Bob Dylan ??/??/1939

Bob Dylan ??/??/39
50 years Of Desolation Row, Various, Various

Add Source

List Collectors

Add to Collection

I Was There

Add to Want List

Wanted By

History

Edit Show

Set I

CD1
1. 3 September 1965 - Los Angeles, California - Hollywood Bowl
2. 13 April 1966 - Sydney, Australia - Sydney Stadium
3. 19 April 1966 - Melbourne, Australia - Festival Hall
4. 5 May 1966 - Dublin, Ireland - Adelphi Theatre
5. 16 May 1966 - Sheffield, England - Gaumont Theatre
6. 4 February 1974 - St Louis, Missouri (afternoon show) - Missouri Arena
7. 21 June 1984 - Rome, Italy - Roma Palaeur

CD2
1. 7 July 1986 - Washington, DC - RFK Stadium (Bob guesting at a Grateful Dead show. He had played earlier on the same bill.)
2. 21 September 1987 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Valby Hallen
3. 23 September 1987 - Helsinki, Finland - Jaahalli
4. 8 October 1987 - Brussels, Belgium - Vorst National
5. 17 June 1990 - Winnipeg, Canada - Centennial Centre Concert Hall
6. 3 July 1990 - Hamburg, Germany - Stadtpark
7. 24 August 1990 - Pueblo, Colorado - State Fair Grandstand
8. 1 September 1990 - Lampe, Missouri - Swiss Villa Amphitheatre
9. 18 November 1990 - Detroit, Michigan - Fox Theatre
10. 12 February 1991 - London, England - Hammersmith Odeon
11. 18 June 1991 - Essen, Germany - Grugahalle

CD3
1. 2 November 1991 - Ames, Iowa - C.Y. Stevens Auditorium
2. 10 November 1991 - Indianapolis, Indiana - Murat Temple
3. 5 April 1992 - Melbourne, Australia - Palais Theatre
4. 14 April 1992 - Sydney, Australia - State Theatre
5. 4 May 1992 - San Francisco, California - Warfield Theatre
6. 8 July 1992 - Aosta, Italy - Arena Croix Noir
7. 3 November 1992 - Cincinnati, Ohio - Music Hall
8. 11 February 1993 - London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
9. 18 April 1993 - Asheville, North Carolina - Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

CD4
1. 29 June 1993 - Marseilles, France - Palais des Sports
2. 10 July 1993 - Oporto, Portugal - Colisio Oporto
3. 7 October 1993 - Concord, California - Concord Pavilion
4. 26 August 1994 - Merillville, Indiana - Star Plaza Theatre
5. 22 October 1994 - Rochester, New York - Auditorium Center
6. 30 October 1994 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre
7. 17 November 1994 - New York City, New York - Sony Studios (unreleased take from first MTV Unplugged session)

CD 5
1. 12 March 1995 - Prague, Czech Republic - Kongresovy sal, Palac kultury
2. 27 March 1995 - Cardiff, Wales - Cardiff International Centre
3. 2 April 1995 - Birmingham, England - Aston Villa Leisure Centre
4. 22 May 1995 - San Francisco, California - Warfield Theatre
5. 25 June 1995 - Washington, DC - RFK Stadium
6. 28 July 1995 - Vienne, France - Theatre Romain Antique
7. 13 December 1995 - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania - Stabler Arena
8. 17 December 1995 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Electric Factory

CD 6
1. 20 April 1996 - Portland, Maine - State Theatre
2. 10 May 1996 - Erie, Pennsylvania - Warner Theatre
3. 10 July 1996 - Tambach, Germany - Schloss Tambach
4. 5 April 1997 - Moncton, Canada - Moncton Coliseum
5. 13 January 1998 - New London, Connecticut - Garde Arts Center
6. 18 January 1998 - New York City, New York - The Theater, Madison Square Garden
7. 21 June 1998 - Glasgow, Scotland - SECC Arena
8. 27 September 1998 - Reno, Nevada - Reno Hilton Amphitheatre

CD 7
1. 9 February 1999 - Dayton, Ohio - Ervin J. Nutter Center, Wright State University
2. 10 April 1999 - Gijon, Spain - Teatro Jovellanos
3. 30 July 1999 - Wantagh, New York - Jones Beach Amphitheatre
4. 17 November 1999 - Durham, New Hampshire - Whittemore Center, University of NH
5. 10 March 2000 (late show) - Anaheim, California - Sun Theatre
6. 28 May 2000 - Milan, Italy - Palavobis
7. 30 July 2000 - Stanhope, New Jersey - Waterloo Village
8. 29 September 2000 - Frankfurt, Germany - Jahrhunderthalle

