Dylan at Newport: A Myth?

Post by **BlueChair** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 7:57 pm

I just read a really interesting article about Dylan's 1965 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival.

This of course was the year that Dylan appeared with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and an electric guitar, shocking folkies like Pete Seeger.

The audience was booing.. but were they booing at Dylan's electric performance? This article seems to prove that they were booing at something else entirely:

http://buffaloreport.com/020826dylan.html

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:10 am

A rare Dylan encore!

I'd heard that story about booing the electric, and it always seemed odd...is the tape he was talking about available?

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Thu Jan 15, 2004 6:46 am

For some reason that's reminded me of two concerts.

The first time I saw Bruce Springsteen (in 1985) I was surprised when I heard what I thought were boos. It took a few times to realise they were shouting Brooooccccee.

I also went to see AC DC in 1992 (don't ask!). They did Whole Lotta Rosie and at the beginning during the intro the crowd shouts "Angus". I thought they were all shouting "Wanker". I felt tempted to.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Fri Jan 16, 2004 6:23 am

Clinton Heylin's Dylan biography, Dylan: Behind The Shades, suggests that they were booing at the brevity of Dylans initial set (3 songs with the band, played electric, all mixed very well and it rocked), when many were mainly there to see him, and other acts had played for 45 minutes or whatever. Then, he came out again and played acoustically for two more songs... Then afterwards some boring old farts came on, and nobody paid much attention.

He knew what was going on. When first asked about it, he said, "I did this very crazy thing. I didn't know what was going to happen, but they certainly booed, I'll tell you that. You could hear it all over the place."

Then, by a week later, he was saying, "There were a lot of people there that were very pleased that I got booed". He seems to have just played on it, to stand himself out against all the old folkies. It also inspired him to write Positively 4th Street a few days later, apparently in reaction to booers who claimed they were booing because they were old fans... all classic Dylan self-mythologizing.

uselessbeauty? · Post by **uselessbeauty?** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 4:30 am

i have a bootleg of the show and the audience is definitely booing. at what i can't say but there defintely booing. but it brought out the best in him because the version he does of it's all over now baby blue is absolutely heartbreaking.