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The Never Ending Tour is a popular term for Bob Dylan's seemingly incessant performing schedule since June 7, 1988. Dylan has attributed much of the versatility of his live shows to the talents of his backing band, with whom he recorded the albums "Love and Theft" (2001) and Modern Times (2006).1 During twenty years of touring, musicians have come and gone, and the band has continued to evolve. Dylan's touring prowess is undiminished by his age - he turned sixty-seven in 2008, and in 2006 played ninety-nine shows. According to the count maintained by Olof Bjorner's Dylan web-site Still On The Road, Dylan played his 2000th show of the Never Ending Tour on October 16, 2007, in Dayton, Ohio.2
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The Title
The tour's name was cemented when journalist Adrian Deevoy published his interview with Dylan in Q Magazine no.39, December 1989. The critic Michael Gray listened to Deevoy's interview tape, and points out in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia that though Deevoy's article put the phrase into Dylan's mouth, in fact the label came from Deevoy in the following exchange:
- AD: 'Tell me about this live thing. You've gone straight into this tour again - one tour virtually straight into the next one.'
- BD: 'Oh, it's all the same tour.'
- AD: 'It's the Never Ending Tour?'
- BD: (unenthusiastically) 'Yeah, yeah'.3
Dylan has been dismissive of the Never Ending Tour tag. In the sleeve notes to his album World Gone Wrong (1993), Dylan wrote: "don't be bewildered by the Never Ending Tour chatter. there was a Never Ending Tour but it ended in '91 with the departure of guitarist G. E. Smith. That one's long gone but there have been many others since then. The Money Never Runs Out Tour (fall of '91) Southern Sympathizer Tour (early '92) Why Do You Look At Me So Strangely Tour (European '92) The One Sad Cry Of Pity Tour (Australia & West Coast American '92) Outburst Of Consciousness Tour ('92) Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Tour ('93) & others too many to mention each with their own character & design." sic
The tour was unofficially and unexpectedly interrupted in 1997. Dylan had to cancel dates after suffering a serious medical issue in May. CBS Records announced he was being hospitalized for a "potentially fatal" chest infection4. A European tour was cancelled prior to release of Time Out of Mind to allow him time to recuperate. In a 2001 Austrian press interview with Thomas Zeidler, Dylan dismissed the term on the grounds that some day he will be unable to hit the road. Ever since the tour started in 1988, Dylan's stay in the hospital in 1997 has been the longest break he's ever had from the tour.
Dylan's Introduction
Since August 15, 2002, Dylan has been introduced at the beginning of most of his concerts with an announcement made by a member of his stage crew:
| “ | Ladies and gentlemen please welcome the poet laureate of rock 'n' roll. The voice of the promise of the 60's counterculture. The guy who forced folk into bed with rock. Who donned makeup in the 70's and disappeared into a haze of substance abuse. Who emerged to find Jesus. Who was written off as a has-been by the end of the 80's, and who suddenly shifted gears releasing some of the strongest music of his career beginning in the late 90's. Ladies and gentlemen - Columbia recording artist Bob Dylan!5 | ” |
This introduction was adapted from an article about Dylan that had appeared in a local newspaper, The Buffalo News, on August 9, 2002.6
Releases, Broadcast & Books
The only officially released live document from the period covered by The Never Ending Tour was a solo set for MTV Unplugged in 1995. Fans, especially on the internet, are known to record, catalogue and trade CDs from his concerts at about the rate of other celebrated live artists, such as Phish and The Grateful Dead. As with those groups, a proper explanation for this is Dylan's tendency to rarely perform a show or even a song in the same manner twice.
Amazon.com broadcast a 2005 live performance on their homepage, in celebration of the site's tenth anniversary.
Andrew Muir authored the book Razor's Edge: Bob Dylan and the Never Ending Tour in September, 2001. The book attempts to chronicle the first decade and a half, while exploring Dylan's possible motivations.
