Bob Dylan – The First Rolling Thunder Revue Review

Documentaries, feature essays and interviews on The Rolling Thunder Revue have billed it as a big moment in Bob Dylan’s career. As the man himself shared in the Martin Scorsese documentary back in 2019, he does not remember it as well as his fans. How could he? It was a time of consequential struggle for Dylan, whose Blood on the Tracks profiled a broken heart. With his forward-facing Desire to follow it up, blurring the political protest powerhouse Desire and the deflated hang-ups of the heartbreaks heard on his previous release, how could The Rolling Thunder Revue be anything more than a strife-riddled time? There are some incredible performances to be found on this tour, and though incomplete, The First Rolling Thunder Revue proves to be an interesting artefact of history. A worthwhile encounter with a musician trying to piece himself back together on stage. 

Dylan was finding a new image, but did not sound ready to discard his hits. He would open shows with When I Paint My Masterpiece, a song which would still feature in his modern-day performances. It is a suggestion of a musician in search, forever, of their opus. Though it may never come because the end of the pursuit is the end of artistry, it marks a brilliant opener for the first show of this fabled tour. Brace yourselves, though, the tape quality and recording are less-than-ideal. Miserable, in fact. Muffled and garbled and filled with comments from the recorders on where to place the microphone. Fight through it, though, and listen to a wild bit of history. Fade in and out of this first performance. Some complete songs are worth sticking around for, as heartbreaking as it may be to lose out on complete versions of Hurricane and Just Like a Woman from this performance. Wildly reimagined classics, a staple of the Dylan live set, are showcased here.  

It Ain’t Me, Babe, sounds spectacular. There is a spring in his step, a spontaneity in the instrumental work, electrified as it is, which translates to a few stunned calls and applause from the audience. All these rock-adjacent moments would inform Hard Rain, a live album which only grows in quality the more this period is explored. Joan Baez and Jacques Levy are integral to this set, particularly in the later stages of the show, where Dylan begins blurring his contemporary Desire material with songs that still define him to passive listeners. A blur of One More Cup of Coffee and Hurricane, albeit in partial recording, are great contrasts to the preceding Mr. Tambourine Man. Skilful playing is to be expected throughout this show. A collection of phenomenal instrumental reimaginings of all-time great songs.  

From the roaring guitar on A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall to Baez-featuring deep cut, Never Let Me Go, the joys of this first-ever Rolling Thunder Revue performance are clear. The latter song, a cover of the Joseph Scott classic, slips right into the hits surrounding it. Emotional range from Dylan and Baez, which would develop the wild Renaldo and Clara recordings that much further, pairs with a consistent instrumental tone, one which would define the next two years of Dylan on stage. This is a last hurrah for the more passive fan, for those who do not wish to hear his heavy reliance on backing vocalists and Mark Knopfler in the years to come. Patches of The First Rolling Thunder Revue remain unlistenable, though that is not the fault of the band. Fill in those gaps with the context of the times, and you have a performance from Dylan that is quite unlike anything else up to this point in his career.