The Bob Dylan "Real Live"/1984 European Tour Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by stewedandkeefed, Mar 5, 2017.

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  1. adm62

    adm62 Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    With Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers? I thought it was dismal, Dylan was in really bad shape. 1984 much better. I only saw one shoew on each tour though. I was also at the Wembley show in 84 and at the time thought it was superlative.
     
  2. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    There is the "Garcia version" of "Dylan & The Dead" which Jerry put together with John Cutler, and Bob apparently rejected.
     
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  3. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night Thread Starter

    Well I first collected something called Real Live outtakes in the late 1980s which had soundboard stuff from the three British shows and, I think, Paris. Since the digital age, there is an 8 CD collection called the 1984 Soundboard Collection which has four or five songs from a few of the Continental shows, the Rome soundboard, the Paris soundboard (last half of show), a mostly complete lighting tech soundboard (meaning taken from the lighting tech's audio feed and pretty bad quality for a soundboard) from London, the Newcastle outtake and the circulating Slane soundboards. I miss the days of having to actually track stuff down - I recall anticipating the Toads tape in 1990. It's harder to find comparable experiences nowadays.
     
  4. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night Thread Starter

    1988 was the first year of the so-called Never Ending Tour after two years of using Petty & The Heartbreakers and the Grateful Dead as backing bands.
     
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  5. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    When was he doing the acoustic shows? You know the "Trail Of The Buffalo" type songs. Was that 87? I forget this stiff sometimes.
     
  6. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night Thread Starter

    "Trail Of The Buffalo" is 1988 to 1991.
     
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  7. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    One of my favorite songs he ever did. The version on the "You Dont Know Me" set is nuance perfected imo.
     
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  8. RayS

    RayS A Little Bit Older and a Little Bit Slower

    Location:
    Out of My Element
    I don't believe the material is on that set (although I was unaware of its existence until I Googled it after your post).

    Things became a lot easier (and cheaper) with the Internet, but I do miss the days when opening the mailbox was an exciting part of the day!
     
  9. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    Infidels is one of Bob Dylan's greatest achievements.

    I think perhaps Real Live was intended to demonstrate that a Bob Dylan tour offered secular rock & roll again. Or something like that. I agree the live album does not represent the tour well. Dylan said in interviews at the time that the newly reworded "Tangled Up In Blue" expressed what he intended more than the original, or words to that effect, but I'm not as fond of it as some people. I prefer the album version, and the live version from 1978 which blows this one to hell and gone.

    Dylan sounds a bit overwhelmed by the force and sweep of the band as if he has to rush through the words to keep up. But I agree that he found a way to ease in his vocals better at Cologne and Barcelona which are among the best shows on the tour if not his best performances. I wish more songs from Infidels had been played on the tour, and I wish Jokerman were included on the live album. Compare the track list on the live album to these setlists:

    Concert 14 of the 1984 European Tour
    16 June 1984 Mungersorfer Stadion - Cologne, West Germany.

    1. Highway 61 Revisited
    2. Jokerman
    3. All Along The Watchtower
    4. Just Like A Woman
    5. Maggie's Farm
    6. I And I
    7. License To Kill

    Greg Sutton: I've Got To Use My Imagination (Gerry Goffin & Barry Goldberg)

    8. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall -- solo acoustic
    9. Tangled Up In Blue -- solo acoustic
    10. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) -- solo acoustic
    11. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
    12. Masters Of War
    13. Ballad Of A Thin Man
    14. Simple Twist Of Fate
    15. Every Grain Of Sand
    16. Like A Rolling Stone
    encores:
    17. Mr. Tambourine Man -- solo acoustic
    18. It Ain't Me, Babe -- solo acoustic
    19. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat -- with Santana on guitar
    20. Tombstone Blues -- with Santana on guitar
    21. Blowin' In The Wind -- with Santana on guitar
    22. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues -- with Santana on guitar
    23. Why Do I Have To Choose? (Willie Nelson) -- with Santana on guitar


    Concert 21 of the 1984 European tour
    28 June 1984 Minestadio - Barcelona, Spain

    1. Highway 61 Revisited
    2. Jokerman
    3. All Along The Watchtower
    4. Just Like A Woman
    5. Maggie's Farm
    6. I And I
    7. License To Kill

    Greg Sutton: I've Got To Use My Imagination (Gerry Goffin & Barry Goldberg)

    8.
    A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall -- solo acoustic
    9. It Ain't Me, Babe -- solo acoustic
    10. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) -- solo acoustic
    11. Simple Twist Of Fate
    12. Masters Of War
    13. Ballad Of A Thin Man
    14. Enough Is Enough
    15. Every Grain Of Sand
    16. Lay Lady Lay
    17. Like A Rolling Stone
    encores:
    18. Mr. Tambourine Man -- solo acoustic
    19. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right -- solo acoustic
    20. Girl From The North Country -- solo acoustic
    21. Knockin' On Heaven's Door -- with Santana on guitar
    22. SeƱor (Tales Of Yankee Power) -- with Santana on guitar
    23. The Times They Are A-Changin' -- with Santana on guitar
    24. Tombstone Blues -- with Santana on guitar
    25. Blowin' In The Wind -- with Santana on guitar

    Many of the shows were professionally videotaped. There are said to be audio cassettes patched off the soundboard for every show which don't circulate. Some got out. Stereo audience tapes in very good to excellent quality circulate for all the shows.
     