On the 2008 release, The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs, several live songs from the Never Ending Tour including "High Water (For Charley Patton)" (Live, August 23, 2003, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada), "Ring Them Bells" (Live at The Supper Club, November 17, 1993, New York, NY), "Cocaine Blues" (Live, August 24, 1997, Vienna, VA) "The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore" (Live, June 30, 1992, Dunkerque, France), "Lonesome Day Blues" (Live, February 1, 2002, Sunrise, FL), "Cold Irons Bound" (Live at Bonnaroo, 2004) (Deluxe Edition only), "Things Have Changed" (Live, June 15, 2000, Portland, OR) (Deluxe Edition only) and "Tryin' to Get to Heaven" (Live, October 5, 2000, London, England) (Deluxe Edition only) were released.
Band
For a two and a half year period, between 2003 and 2006, Dylan ceased playing guitar, and stuck to the keyboard during concerts. Various rumors circulated as to why Dylan gave up guitar during this period, none very reliable. According to David Gates, a Newsweek reporter who interviewed Dylan in 2004, "basically it has to do with his guitar not giving him quite the fullness of sound he was wanting at the bottom. He's thought of hiring a keyboard player so he doesn't have to do it himself, but hasn't been able to figure out who. Most keyboard players, he says, like to be soloists, and he wants a very basic sound."7 Dylan's touring band has two guitarists along with a multi-instrumentalist who plays steel guitar, mandolin, banjo and fiddle. From 2002 to 2005, Dylan's keyboard had a piano sound. In 2006, this was changed to an organ sound. At the start of his Spring 2007 tour in Europe, Dylan played the first half of the set on electric guitar and switched to keyboard for the second half.8
Since 2005, Bob Dylan's band consists of the following members:
- Bob Dylan — vocals, guitar, keyboard, harmonica
- Stu Kimball — guitar
- Donnie Herron — pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar, electric mandolin, banjo, fiddle
- Denny Freeman — guitar, slide guitar
- Tony Garnier — bass guitar, standup bass
- George Receli — drums
During a 2006 interview with Rolling Stone, Dylan spoke about his current band:
This is the best band I've ever been in, I've ever had, man for man. When you play with guys a hundred times a year, you know what you can and can't do, what they're good at, whether you want 'em there. It takes a long time to find a band of individual players. Most bands are gangs. Whether it's a metal group or pop rock, whatever, you get that gang mentality. But for those of us who went back further, gangs were the mob. The gang was not what anybody aspired to. On this record (Modern Times) I didn't have anybody to teach. I got guys now in my band, they can whip up anything, they surprise even me.
—Bob Dylan, August 2006, Rolling Stone
Other notable member include Larry Campbell (Guitar from 1997-2004), Freddy Koella (Guitar from 2003-2004), Charlie Sexton (Guitar from 1999-2002), David Kemper (Drums from 1996-2003). Bucky Baxter (Pedal Steel from 1992-1999), John "J.J." Jackson (Guitar from 1991-1996) and G.E. Smith (Guitar from 1988 - 1989).
Notes
- ^ See Dylan quote from Rolling Stone interview, August 2006, at foot of this article, including words: "This is the best band I've ever been in, I've ever had, man for man. When you play with guys a hundred times a year, you know what you can and can't do, what they're good at, whether you want 'em there... I got guys now in my band, they can whip up anything, they surprise even me."
- ^ "Log of every Dylan performance, 1958 to Today", Bjorner's Still on the Road (2007-10-01).
- ^ Gray, The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, 173
- ^ CNN Showbiz. "Bob Dylan hospitalized with chest infection" 28 May 1997. (accessed 14 April 2007)
- ^ "Dylan's introduction, August 15, 2002.". Bjorner's Still On the Road (2002-08-15). Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
- ^ "The Buffalo News, August 9, 2002". Geocities (2002-08-09). Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
- ^ "Talking About Chronicles, quote from David Gates". Right Wing Bob (2004-09-30). Retrieved on 2008-09-07.
- ^ "March 27, 2007, Stockholm, Sweden", Bob Links. Retrieved on 7 September 2008.
References
- Gray, Michael (2006). The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, Continuum International. ISBN 0-8264-6933-7.
- Muir, Andrew (2001). Razor's Edge: Bob Dylan & the Never Ending Tour, Helter Skelter. ISBN 1-900924-13-7.
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- This page was last modified on 2 December 2008, at 09:46.
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