Bob Dylan - 1965-07-25 - Newport Folk Festival, RI (SBD) - [A different version] | so many roads . . . . .

Bob Dylan - 1965-07-25 - Newport Folk Festival, RI (SBD)

Bob Dylan

1965-07-25

Newport Folk Festival

Newport, Rhode Island

Soundboard Recording

01.  Introduction and tune up

02.  Maggie’s Farm 

03.  Like A Rolling Stone 

04.  Phantom Engineer (early version of ‘It Takes A Lot To Laugh, A Train To Cry’)

05.  encore call and tune up 

06.  It’s All Over Now Baby Blue 

07.  Mr Tambourine Man

Speedy notes: The Newport Folk Festival was founded in 1959 by George Wein, who was also the founder of the already-well-established Newport Jazz Festival. The festival introduced to a national audience a number of performers who went on to become major stars, most notably Joan Baez by her appearance as an unannounced guest of Bob Gibson in 1959, and Bob Dylan, in turn a guest of Baez at the 1963 festival. 

Dylan, of course, is responsible for the most legendary moment in the Festiva's long storied history. On Saturday, July 24, 1965, he performed three acoustic numbers, “All I Really Want to Do”, “If You Gotta Go, Go Now”, and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” at a Newport workshop. According to Jonathan Taplin, a roadie at Newport, Dylan made a spontaneous decision that Saturday that he would challenge the Festival by performing with a fully amplified band. Taplin said that Dylan had been annoyed by what he considered condescending remarks made by festival organizer Alan Lomax about the Paul Butterfield Blues Band when he introduced them. Dylan’s attitude, according to Taplin, was, “Well, f**k them if they think they can keep electricity out of here, I’ll do it. On a whim he said he wanted to play electric.” Dylan then assembled a band and rehearsed that night at a mansion being used by festival organizer George Wein. The next day, Sunday, July 25, 1965, Dylan took the stage backed by  Mike Bloomfield on lead guitar, Al Kooper on organ, Jerome Arnold on bass, Sam Lay on drums, and Barry Goldberg on piano.  After a brief introduction , Dylan launched into an electrified version of Maggie's Farm, followed by Like A Rolling Stone, his latest single released just 5 days earlier. The crowd booed, some fans felt betrayed but Dylan never looked back. Like A Rolling Stone would go to #2 on the Billboard charts, but more importantly, would be recognised as one of the greatest songs in rock history. In 2004 and 2010, Rolling Stone ranked it as the #1 song on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time. Dylan had gone electric, as, to paraphrase another of his classics, the times they were a changing.   This soundboard recording captures that historic moment, 6 decades ago this very day.