The Bob Dylan World Tour 1978 was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
. In 1978, Dylan embarked on a year-long world tour, performing 114 shows in Asia, Oceania, North America and Europe, to a total audience of two million people.
Background
For the tour, Dylan assembled an eight piece band, and was also accompanied by three backing singers. Highlights of the European leg of the tour were Dylan's first concerts in Germany where he had never wanted to play because of the Jews' persecution by the Nazis. However, after concerts at Dortmund and Berlin, he performed on July 1 on the Zeppelinfeld at Nuremberg for 80,000 people. Promoter Fritz Rau had convinced him to perform in Germany. It was the spot where
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
had appeared prominently on his "Reichsparteitage", the party convention of the NSDAP. Dylan's stage was placed opposite to the rostrum where Hitler had given his speeches. After the concert, Bob Dylan said that it was a very special event for him, which he had marked by appearing in normal street clothes instead of the usual stage clothes.
Eric Clapton, who also appeared at Nuremberg, joined him for two songs at the end of the concert. As a live album had been recorded at Budokan Hall, Tokyo, the Nuremberg concert recording was never officially released but only appeared on
Bootleg recordings. Two weeks later, both artists performed again at a mass festival at the Blackbushe Aerodrome in England.
When Dylan brought the tour to the United States in September 1978, he was dismayed the press described the look and sound of the show as a 'Las Vegas Tour', as the European concerts had been a great success. His performances at Madison Square Garden were given a good review by
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
. The 1978 tour grossed more than $20 million, and Dylan acknowledged to the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' that he had some debts to pay off because "I had a couple of bad years. I put a lot of money into the movie, built a big house ... and it costs a lot to get divorced in California."
[Sounes, 2001, Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan, pp. 314–316.] It was during the later stages of this tour that Dylan experienced a "
born-again
Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sep ...
" conversion to Christianity, which would become the overriding thematic preoccupation in his music for the next couple of years, such as on the albums ''
Slow Train Coming'' (1979) and ''
Saved'' (1980).
Releases
Concerts in Tokyo in February and March were recorded and released as the live double album, ''
Bob Dylan at Budokan
''Bob Dylan at Budokan'' is a live album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released August 1978 on Columbia Records in Japan only, followed by a worldwide release in April 1979. It was recorded during his 1978 world tour and is composed m ...
''. Reviews were mixed.
Robert Christgau awarded the album a C+ rating, giving the album a derisory review, while
Janet Maslin
Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
defended it in
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
, writing: "These latest live versions of his old songs have the effect of liberating Bob Dylan from the originals."
Set list
This set list is representative of the performance on November 15, 1978 in Inglewood, California. It does not represent the set list at all concerts for the duration of the tour.
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My Back Pages
"My Back Pages" is a song written by Bob Dylan and included on his 1964 album ''Another Side of Bob Dylan''. It is stylistically similar to his earlier folk protest songs and features Dylan's voice with an acoustic guitar accompaniment. Howeve ...
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#"She’s Love Crazy"
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Mr. Tambourine Man"
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Shelter from the Storm
"Shelter from the Storm" is a song by Bob Dylan, recorded on September 17, 1974, and released on his 15th studio album, ''Blood on the Tracks'', in 1975. It was later anthologized on the compilation album ''The Essential Bob Dylan'' in 2000.
Com ...
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It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his '' Bringing It All Back Home'' album, released on March 22, 1965, by Columbia Records. The song was recorded on January 15, 1965, with Dylan's acousti ...
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Tangled Up in Blue
"Tangled Up in Blue" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the opening track on his 15th studio album '' Blood on the Tracks'' (1975). The song was written by Dylan and produced by David Zimmerman, Dylan's bro ...
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Ballad of a Thin Man
"Ballad of a Thin Man" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan, and released in 1965 on his sixth album, ''Highway 61 Revisited''.
Recording
Dylan recorded "Ballad of a Thin Man" in Studio A of Columbia Records in New York City, located at 799 ...
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Maggie's Farm
"Maggie's Farm" is a song written by Bob Dylan, recorded on January 15, 1965, and released on the album '' Bringing It All Back Home'' on March 22 of that year. Like many other Dylan songs of the 1965–66 period, "Maggie's Farm" is based on elect ...
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I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)"
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Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 20, 1965, by Columbia Records. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted fro ...
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I Shall Be Released"
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Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)"
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The Times They Are a-Changin'"
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Rainy Day Women ♯12 & 35"
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It Ain't Me Babe
"It Ain't Me Babe" is a song by Bob Dylan that originally appeared on his fourth album '' Another Side of Bob Dylan'', which was released in 1964 by Columbia Records. According to music critic Oliver Trager, this song, along with others on the al ...
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#"Am I Your Stepchild?"
#"One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)"
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Blowin' in the Wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962.
It was released as a single and included on his album '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' in 1963. It has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions abou ...
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Girl from the North Country
"Girl from the North Country" (occasionally known as "Girl ''of'' the North Country") is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City in April 1963, and released the following month as the second tra ...
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#"We Better Talk This Over"
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Masters of War
"Masters of War" is a song by Bob Dylan, written over the winter of 1962–63 and released on the album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' in the spring of 1963. The song's melody was adapted from the traditional "Nottamun Town." Dylan's lyrics are ...
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Just Like a Woman
"Just Like a Woman" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan first released on his seventh studio album, ''Blonde on Blonde'' on June 20, 1966. It was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. A shorter edit was released as a sin ...
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To Ramona"
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All Along the Watchtower
"All Along the Watchtower" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his eighth studio album, '' John Wesley Harding'' (1967). The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. The song's lyrics, which in its original ve ...
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All I Really Want to Do
"All I Really Want to Do" is a song written by Bob Dylan and featured on his Tom Wilson- produced 1964 album, ''Another Side of Bob Dylan''. It is arguably one of the most popular songs that Dylan wrote in the period immediately after he abandon ...
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It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
"It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and first released on his 1965 album ''Bringing It All Back Home''. It was written in the summer of 1964, first performed live on October 10, 1964, and recorded on ...
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Forever Young"
;Encore
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"Changing of the Guards
Guard mounting, changing the guard, or the changing of the guard, is a formal ceremony in which sentries performing ceremonial guard duties at important institutions are relieved by a new batch of sentries. The ceremonies are often elaborate an ...
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Tour dates
References
External links
BobLinks
nbsp;– Comprehensive log of concerts and set lists with categorized link collection
nbsp;– Information on all known recording sessions and performances by Dylan
{{Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan concert tours
1978 concert tours