This is the live album, Before the Flood, culled from Bob Dylan’s 1974 tour with The Band. The tour doesn’t have a high reputation among Dylan fans, musically speaking — for some reason Dylan decided to spit out all the lyrics angrily, which bothered many people — but I saw three concerts on the tour and found them electrifying.
Click on the image to enlarge.
January 28th, 1974. Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, Long Island, New York. My first of 51 (to date) Bob Dylan shows.
I was 19 at the time and my mother had died just a few weeks before at the age of 49. This concert was my re-introduction back into a somewhat normal routine.
BD and THE Band were loud and energetic. I think The Band’s performances (sans Bob) on this tour were overlooked by many, but they were absolutely terrific the night I saw them.
For many reasons, the 1974 tour will always be with me. That’s a good thing.
I was 24 — it was a strange time in my life, too, and also the first time I heard Dylan live. Dylan’s fierceness struck a chord with me. As a friend remarked recently about the tour, “never has truculence sounded so good”.
Prometheus Unbound!
Ha!
You guys are making me jealous (Paul, I’ve been to 51 as well, 1978-2010). I was 17, and a recent religious convert, and didn’t even mail in to try to get tickets for the Chicago shows, the tour openers. I read once that only one in four requests met with success. One takes comfort where it’s found!
I got stunning seats in the ticket lottery for one of the shows — 23rd row, dead center, in Madison Square Garden.