Happy Birthday Bob Dylan | Dylan & The Dead

One of the greatest songwriters of our time, Bob Dylan, turns 73 today. Dylan has recorded over 30 albums since his self-titled debut came out in 1962 and he’s not done yet as another studio LP is set for release later this year. 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 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 goes into details in his autobiography on one of the first rehearsals for the tour, which were held at the Dead’s famed Club Front space in San Rafael, CA. 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, NJ. 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:

Set One: Loser, Tons Of Steel, Ramble On Rose, When I Paint My Masterpiece, When Push Comes To Shove, The Promised Land, Bertha

Set Two: Morning Dew, Playing In The Band, Drums, Space, The Other One, Stella Blue, Throwin’ Stones, Not Fade Away

Set Three (with Bob Dylan): Slow Train Coming, Memphis Blues, Tomorrow is a Long Time, Highway 61, Baby Blue, Thin Man, John Brown, Wicked Messenger, Queen Jane, Chimes of Freedom, Joey, All Along the Watchtower, Times a Changing

Encore: Touch of Grey, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

Source Information:

Missing first three songs

Sets 1 and 2 Video Source: 3rd generation pro-shot VHS/Sony SLV-D300P VHS/AVT-8710 TBC/Sony RDR-GX 300 DVD Recorder/Sony Vegas 6.1/TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 1.0.1.59/DVD Architect 3.0 -VHS tapes courtesy of Greyful Dave

Set 3 Pro-shot Video Source: 2nd generation pro-shot VHS/?/DVD/Sony Vegas 6.1/TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 1.0.1.59/DVD Architect 3.0 -DVD courtesy of Nick B.

Set 3 Audience Video Source: 1st generation audience VHS/Sony SLV-D300P VHS/AVT-8710 TBC/Sony RDR-GX 300 DVD Recorder/TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 1.0.1.59/Sony Vegas 6.1/DVD Architect 3.0 -VHS tape courtesy of Dave L.

Post production video editing and audio matrix synchronization by Voodoonola