A Show-By-Show Listening Guide to Bob Dylan's Massive '1974 Live Recordings' Box Set
I listened to all 27 discs and pulled out the highlights
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Today, Bob Dylan releases The 1974 Live Recordings box set, celebrating his comeback tour with The Band. At 27 discs, 431 tracks, it’s a monster. Soundboards of every song and every show they had in the vaults, in time for the 50th anniversary year.
I’ve had an advance for a couple months now and have listened to all 27 discs. Moreover, I already listened to all these shows once earlier this year too—the audience tapes, mostly—for my series tracking every single show on what was simply called Tour ’74 on its actual anniversary.
So, to help guide you through this behemoth, I’ve gone deeper than a typical review. I’ve put together a disc-by-disc, show-by-show guide to the whole thing. What shows are the best, where you should you start, what’s missing, best performances of key songs, etc. I’ve written a paragraph or two about each show, then also noted things like:
Notable inclusions: What songs are surprising setlist inclusions (live debuts, last-time-evers, etc)
Missing songs/shows: What from the tour isn’t on this set
Most importantly, which I consider the Must-Hear Shows, just suggestions where to start if you’re overwhelmed which disc to put in first
At the end, there’s a (much) shorter playlist version too.
But before we get there, here are some big-picture thoughts I had listening to all 29 hours and 24 seconds of this thing. If you haven’t yet decided whether to pull the trigger on the set—which, credit where it’s due, is very reasonably priced for 27 discs!—this might help guide you. Then you can move onto the show-by-show guide when it’s actually in your hands.
Top Takeaways
Before the Flood did Tour ’74 dirty. That live album is fine, but the recordings were almost entirely taken from the tour’s last few shows. And the end was, as is clear when you listen to this set, the least interesting part of the tour. Tour ’74 peaked early. The first few weeks saw passionate performances and bold setlist choices. By the end, the sets got rote, and Bob’s singing got shouty. He also gradually abandoned the new Planet Waves material, veering as close to please-the-masses greatest hits as he ever has. But some of the early discs on this set showcase something very different, and really special.
Before this, we had soundboard recordings of just five shows from this tour (listed here). Now we suddenly have soundboards of 26 shows. Not all the dates, but most of ‘em. That is huge, and worth taking a second to acknowledge. Moreover, most of the already-circulating soundboards were from the (worse) later part of the tour. Having all these amazing recordings of the first couple weeks especially is really special.
This is a set to savor, not to binge. There are 34 different versions of “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine),” 23 versions of “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” 22 versions of “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” And, unlike in the Never Ending Tour era where he might sing “Tangled Up in Blue” five nights in a row and bring something different each time, many of the performances are the same.
Not all; some oft-played songs—“Forever Young,” “Rainy Day Women,” “Gates of Eden”—vary a fair bit. Those are the ones you don’t get sick of no matter how many times you hear them in a row. Nevertheless, take your time. Powering through the entire thing, like I did, is probably not the best way to take it in. Beware burnout.
The surprise star of the set for me: the harmonica playing. I say “surprise” because I’ve never been one of those fans who hoots and hollers whenever Bob whips out the harp. I’ve seen way too many perfunctory three-note solos for that. But he plays like a man possessed throughout this set. And not just on the slower acoustic songs (the closing solos on “Don’t Think Twice” are a nightly highlight). He wails at high-velocity on many of the full-band songs too. Even when other parts of the shows go through the motions, his harmonica playing never does.
Dylan’s solo-acoustic songs are another highpoint, particularly in the first half of the tour. When I listened to so many audience tapes earlier this year, the quiet songs often got muffled. The sound quality does wonders for them here. “Gates of Eden,” “Just Like a Woman,” and “She Belongs to Me” especially steal the show whenever they get played, as do the early versions of the then-new “Wedding Song” and “Nobody ‘Cept You.”
The biggest criticism I saw when this set was announced was: No Band songs. Unlike in 1966, The Band were huge stars in their own right by 1974, and appropriately got two short sets every night while Bob left the stage. I was critical of this omission myself. But, after hearing all this set, I get it. I did some rough math and including all the Band sets would have added something like 14 additional CDs to this set. Moreover, The Band mixed up their setlists even less than Bob did. Would this box really benefit from 26 different versions of “The Shape I’m In”? I wish instead the label had compiled a bonus disc highlighting their sets, the best version of each song maybe. The narrative is incomplete without representing their own material. Alas.
