









I’ve always loved to travel and play my songs, meet new people and see different places. I love to roll into town in the early morning and walk the deserted streets before anybody gets up. Love to see the sun come up over the highway. Then, of course, there’s playing on the stage in front of live people, feeling hearts and minds moving. Everybody don’t get to do that. Touring to me has never been any kind of hardship. It’s a privilege.

~Bob Dylan (to Edna Gundersen, July 1988)

Creating a post called “10 best concert bootlegs” didn’t work out, so I had to adjust. I chose 12 Essential Concert Bootlegs 🙂

My rules:

only one concert from each tour

compilation bootlegs not allowed – you need to choose one concert

So this is actually more like “12 essential Bob Dylan concerts from 12 different tours”.

First I pick 12 different years & nominate some candidates:

63 April 12 October 26 July 26-27

64 July 26 October 31

66 April 20 May 14 May 16 May 17

75 October 31 November 21 December 4 December 8

76 May 3 May 16 May 23

79 Nov 6 Nov 11 Nov 16 Nov 18

81 July 10 July 25 Nov 10

87 Sept 15 Oct 5 Oct 17

93 Sept 13 Nov 16-17

95 March 11 March 27 April 2 April 3 June 21

99 Feb 27 July 26 Oct 27 Nov 14

00 Marc 10 Sept 23 Oct 6



I know I know… where are 78/88/91/94/98/…. tough choices these, but only 12 allowed.

Next up – picking only one from each year… argh.. the agony of choice again.

Here goes:

1963

Town Hall

New York City, New York

12 April 1963

This ranks high as one of the most important boot releases of all time, and on top of that, it’s simply a thrill and a joy to just sit back and listen to. If you’re only planning on getting one bootleg this decade, this is the one. Hands down.

~bobsboots.com

Check out this post: April 12: Bob Dylan Town Hall, New York 1963

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1964

Philharmonic Hall

New York City, New York

31 October 1964

Don’t let that scare you. It’s just Halloween. I have my Bob Dylan mask on. I’m masquerading ha ha.

~Bob Dylan (before If You Gotta Go, Go Now) ‘Live 1964 brings back a Bob Dylan on the cusp. . . . It brings back a time between his scuffling sets at the downtown clubs and his arena-rock tours of the 1970s and after. It brings back a long gone era of intimacy between performer and audience, and the last strains of a self-aware New York bohemia before

bohemia became diluted and mass marketed.’

~Sean Wilentz









1966

Gaumont Theatre

Sheffield, England

16 May 1966

…The Sheffield show is perhaps the best of the tour. The quality is incredible, and the performance can move you to tears. The Gaumont adds a warmth and depth to the overall sound that is lacking at many venues, and Bob pours his heart into every syllable. This set represents some of the finest of the tour…

~bobsboots.com

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1975

War Memorial Auditorium

Plymouth, Massachusetts

31 October 1975

Second Rolling Thunder Revue concert

This is a ‘must have’ CD. Period. Fans of Rolling Thunder will find this first venue of the tour to be electrifyingly fresh and vibrant. Everything was new, mysterious, and exciting. The stunned audience would have to wait two more months for the release of this mystical music on the ‘Desire’ LP. As the tour wore on, some of the spontaneous edge began to dull with the wear and tear of life on the road. Fans of ‘Desire’ will thrill to the encore magic captured in Dylan’s voice and in Scarlet Rivera’s violin.

~bobsboots.com

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1976

Hughes Stadium

Colorado State University

Fort Collins, Colorado

23 May 1976

The last three songs on the album (“You’re a Big Girl Now,” “I Threw It All Away,” and “Idiot Wind“) are as powerful and exciting as anything Dylan has done (comparable, for instance, to the May 1966 versions of “Ballad of a Thin Man” and “Like a Rolling Stone”). As phenomenal as every aspect of each of these performances is, the unique orchestration of guitars, keyboards, violin, drums and voice on “Big Girl” must be singled out for particular praise. Stoner’s bass-playing while Dylan sings “Down the highway, down the tracks, down the road to ecstacy” on “Idiot Wind” will have a special place in my heart as long as I live.

