Graeme Thomson

This recreation of Dylan’s Free Trade Hall concert is supremely good

Plus: the last Monkee standing has done rather wonderful things to four R.E.M. songs

issue 11 November 2023

In May 1966, Bob Dylan toured the UK with The Band, minus drummer Levon Helm, and abrasively pulled the plug on any lingering notions of his being a mere folk singer. Playing two sets every night – the first acoustic, the second electric – even the solo numbers were wild, lysergic, unravelled. The electric ones whipped through the tweed and tradition like the howl of a strange new language. The crowds booed and one chap famously cried ‘Judas!’ (though presumably many of those present also enjoyed it). Dylan muttered and swore and was unbowed. The fast-moving currents of pop culture changed course almost perceptibly. 

Give Power the right lines and she will do something extraordinary and unexpected with them

In 1998, one widely bootlegged date from that tour was finally officially released as the fourth instalment of Dylan’s exhaustive and ongoing Bootleg Series of archival albums. Known as the ‘Royal Albert Hall’ concert due to an early and inaccurate claim on its provenance, it was actually recorded a week or so earlier, at the Manchester Free Trade Hall, on 17 May 1966.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in