Bob Dylan fans believe his team should pull from an unlikely tour for the next Bootleg Series instalment.
The Bootleg Series has been running since the early 1990s and collates deep cuts, alternative versions, and live performances of Dylan’s songs from over the years. The most recent instalment, Through the Open Window, collected Dylan’s earliest years as a songwriter. But fans are hopeful of receiving a bootleg instalment for an overlooked tour where Dylan rekindled his love for the stage. A live album from the time does exist but is hardly hailed as a classic of his discography. Whether there is better material that could be officially released remains to be seen, yet fans are hopeful that Dylan’s tour with members of Grateful Dead sees the light of day. Bootleg tapes of the show exist and are available on YouTube, but the Dylan team has not released anything official from the tour other than the abysmal Dylan and the Dead live album.
Sadly for Dylan fans it remains the only official release of the All Along the Watchtower songwriter’s time with the Jerry Garcia-featuring band. A post to the r/BobDylan subreddit had fans share their hopes of a Grateful Dead-era Dylan bootleg release. Dylan would tour with the band just before releasing Oh Mercy, with a particular highlight of this tour being the Philadelphia 1987 show.
A fan asked: “Are there any unreleased gems left? So much of Bob’s catalogue has now been released through the bootleg series. Are there any professionally recorded tracks that you know of/have heard that you still want released? I mean, fully recorded live shows or studio outtakes.”
Another replied: “I would love if he would release everything he did with the Grateful Dead during that 1987 tour.” A third added: “Grateful Dead rehearsal tapes. I’ve listened to them on archive. But an official release would be great.”
Others believe that The Bootleg Series may have already received its final instalment. While unconfirmed, fans are sharing rumours that the series could end with Through the Open Window.
A fan alleged: “I don’t think there will be another bootleg series, rumours say so at least.” Another disagreed, replying: “I don’t believe this. it’s very profitable series and i expect it to continue — and if they do kill it, stuff will be released under a different handle.” In a review of the Rehearsals bootleg, Cult Following described the collection as a chance to hear Dylan rekindle his love for music with musicians he respects.
The review reads: ” Hearing the development of Slow Train is another crucial moment, following on from some fairly standard and showy moments of Joey and Queen Jane Approximately. Through these Rehearsals is a desire to reconnect with the classics but an uncertainty in how to do it.
“So too do Tangled Up in Blue and all those great hits which find themselves ripped through, in search of new beginnings. Dylan does not find it here but the Dead material, brief it may be and overlooked it is on Rehearsals, is a nice break from a musician trying to relight the fire. He gets close when he steps away from vocal work, as he does on All Along the Watchtower, a marvellous, Dylan-less piece. It is at this low ebb where Dylan revitalises himself, and hearing this process through Rehearsals is a treat.”
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