~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986 )

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1979

Fox Warfield Theatre

San Francisco, California

16 November 1979

“…his fall 1979 concerts. “What Can I Do For You?”, “Solid Rock”, “Saving Grace”, “Covenant Woman” and “In The Garden” as performed at these shows are some of the finest work in Dylan’s oeuvre, but you’d never know that from listening to “Saved”, the 1980 studio album that features these compositions.

…….you’re awareness and appreciation of Dylan’s greatness is incomplete until you hear these songs (and “When He Returns”) as performed live in the fall of 1979..

~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986 ) “….this gospel show explodes with vocal passion to be found in few other Dylan periods.”

~bobsboots.com

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1981

Drammenshallen

Drammen, Norway

10 July 1981

My Favorite Summer 1981 concert is Drammen..

~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986 )

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1987

Westfalenhalle 1

Dortmund, West Germany

15 September 1987

Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar) with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

Tom Petty (guitar)

Mike Campbell (guitar)

Benmont Tench (keyboards),

Howie Epstein (bass)

Stan Lynch (drums)

The Queens Of Rhythm: Carolyn Dennis, Queen Esther Marrow, Madelyn Quebec (backing vocals).

Bob Dylan feels good about himself and his work, this night in Dortmund. You can hear it in his voice. It’s a unique, very wonderful Bob Dylan voice, special to this show. His presence this time is not a matter of being one with the protagonists of the songs or the persons being sung to. It’s a matter of his enthusiasm for the act of singing, and for each of these son~rs that he gets to sing. In a subtle but measurable sense, this “Tangled Up in Blue” vocal is not like any other rendition. It has a unique personality – not a dilfferent arrangement or lyrics, but a subtle idiosyncrasy of delivery that gives us listeners the opportunity to be intimately present with this singer and his mood, his picture of life and reality, at this particular never-lo-be-repeated moment.

~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist Volume 3: Mind Out Of Time 1986 And Beyond )

I got no separate post for this one, so I’ll just embed some audio highlights.

Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)



Shelter From The Storm



Tangled Up In Blue



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1993

Okay, I’ll break my rules on this one.

The Supper Club

New York City, New York

16 & 17 November 1993

Early & late shows

A mixture of old classics, songs he hadn’t played for a while and tracks from World Gone Wrong were all treated to the true authentic voice of Bob Dylan. Not only that but each show seemed better than the previous one and some songs, such as, “Queen Jane” & “Ring Them Bells” , were performed nearly as well as they have ever been, either before or since.

-Andrew Muir (Razor’s Edge)









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1995

Kongresový sál

Palác kultury

Prague, Czech Republic

11 March 1995

Dylan opens the year with one of the most remarkable performances of the “Never Ending tour,” despite still visible suffering the after effects of the bug (at several points he sits on the drum rise, scrunched up in some discomfort)… the shock of the evening is not in his song selection.. but the fact that he performs almost the entire show without a guitar.. harmonica in hand, making strange shadow-boxing movements, cupping the harmonica to his mouth on nearly every song, blowing his sweetest harp breaks in years.

~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995 )

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1999

Worcester Centrum Centre

Worcester, Massachusetts

14 November 1999

The performance is top notch as well, with soulful vocals and excellent backing. While a rare performance of Highlands is an obvious highlight, the opening acoustic numbers shouldn’t be overlooked. There are excellent outings for To Ramona, featuring Larry Campbell on mandolin, and a tender Mama, You Been On My Mind.

~bobsboots.com

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2000

Guildhall

Portsmouth, England

24 September 2000

–

All of that “Never Ending Tour” talk is nonsense. If there’s anything for sure in our world, then it’s the knowledge that everything comes to an end one day. Our mortality is the one thing that connects us all, and nothing but the knowledge about that creates a greater proximity between people. I don’t even think that I give a lot of concerts. In your world it might be a lot, in mine it is normal.

~Bob Dylan (July 2001)

Check out:

-Egil