When Dylan was actually Booed !

[Vince Evert]

Hard to believe because Bob (to me anyway) is just as big as Elvis and the Beatles but it happened during the 1979-1980 american tour.

Bob just released his gospel album "Slow Train Coming" and became a born again christian.

He was excluding his famous songs in his concerts during this period, and as a consequence he and his band encountered the most hostile, aggressive audience of the tour during a concert at Tempe, Arizona on November 26th, 1979.

Extraordinary audio !

 

[Vince Evert]

Bob Dylan RARE TV interview—Patrick Crosby​

 

[Vince Evert]

 

[Kieran]

Yeah Bob has faced two booing campaigns in his career, and with both of them he’s been proven to be on the right side of history. Obviously the booing in the sixties for plugging in was weird, insane, stupid, but this gospel tour booing was harsh and angry in a whole different way. But long term, and especially after the release of Trouble No More, the Bootleg Series box set that covers that period, we hear the music at a remove from the brouhaha and it’s remarkable, Bob in the middle of an inspired run of songwriting that continued into Infidels in 1983.

What’s always impressive with Bob is that he ignores the booing and gets on with it. Sometimes in those tours between 1978-1981, he didn’t play any old songs in the show - he just steered the mob towards Jesus! It’s typical of his unnaturally brave conviction about what he’s doing..

 

[Kieran]

And by the way, the preachiness is a bit jarring on Slow Train - which is the first gospel record and the only one we really hear him preaching. He’s barely converted and he’s feels entitled to nag us about our sinfulness etc. Doesn’t matter that he’s barely out of diapers himself, if you get me. He hit the ground running with the hellfire threats. The record is still very good, though.

Saved, the second record in 1980, is more about the grace and prayerfulness of his conversion, there’s worship and reflection. It’s a magnificent record, one that’s roundly reviled by anyone who hates his gospel stuff. Covenant Woman, Saving Grace, In The Garden, Pressing On - the whole record would be revered if it was secular.

The third in the trilogy, Shot of Love, isn’t really a gospel/Christian record. It has elements but it also has songs like Lenny Bruce, Heart of Mine, which suggested that he was dimming his candles a bit. Still had the great Every Grain of Sand as it’s closer.

It kind of leaned towards the next record, Infidels, which was powerfully lyrical but in a very different direction.

Typical of Bob, he left so many great songs like Caribbean Wind and Blind Willie McTell, off all these records, because he didn’t feel he’d finished them right, and the full extent of this period became known through bootlegs, and finally his own releases on The Bootleg Series.