MVP Song of the Set (Oft-Played Edition): Tie between “Ballad of Hollis Brown” and “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.” The wild electric “Hollis Brown” is a clear tour standout, maybe the single defining song of the tour. “Tom Thumb” is less obvious—it’s not that different than the already-electric studio version—but sounds killer every single outing.
MVP Song of the Set (Rarely-Played Edition): “Tough Mama.” The single best new song live, sharp and biting, so figures he dumps it after just three shows. Luckily “Forever Young” is almost as good, and you’ve got 25 different versions to choose from here.
LVP Song of the Set (that is, least valuable): “Lay Lady Lay.” His most annoying, insufferable yelping each and every time. Tour ‘74 at its worst. Again, many of the greatest hits are among the highlights this time out. Aforementioned “Rainy Day Women” and “Forever Young,” and I’d throw “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and “Ballad of a Thin Man” in there too. “Lay Lady Lay” is not among them.
Okay, that’s the big picture. Now let’s get into the individual shows. You can read through the whole thing in one go if you’re brave, but this guide probably works best if you just pull up the relevant section up whenever you pop another disc into the player.
The 1974 Live Recordings: Disc By Disc
Disc 1: January 3, 1974 – Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL
** Must-Hear Show **
Does this box set peak with its very first disc? You could make the argument. The opening-night excitement includes five live debuts, including of two of Dylan’s signature hits, and one of the more interesting setlists of the run. Opening the entire tour with a full-Band arrangement of his wildly obscure folk-era song “Hero Blues” ranks as one of his wildest concert choices ever. Add to that that the circulating audience tape we’ve had for years sounds terrible. So this is the first time we can really hear the night that started it all.
And damn does it sound great. They could have just released this opening night as a live album in ‘74 and it would have been as good as (whispers: better than) Before the Flood. As I noted in the intro, the first half of the tour has both more interesting setlists and more committed vocal performances. By the final shows, where most of Before the Flood comes from, he’d all but dropped new songs and deep cuts, and was basically shouting every song. There’s no shortage of energy on opening night either, but more variety, in both sound and songs.
Notable inclusions:
All of ‘em, it’s opening night! But especially…
“Tough Mama” — first time ever
“All Along the Watchtower” — first time ever
“Nobody ‘Cept You” (acoustic) — first time ever
“Forever Young” — first time ever
“Something There Is About You” — first time ever
Missing tracks:
The Band’s set (that’s true on every disc so I won’t repeat it every time, but this is the only show where Bob actually remained onstage playing guitar for their songs)
“Ballad of a Thin Man”
“I Don’t Believe You”
“The Times They Are a-Changin’”
Read more about the first Chicago show:
Disc 2: January 4, 1974 – Chicago Stadium, Chicago, IL
Setlists remain exciting on night two. You get five more tour debuts, including another first-time-ever performance of a classic: “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” It would appear in every subsequent show. As would “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” making its tour debut and immediately a nightly highlight. I’m not sure this song has ever sounded better than on Tour ’74, sharp and jagged, but, thanks largely to Garth Hudson’s organ, still channeling some of that proto-thin-wild-mercury sound.
Sound quality is even better than on opening night, though in this case we’ve had an excellent audience tape for years so the difference isn’t as stark. Levon Helm’s drums punch through especially (listen to his fills on “Maggie’s Farm”), though Bob’s vocals distort at times.
