugh at fools or fall in love.

 

It's a powerful personal work by a man who still thinks for himself in an era of fear, conformity, and dehumanization. That it rocks mightily makes the message even more compelling. Whatever the hell it gets called, it'll be in the running for Best Album Of 2009.

Michael Simmons

[billy]

http://www.bobdylan.com/#/conversation

[billy]

In the unlikely event of anyone being interested Bob Dylan performed "Billy" tonight in Stockholm.There were no Modern Times songs in the set.

[billy]

Extra Show
The Roundhouse
26/4/2009