Bob Dylan Keeps Grateful Dead Tributes Coming In Tokyo With ‘Brokedown Palace’ & ‘Not Fade Away’

Update: Audio of Dylan’s second “Brokedown Palace” has been added below.

Bob Dylan threw his audience in Tokyo a major curveball last Wednesday, April 12 by debuting a cover of “Truckin'.” Turns out that was just the beginning of a string of Grateful Dead tributes played out over the last four nights of a five-show residency at the Tokyo Garden Theater.

While Dylan and his band kept the setlist at the opening show in Tokyo on Tuesday, April 11 inline with nearly all other stops on the two-year-old Rough And Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour, each of the remaining four nights saw Bob honor his old pals and one-time tourmates. The second surprise GD tribute came on Friday, April 14, when Bob gave the gorgeous Hunter/Garcia composition “Brokedown Palace” a go.

Bob Dylan began singing the American Beauty classic and playing the tune on piano 14 songs into Friday’s concert when one-by-one the members of his band joined in. Then, nearly four minutes in, Dylan struggled with the lyrics and aborted “Brokedown Palace,” telling the crowd, “I thought I knew this song” before moving right into “Melancholy Mood.”

Stream audio of Dylan’s “Brokedown Palace” premiere below:

https://soundcloud.com/htbloggin/bob-dylan-brokedown-palace/s-lh3bRua912X?si=b071132a625b4217881f30fdcc67bf62&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Another Grateful Dead-related surprise followed on Saturday, April 15 at Tokyo Garden Theater as “Not Fade Away” fit into the same slot held by the previous tributes. Penned by Buddy Holly (with Norman Petty also credited), “Not Fade Away” was originally recorded and released by the Crickets in 1957. The Grateful Dead debuted their take on “Not Fade Away” on February 19, 1969 and performed the song 550 times through July 5, 1995. Dylan hadn’t played “NFA” since an August 8, 2009 concert in Lubbock, Texas as per BobDylan.com.

Watch fan-shot video of Dylan busting out “Not Fade Away” on Saturday below:

Bob Dylan closed out his Tokyo residency last night. The legendary musician and his current band — guitarists Bob Britt and Doug Lancio, bassist Tony Garnier, drummer Jerry Pentecost and multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron — gave “Brokedown Palace” another attempt on Sunday. However, the second try was even shorter with BobLinks.com noting it was “aborted after 1 min 30 sec and then sraight [sic] into Goodbye Jimmy Reed.”

Hear audio of Bob’s second attempt at “Brokedown Palace” below:

The Japanese leg of the trek continues on Tuesday with the first of three shows in Nagoya. Let’s see if the trend was kept to Tokyo or if more Grateful Dead tributes are coming.

Setlists (via BobLinks.com)

Friday, April 14

Set: Watching The River Flow, Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine), I Contain Multitudes, False Prophet, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Black Rider, My Own Version Of You, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, Crossing The Rubicon, To Be Alone With You, Key West (Philosopher Pirate), Gotta Serve Somebody, I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You, Brokedown Palace*, Melancholy Mood, Mother Of Muses, Goodbye Jimmy Reed, Every Grain Of Sand

* – First Time Played (Grateful Dead)

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Saturday, April 15

Set: Watching The River Flow, Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine), I Contain Multitudes, False Prophet, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Black Rider, My Own Version Of You, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, Crossing The Rubicon, To Be Alone With You, Key West (Philosopher Pirate), Gotta Serve Somebody, I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You, Not Fade Away*, Mother Of Muses, Goodbye Jimmy Reed, Every Grain Of Sand

* – Last Time Played = August 8, 2009

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Sunday, April 16

Set: Watching The River Flow, Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine), I Contain Multitudes, False Prophet, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Black Rider, My Own Version Of You, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, Crossing The Rubicon, To Be Alone With You, Key West (Philosopher Pirate), Gotta Serve Somebody, I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You, That Old Black Magic, Mother Of Muses, Brokedown Palace*, Goodbye Jimmy Reed, Every Grain Of Sand

* – Aborted after 1 min 30 sec

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