Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead Team Up At Giants Stadium On This Date In 1987

Iconic singer-songwriter Bob Dylan‘s illustrious career has gone through many peaks and valleys since he left his native Minnesota for New York City in 1961. One of those valleys took place in the ’80s, when he came close to retiring after a tour with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. “Tom was at the top of his game and I was at the bottom of mine,” recalled Dylan in his Chronicles, Vol. 1 autobiography. Before Dylan could retire he had a commitment to fulfill – a 1987 stadium tour with the Grateful Dead.

The series of six shows were set to feature a pair of sets from the Dead followed by a Dylan set with the San Francisco legends as his backing band. Bob shares details in his autobiography about one of the first rehearsals for the tour, which were held at the Dead’s famed Club Front space in San Rafael, California. The Dead wanted Dylan to perform a number of songs he doesn’t usually play and Bob wasn’t feeling it. He excused himself from the rehearsal and didn’t intend to return. However, he stumbled upon an amazing performance at a jazz club that revitalized him. Bob returned and began the hard work of rehearsing for the tour.

On July 12, 1987 Dylan & The Dead brought their summer excursion to the massive Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. YouTube’s VoodooNola2 took three different video sources, both pro-shot and audience-shot, and created an outstanding document of the marathon show. Check it out:

A different video source of the performance surfaced on YouTube today via Kevin Tobin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y23QwSD1W00