Notable inclusions:
“Hero Blues” — final performance ever
"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues” — first time on tour
“Ballad of a Thin Man” — great, first from this tour on tape
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” — first time ever
“Love Minus Zero/No Limit” (acoustic) — first time on tour
“Maggie's Farm” — first time on tour
Missing tracks:
“Lay Lady Lay”
“All Along The Watchtower”
“Forever Young
“Something There Is About You”
“Like A Rolling Stone”
Read more about the second Chicago show:
Disc 3: January 6, 1974 (Afternoon) – The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA
Two key tracks on this one. The first is a debut: “Ballad of Hollis Brown,” to me maybe the single best song they played regularly on the tour. It comes as close as they get to channeling that 1966 energy, taking an old folk-era song and making it loud, angry, and electric as hell. Like “Hero Blues” but even more successful (it’s a better song, which helps). For the only time on the tour, they open the show with it. Opening every show with an acoustic-to-electric rearrangement would have been a badass move: “Hero Blues,” then “Hollis Brown,” then, I dunno, “Spanish Harlem Incident” (they considered playing it!). Alas, pretty soon the standard opener would settle into “Most Likely You Go Your Way.” Thankfully, “Hollis Brown” stuck around, just shifted to later in the first set.
The other key track is a departure. This is the final “Tough Mama” of the tour—and final until 1997 period. A shame, as this was the best full-band Planet Waves track (if you include solo-acoustic, “Wedding Song” would be a close competitor). Again, it brings me back to 1966, retaining that element of danger generally in shorter supply here. Some great harmonica here, and this tour is a real gem for harp-lovers, often played on six or seven songs a night. I prefer all three of the “Tough Mama” versions on this set to the album take. A shame it didn’t stick around longer.
Notable inclusions:
“Ballad Of Hollis Brown” — first time on tour, only time opening show
“Tough Mama” — last time on tour
“To Ramona” (acoustic) — only time on tour
“Mama, You Been On My Mind” (acoustic) — only time on tour
Missing tracks: None
Disc 4: January 6, 1974 (Evening) – The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA
January 6 was the first time of many that Dylan and The Band performed both an afternoon and evening show in the same venue. That’s playing roughly four and half hours of music in a single day. Over and over again. No wonder the pace almost broke them.
These shows saw one important visual innovation you can’t hear: They began turning the house lights on for the chorus of “Like a Rolling Stone,” explicitly making it a sing-along moment. This was promoter Bill Graham’s idea, who reported that, after Dylan was able to actually see 20,000 fans singing along, “He came off the stage mesmerized.”
This show also sees the second and final “Song to Woody” of the tour. Playing non-hits like this and “Hero Blues” early on, he was clearly pointing back to his origins, busy being reborn as a live performer after an eight-year break from touring. His harmonica on this one, as it is for so many, is a highlight. It segues into an equally beautiful harp intro to the only solo-acoustic “Mr. Tambourine Man” of the run.
Notable inclusions:
“Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35” — first time on tour
“It's All Over Now, Baby Blue” (acoustic) — first time on tour
“Song to Woody” — second and final time of tour
“Mr. Tambourine Man” (acoustic) — only time played acoustically on tour
Missing tracks: None
Disc 5: January 7, 1974 – The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA
** Must-Hear Show **
This is maybe the single best-sounding disc yet. I mean, they all sound good, and I’m not enough of an audiophile to pinpoint every slight difference, but this one jumps out of the speakers. The rhythm section sounds great, Rick Danko on bass and Levon Helm on drums leading the charge on every song. Honestly someone could just isolate their tracks without everyone else and it would still be an engaging listen.
First “Wedding Song” is the obvious highlight on paper (this tour was the only time it was ever played), but my favorite song is an unlikelier one: “Rainy Day Women 12 & 35.” It’s significantly slower than they usually play it. I actually tapped out the beats-per minute to track how it sped up over the tour. It’s a relatively sedate 95 BPM here, a week later is 105 BPM, by the end of the tour it’s up to a breakneck 115 BPM. The relaxed pace makes it feel more bluesy, less frenetic. More singing, less screaming.
The same is true for “Ballad of a Thin Man,” another unexpected highlight here. I prefer this earlier incarnation - the general trend of this tour will be to get louder, faster, screamier as time goes on, and this and “Rainy Day Women” are perfect examples.
Notable inclusions:
“Just Like A Woman” (acoustic) — first time on tour
“Girl From The North Country” (acoustic) — first time on tour, one of only two
“Wedding Song” (acoustic) — live debut!