  10. charliez

    charliez Charlie Zip

    Correction: he played stadiums in '86 with Tom Petty. I don't know how many, but I saw them at Rich Stadium in Buffalo.
     
  11. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night Thread Starter

    I was there too but of the 40 odd dates they did on that tour, only five were in stadiums. In 1984, most of the shows were in stadiums.
     
  12. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    Dylan played stadiums on the World 1978 Tour.

    Carlos Santana opened each show with a set that lasted roughly 90 minutes.

    I wonder, did he release a live album from his half of the tour, does anyone know?
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2017
  13. Champagne Boot

    Champagne Boot Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride

    Location:
    Michigan
    Thought there were stadiums in Europe in '81, too.
     
  14. Dflow

    Dflow Listening in the time of Dylan

    Many comments on the boring title for an album - agreed. Any thought as to it referring to the "real" Dylan being back at the time - touring behind a less overtly Christian album and playing down the songs from the previous trilogy?
     
  15. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night Thread Starter

    Well given that only "When You Gonna Wake Up" (in a confusing rewrite) and "Every Grain Of Sand" were in the show and the set featured more songs from Highway 61 Revisited than any other album, I think it's fair to say Bob was out to reclaim his audience. But as far as being the real deal, I'd still take a Gospel show over 1984 but people like me do not define mainstream tastes.
     
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  16. streetlegal

    streetlegal Forum Resident

    I remember my first listen to the electric "Pancho and Lefty" from '89 and blurting out "that sounds like Joe Strummer singing!" Not sure if it really does now, but it gave me the impression at the time . . .

    Bob Dylan - Pancho And Lefty - Cava de'Tirreni, Italy June 21 - 1989 - Dailymotion Video ...

    By the way, it's amazing to think that the 1984 and '88 tour are only four years apart--seems like they are from a different universe.
     
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  17. duggan

    duggan Senior Member

    Location:
    sydney
    I did enjoy the Wembley Stadium show but not nearly as much as Blackbush or the (then) more recent semi religious London gigs.

    It felt like a throwback to nearly 20 years earlier, and a not very successful one at that. The band chugged along, neither Mac nor Taylor gelled, the song selection was dull and Bob appeared to be playing for the purse.
     
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  18. duggan

    duggan Senior Member

    Location:
    sydney
    Did he really play for "almost four hours"?

    This just does not sound correct.
     
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  19. Jimmy B.

    Jimmy B. isolation can harm you terribly

    I was really disappointed with the album Real Live and found it a seemingly pointless release IMO. I also have the Barcelona show on CD and it's not very good either.
    I can't see listening to either ever again.
    Not terrible, just uninspired.
     
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  20. keef285

    keef285 Forum Resident

    Location:
    U.K.
    Most of the soundboard cd's that I have heard from the 84 tour appear to be from high generation copies of the original sources, I believe there must be better out there but someone must be hoarding them.
     
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  21. Heart of Gold

    Heart of Gold Forum Resident

    Location:
    Turin,Italy
    I doubt that concerts from soundboards will be released soon.It's possible that at some point a more complete concert can be released instead from the multitrack tapes.
     
  22. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    Reading this thread is VERY FRUSTRATING because I'm reminded that this was (probably) the only time in my realistic concert-going life that I might have caught a first-rate Dylan live performance!
     
  23. Wayfaring Stranger

    Wayfaring Stranger Forum Resident

    Location:
    York uk
    Sorry if I've exaggerated, but it went on and on, and we've always talked about it as a "four hours long set". They turned the stadium floodlights on to help people see their way out, and Dyland and Santana were still on stage doing Knocking on Heaven's Door"!
     
  24. stewedandkeefed

    stewedandkeefed Came Ashore In The Dead Of The Night Thread Starter

    The running time on my audience tapes of London and Slane is two hours and forty five minutes. Rock n roll has some tendency towards hyperbole over set lengths. It should be noted that the first actual four hour Bruce Springsteen show occurred in 2013. Bob's only four hour show (excepting the second Toronto and New York 1975 complete Rolling Thunder shows), was Toad's Place in New Haven CT 1/12/90. Of course it's the only show where he did a Bruce Springsteen song.
     
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  25. Richard--W

    Richard--W Forum Resident

    Regarding London and Slane, are you including sets by the opening acts, Baez and Carlos Santana in that running time?
     
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