Bob Dylan & the Band – Isle of Wight Festival Review

Tipped as the “gig of the decade” and not without reason, Bob Dylan and The Band came together five years before their incredible 1974 tour at the Isle of Wight Festival. A somewhat retired Dylan, a man who had turned his back on the stage and seemed to be a social recluse, snubbed Woodstock and instead headed to England. There, in a cream suit and with slight anxiety in his voice, he performed rips on Nashville Skyline, revised parts of his electric era and pushed forward with another new sound. Gig of the decade is perhaps an overstated claim in the context of what Dylan had been doing just a few years before. From going electric to here is just a four-year gap. But in that time, there was a revolutionary change in Dylan’s writing, in his perception of music. The subconscious writing style had given way to harsher lyrics, to active participation in blurring his personal and professional life. You can hear it all come to a head on this monumental, unofficial compilation.  

There is an official release of the Isle of Wight Festival kicking about, and though it may feature The Who, The Band and The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Dylan is the cream of the crop. Nashville Skyline and the new vocal style are primed for the stage and welcomed with She Belongs to Me. Slower tempo, and steadier moments on stage for an artist who had become a recluse. A return was inevitable, but the build of doubt for it ever happening adds a new layer to the Isle of Wight Festival performance. She Belongs to Me is a standout moment, one of many. Hearing the simplicities, and the stripped-back appeal of that 1969 album evolve on stage is a real treat. Isle of Wight Festival hears Dylan with something to prove, not to his audience but to himself. He can still provide a bold statement on stage, still adapt songs from his past to contemporary relevance and new sounds.  

Irony prevails at this performance. Four years before it, Dylan was dubbed “Judas” for performing with the Devil’s instrument, an electric guitar and a Hammond organ. Yet he strips it all back and heads through a route of relatively tame folk rock, the blur leaning towards the former rather than the latter sound. Lay Lady Lay highlights this – the softer touch of the instrumental pieces and the vocal change provides not just a new experience for audiences but a reason for Dylan to continue touring. A purpose for him on stage which had not revealed itself during his time away from performing. Mr. Tambourine Man is nothing short of beautiful here. Even Like a Rolling Stone is a slowed and relatively tame experience. But this is the point.  

A new instrumental route through his music is what Dylan always finds and the receptive crowd is, like it or not, along for the ride. Soft electrics and a new tempo for old words is a refreshing direction for Dylan and the Isle of Wight Festival is filled with those moments. Isle of Wight Festival is an underrated gem of the live Dylan discography – official or otherwise, that is. The Band is in fine form, instrumentally brilliant as expected and backing Dylan with softer tones, confident as ever but ready to drift off, as Dylan was at the time. His roaring return to the stage would occur, properly, five years later with The Band behind him once more. The Isle of Wight Festival is a must-listen experience. Gig of the decade may be a tad hyperbolic, but with the context of Dylan’s work at the time, it still stands as a monumental experience from an artist who seemed to have lost interest in performing.