Missing tracks: None
Read more about the three Philly shows:
Disc 6: January 9, 1974 – Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada
Most notable about this show is what happened immediately after: Bob and co. decamped to see a late-night set by The Band’s old boss, Ronnie Hawkins. But, of course, you can’t hear that on this tape. What you can hear is the musicians settling in for the long haul. Surprises are already becoming rarer; the main one here is the only “It Takes A Lot To Laugh” of the tour, which will be last new full-band song for a bit. It’s surprising this wasn’t performed during the entire 1966 tour, as this would have fit right in. Again, I love these songs where Bob’s wailing on high-speed harmonica with the full band. Robbie Robertson told Rolling Stone they never rehearsed or even discussed it.
Notable inclusions:
“It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry” — only time on tour
“Girl From The North Country” (acoustic) — second and final performance on tour
Missing tracks: None
Read more about the Toronto shows:
Missing show (click link to learn about it):
Disc 7: January 11, 1974 – Montreal Forum, Montreal, Canada
Something important happens at this show, something that shaped the rest of the tour. Dylan had clearly struggled with how to open the show, shuffling through “Hero Blues,” “Ballad of Hollis Brown,” and “Rainy Day Women.” The night before in Toronto, he’d tried opening the show with the song he’d usually been closing with: “Most Likely You Go Your Way.” He seemingly couldn’t decided if it worked better as an opener or closer. Tonight in Montreal, he thought: Why not both?
From here on out, he did something highly unusual, for him or really for any artist: Open and close the show with the exact same song. Though it had recent precedence. A few months prior, Neil Young had been opening and closing his shows with the same song, his brand-new “Tonight’s the Night.” Did that inspire Dylan to do the same?
(For once, Young out-trolled Dylan. On his 1973 tour, Neil was playing mostly new songs. Introducing the final song, he’d say, “Here’s one you’ve heard before.” Then, when the audience cheers expecting to finally get “Heart of Gold” or something, he plays a song they have indeed heard before—an hour earlier in the set.)
To me, that’s a key feature of Tour ’74 slotting into place. I imagine the crowds being excited the first time, and ecstatic the second time. After hearing “Most Likely” on so many Rough and Rowdy Ways tapes the last few years, it’s nice to get amped to hear it again.
Notable inclusions:
“Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)” — first appearance as opener on this set (was played at missing Toronto show, but without the reprise)
“Don't Think Twice, It's All Right” (acoustic) — first appearance on this set (was played at missing Toronto show)
“Gates Of Eden” (acoustic) — first appearance on this set (was played at missing Toronto show)
Missing tracks: None
Read more about the Montreal shows:
Missing show (click link to learn about it):
Disc 8: January 14, 1974 (Afternoon) – Boston Gardens, Boston, MA
This is the first case where we’ve long had a circulating soundboard (the only one from the first four weeks of shows). Strange, then, that this is actually the worst-sounding tape on this set so far, with a fair amount of background hiss on some songs—the acoustic set in particular, and a few of the electric songs that lead up to it. With no debuts or setlist surprises to draw specific attention to, this is not a disc I’ll be returning to often.
Notable inclusions: None
Missing tracks: None
Read more about the Boston shows:
Missing show (click link to learn about it):
Disc 9: January 15, 1974 – Capital Centre, Largo, MD
** Must-Hear Show **
“Thank you, it’s great to be back in DC,” Bob says after the first song here. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first bit of BobTalk on the entire set. This was not a tour where he said much, and what little he did say (usually shouting out the city or saying “We’ll be right back” before the set break) seems to be cut from these tapes, which mostly fade in and out around the individual songs rather than run continuously. It’s startling to hear him say anything, even something pretty innocuous, after eight discs of nothing-but-music.
This is another one of particularly-good sound quality, and with several superlative performances in the acoustic set to recommend it. “Wedding Song” and “Just Like a Woman” especially are performed as well as they ever have been (though one’s been performed a lot more than the other). As I listen through this, the acoustic sets have become particular highlights. They’ve suffered the most in audience recordings, perhaps, with less volume to drown out the crowd-noise murk, but they shine on these discs. At times, though, the acoustic performances can also be rote, Bob doing his “remember-the-‘60s” shtick with endless “The Times, They Are a-Changin’”s. But that makes the moments where he sounds fully committed feel that much more vibrant.