CD 8
1. 12 November 2000 - South Kingston, Rhode Island - Keaney Gym, University of RI
2. 9 March 2001 - Fukuoka, Japan - Sun Palace
3. 31 March 2001 - Ballina, Australia - Kingsford Smith Park
4. 12 July 2001 - Liverpool, England - King's Dock
5. 28 July 2001 - Taormina, Italy - Teatro Greco
6. 20 November 2001 - Uncasville, Connecticut - Mohegan Sun Arena
7. 7 April 2002 - Oslo, Norway - Spektrum
8. 30 August 2002 - Park City, Utah - Snow Park Lodge

CD 9
1. 26 February 2003 - Christchurch, New Zealand - Westpactrust Centre
2. 3 August 2003 - Somerset, Wisconson - Float Rite Amphitheatre (Bob guesting with The Dead during their brief joint tour)
3. 20 November 2003 - Sheffield, England - Sheffield Arena
4. 20 March 2004 - Toronto, Canada - The Phoenix
5. 6 July 2004 - Montauban, France - Jardin des Plantes, Montauban Festival de Jazz
6. 9 November 2004 - East Lansing, Michigan - Jack Breslin Student Events Center, MSU
7. 29 March 2005 - Denver, Colorado - Fillmore Auditorium
8. 2 April 2005 - Chicago, Illinois - Auditorium Theatre

CD 10
1. 24 June 2005 - Montclair, New Jersey - Yogi Berra Stadium, Montclair State University
2. 20 November 2005 - London, England - Brixton Academy
3. 29 April 2006 - Jackson, Mississippi - Mississippi Coliseum
4. 17 July 2006 - Paestrum, Italy - Teatro Mediterraneo
5. 18 November 2006 -Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Wachovia Spectrum
6. 19 April 2007 - Dusseldorf, Germany - Philipshalle
7. 26 June 2007 - Florence, Massachusetts - Pines Theatre

CD 11
1. 9 October 2007 - Rochester, New York - RIT Fieldhouse
2. 29 February 2008 - Monterrey, Mexico - Arena Monterrey
3. 11 July 2008 - Oeiras, Portugal - Optimus Alive!08, Passeio Maritimo of Alges
4. 21 November 2008 - New York City, New York - The United Palace
5. 12 April 2009 - Amsterdam, Holland - Heineken Music Hall
6. 1 July 2009 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Marcus Amphitheater
7. 6 November 2009 - Detroit, Michigan - Fox Theater

CD 12
1. 24 March 2010 - Tokyo, Japan - Zepp Tokyo
2. 7 June 2010 - Zagreb, Croatia - Salata
3. 13 November 2010 - Washington, DC - Charles E. Smith Center, George Washington University
4. 26 April 2011 - Byron Bay, Australia - Byron Bay Bluesfest
5. 12 August 2011 - Bethel, New York - Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
6. 21 November 2011 - London, England - HMV Hammersmith Apollo

CD 13
1. 15 April 2012 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Citibank Hall
2. 2 July 2012 - Berlin, Germany - Citadel Music Festival
3. 16 November 2012 - Montreal, Canada - Centre Bell
4. 20 July 2013 - Mansfield, Massachusetts - Comcast Center
5. 2 November 2013 - Milan, Italy - Teatro degli Arcimboldi
6. 15 July 2014 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Tradgardsforeningen
7. 16 July 2015 - Loerrach, Germany - Stimmen Festival, Marktplatz

Set II

Set III

Comment

Bob Dylan recorded Desolation Row in Studio A of Columbia Recording Studio in New York City at sessions for his Highway 61 Revisited album.
Various takes were recorded on July 30, 1965 then on August 2 and August 4, 1965 with two takes from this final session being edited together to form the album version.

Bob performed Desolation Row live for the first time on August 28, 1965 at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in New York City.
Desolation Row was then officially released on August 30, 1965 as the final track on Highway 61 Revisited.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Desolation Row, I have created a compilation of 101 live versions of this song.
'Was that some kind of joke?' you may ask.

It started as a simple request, 'Can you just put together some of the best versions?'
The project then began innocently with an initial thought of maybe compiling one version from each year it was performed live or maybe even 50 different versions.
But it quickly grew into this 13 disc set.

So how many times has Bob played Desolation Row live?

To answer this, we need to first consider the period 1965-66 and then look at Bob's 'return to touring years' of 1974 to present day.

