Bob Dylan and Joan Baez – Massachusetts 1975 Review

Just four shows into the Rolling Thunder Revue tour, and it sounded as if cracks were beginning to show. Not in the quality of the performance from either Bob Dylan or Joan Baez, but in the fundamentals of their style. Dylan had just reformed his career after a few languid years of living in Woodstock, and Baez was enjoying career highs, which, with Diamonds and Rust, would make her more appealing than Dylan as a modern pop artist, however briefly. Pairing the two together on stage again has a vague suggestion of classic folk days. Were the two to whip their acoustic instruments out again and rekindle a Newport Folk Festival high? Not at all. This back-and-forth between the pair, with Dylan and Baez overlapping on two covers and a deep cut classic, I Shall Be Released, takes place on the fourth show of the tour. Already, you can hear the internal conflict Dylan would expand on with Blood on the Tracks and Desire.  

What you can also hear is Baez blowing his set out of the water. Her latter half of the Rolling Thunder Revue show is a storming bit of brilliance. “Someday, everything is going to be different,” Dylan rages on opening song When I Paint My Masterpiece. That difference would be on Massachusetts 1975. Baez takes the spotlight from Dylan in a remarkable set, though the Mr. Tambourine Man songwriter rattles off some great renditions of It Ain’t Me, Babe, and A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall. Both songs are given an overwhelmingly brilliant new instrumental range, and a softer touch from Dylan’s vocal range is spot on. It’s a rendition which ditches the warbling, nasally style and instead brings in the crushing rock and roll flair of the mid-1970s. Catchy guitar riffs and an emotional storm brewing at his very core, that’s what brings out the best in these songs a decade after their release.  

No tour sounds better than the Rolling Thunder Revue when it comes to reviving classic tracks. The soft rock suggestions of the 1990s are certainly a thrill, but Massachusetts 1975 highlights that constant brilliance. Not just from Dylan, either. The overlap with Baez on Blowin’ in the Wind and I Shall Be Released is a sign of those shifting tones. Baez’s critical acclaim at the time is highlighted well by the first of five songs from her solo set. Diamonds and Rust is not just a song about Dylan, it is a song in spite of him. This version exists as an outstanding, shimmering masterclass where the delicate tone is contrast with that fury. The Rolling Thunder Revue shows are built on a series of wounds caught in writing.  

Magnificent results follow, for Baez especially. Those biting moments of Diamonds and Rust are backed by some simpler cover versions, though the selections are telling. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Oh, Happy Day feel like a ballast to the passionate call out of her opening song. Love Song to a Stranger, Pt. 2 feels like a knock at Dylan too in this context, with the instrumental arrangement surrounding it and Diamonds and Rust a truly brilliant experience. Some bold choices from Baez so early into the tour sets the scene for what would be an emotionally entrenched tour, a collection of shows which sounded as though they were imploding. Those fireworks displays are a real thrill to listen to, not least because the truth of the songs performed here are matched by a passion which would slip out of Dylan’s repertoire in the 1980s. Baez steals the show, and not for the first time on this tour.