A traditional cover and selections from Bringing it All Back Home dominated Bob Dylan‘s setlist on this day in 1988. With the veteran songwriter back on the road in October, we’re taking a look back at a selection of Dylan’s first year on the Never-Ending Tour.
Dylan would perform a 15-song show with nothing but hits for his appearance at the Champs de Brionne Music Theater in George, Washington. Songs from Blonde on Blonde and Blood on the Tracks made an appearance here while Down in the Groove received a brief look-in from Dylan and the band. It would hardly surprise Dylan fans to learn the sole song performed from the controversial 1988 release is Silvio.
A full setlist from Dylan’s show on August 20, 1988 at the Champs de Brionne Music Theater can be found below.
- Subterranean Homesick Blues
- Absolutely Sweet Marie
- All Along the Watchtower
- You’re a Big Girl Now
- Highway 61 Revisited
- Masters of War
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- Trail of the Buffalo (traditional cover)
- It Ain’t Me, Babe
- I Shall Be Released
- Silvio
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Blowin’ in the Wind
- Maggie’s Farm
Dylan would perform some of the songs featured in this set as acoustic numbers, with the rest of the songs performed electrically. He chose to play Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, Mr. Tambourine Man, Trail of the Buffalo, It Ain’t Me, Babe, and Blowin’ in the Wind acoustically.
There is little, if any, further information on the show than the setlist. The DVDylan website hosts a four-star review of the concert recording bootleg with Trail of the Buffalo singled out as “a tasty treat sung with great conviction.” Trail of the Buffalo would be dropped from Dylan’s set after this, until it reappeared once more during a performance at The Hague in June 1989.
Just a few days before this performance, Dylan would find himself adding One Too Many Mornings to his setlist for the first time in a decade. It came only a day after he rocked Sammis Pavilion with a cover of The Ink Spots’ We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me). The song had been a frequent feature of the Rolling Thunder Revue, with the live album Hard Rain featuring an all-time great performance of The Times They Are A-Changin’ song.
Dylan would perform One Too Many Mornings occasionally through the 1990s, though it has not been performed since 2005. It seems to have fallen out of favour and it is unlikely that fans will ever hear it performed live again. The song marked the only acoustic rendition of the night in 1988. A final performance of the song was given in Vancouver, Canada.
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