1965-1966
From Bob's first performance of Desolation Row in 1965 to the end of his 1966 European tour, there are 89 documented Dylan concerts.
As the set lists for each of the various tour legs in these two years are thought to have been largely very fixed, it could be guessed that Desolation Row was played at all of these 89 shows.
But there are only recordings or documented set lists from 27 of these shows.
So we really do not presently know what the correct answer is here - somewhere between 27 and 89.

From 1974 to 2015
Using the various setlist databases and collectors' resources, I count that there have now been 424 live performances over these 41 years (as at the end of Bob's 2015 Europena summer festival tour).
This number of 424 includes the guest version with the Grateful Dead in 1986, the 2 Unplugged versions from 1994 and the version with The Dead in 2003.
A year-by-year listing showing the spread of these 424 versions is contained below.

How many of these live versions were recorded and are circulating?
For 1965 there are three circulating live versions that I know of. One of these was professionally recorded and the other two are poor quality audience tapes.
For 1966 there are 12 circulating live versions that I know of. Six of these were professionally recorded (1 officially released) and the other six are poor quality audience tapes.

From 1974-2015 nearly all of the 424 live versions circulate among collectors.
By my count there are only 8 versions where there is no known recording in circualtion and these are all from 2008 - 2012.
Bob tapers have done an extraordinary job since 1974 recording nearly all of his shows and then sharing their tapes.

So, with recordings of 431 different live performances to choose from, what was the criteria for inclusion on this compilation?

- the recording quality had to be good, preferably better
- I wanted each CD to sound as good as possible so unfortunately the debut performance from Forest Hills, NYC 1965 was not included for obvious reasons
- for 1965-66 I stuck with the PA or line tapes and left the audience recordings out
- for 1974, 1984 and 1986, the audience tapes of these one-off versions were luckily all good so they are included
- for 1987, again the three versions from the Temples In Flames tour sounded good so they are each included
- from 1990 onwards when Desolation Row has been performed regularly, I wanted to present the live evolution of the song by including a few versions from every year, making sure that every different band formation that played Desolation Row with Bob was represented
- sometimes there are different versions from the same week of a tour if I heard differences or a progression in these versions that was of interest
- from 1990 onwards I focussed on finding the best sounding and most interesting version/s from each tour leg of that year (only a few tour legs have been skipped)
- I also wanted to include versions performed in as many different cities and countries as I could, considering the above criteria
- included are each of the recognised 'more significant' performances from the NET years, such as:
the two versions from Australia 1992 where Bob was reported as breaking down during these (nothing can be heard on the tapes to back this up though)
the sole version from 1997 which Bob dedicated to Alan Ginsberg (who had passed away earlier that day)
and the occassional times where Bob sang all 10 verses.

The 101 live versions have been arranged to fit on 13 CDs, with the aim of each disc’s programming being for it to sound as if it is a continuous show where there is only one song played over, just slightly differently each time.
So the tracks have been cross-faded to try and blend seemlessly into each other.
For some of the 1966 versions on disc one this was not possible as the recordings available to me have abruptly edited endings with the audience reactions cut. But for nearly all versions on discs 2-13 this affect was attempted.

For nearly all 101 tracks, I have performed individual graphic equalizer mixes with the following aims-
- to make the best available recording sound better
- to give the selected recordings a consistant balanced volume and sound mix

For many of the included versions i believe that i was able to significantly improve the sound of the recording with some basic EQ mixing and tricks to minimise any obtrusive audience noise.
SO hopefully even if you already have the source concerts of these versions, the version of Desolation Row will now sound better here.

To my knowledge, nothing on here has yet been officially released.
But that may well change with the '50th anniversary / copyright extention collection' that is expected in December 2015.
I have only included one version from 1965 so that would be the only version likely to be included on that release.
Manchester, England - 17 May 1966 is not included as it is on The Bootleg Series Volume 4.
The Unplugged version from 1994 is from the first session on 17 November. The released album version was performed at the second session on the following day.

The best moments ... listen at the end of the Philadelphia 1995 performance where Bob comments, “Thank you, all right thank you, I know, I know, that’s a pretty depressing song ... "
And well done to the guy in the crowd in Chicago 2005 who yells, "Bob, sing Summer Days" just before he starts Desolation Row.

Thank you to all of the tapers!!
Every Dylan collector should be forever indebted to those who were there secretly recording, then freely sharing their tapes.

Display Setlist > >

Last Changed By Dan Anderson

Click 'Edit Show' or the 'Set I(II)(III)' or 'Comment' text to make corrections.
If this is a duplicate or incorrect entry and should be merged, use the Request Merge page.