Notable inclusions:
“I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)” — final performance of tour
Missing tracks: None
Disc 10: January 16, 1974 – Capital Centre, Largo, MD
Alas, as we go on, the shouty-vocals are creeping in. “Lay Lady Lay” is an early casualty, as he now yelps every line (“in your MIII-EEEND” / “see them “SHIII-EEENE”). We’ve talked about upsinging; this is like yelpsinging. It infects more songs in this show than normal; maybe he was tired after four shows in three days. The final “Nobody ‘Cept You” ever, thankfully, retains some nuance. The only “One Too Many Mornings” of the entire tour, a clear callback to its role on the entire 1966 run, doesn’t.
Nothing to do with the concert itself, but don’t miss the photos from Dylan’s pre-show visit to the DC art museum The Phillips Collection. Dylan’s interest in visual art had been burgeoning in recent years, with his work appearing on the cover of Self Portrait, Planet Waves, and The Band’s Music from Big Pink. Only a few months after this tour ended, he would begin studying with artist Norman Raeben, lessons he would credit helping him write Blood on the Tracks. In the photos, you can almost see him taking mental notes. He also swung by Ford Theatre too, site of Lincoln’s assassination.
Notable inclusions:
“One Too Many Mornings” — only time on tour
“Nobody ‘Cept You” (acoustic) — final live performance ever
Missing tracks: None
Read more about the Largo (aka Landover) shows:
If you don’t already, subscribe to this newsletter to get all future live-Bob dispatches delivered straight to your inbox! Honestly, if you’ve made it all the way to Disc 11 of this thing, you’re exactly the sort of person who should.
Disc 11: January 17, 1974 – Coliseum, Charlotte, NC
When this set was first announced, I said this was one of the shows I was most looking forward to hearing. The reason being: It’s one of the worst-sounding audience tapes. What great performances have been hiding beneath the up-until-now terrible sound quality?
Answer: One of the best “Forever Young”s of the set. The song is becoming a vocal highlight of the shows. He goes full-crooner on the verses, then belts the chorus to the rafters, cramming about ten different notes into the held words (“may you sta-a-a-a-a-a-y,” etc). Eat your heart out Mariah.
Other than that, though, a fairly average concert, though notable because Charlotte was the first city to only get a single show. As the crew traveled further south, ticket sales reportedly got worse. Two banners hung behind the stage: a brown one reading "Everybody must get stoned" and a blue one reading "To Woody Guthrie, Bob and the wild blue yonder.”
Notable inclusions: None
Missing tracks: None
Read more about the Charlotte show:
Disc 12: January 19, 1974 (Afternoon) – Hollywood Sportatorium, Hollywood, FL
The box set enters its weakest stretch here. The shows are getting more predictable, with many of the rotating earlier songs getting dropped. That includes new songs like “Tough Mama” as well as many of the acoustic songs, which up until now rotated longer than the electric ones did. And, as noted in the intro, this isn’t the Never Ending Tour, where he could sing the same song five nights in a row and have it sound different each time. One show’s “It’s Alright Ma” sounds about like the next’s. The performances are getting shoutier too. There’s nothing wrong with this show, but there’s nothing much to recommend it in a stack with all these others.
For all the hype of how fast mail-order tickets went for this tour, Dylan was now fully in the South, not ever his strongest market, and ticket sales for these two Florida shows were so slow that newspapers wrote about it. This afternoon show didn’t even sell out. Plus even the show’s own promoter called the venue a dump.
Notable inclusions: None
Missing tracks:
“Most Likely You Go Your Way”
“Lay Lady Lay”
“Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues”
“Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat”
“It Ain't Me, Babe”
“Ballad Of A Thin Man”
Read more about the Florida shows:
Missing show (click link to learn about it):
Disc 13: January 21, 1974 – The Omni, Atlanta, GA
The tour’s breakneck pace is clearly getting to Bob. His voice is starting to sound hoarse. He compensates by, naturally, shouting louder. That plus the disc’s slightly muffled sound quality makes this an obvious skip. (Too bad, because the context around the show—Bob and co. visiting Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter—is unusually interesting).
Notable inclusions:
“Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” — final performance of tour
Missing tracks: None
Disc 14: January 22, 1974 – The Omni, Atlanta, GA
The audience tape we’ve had for years was maybe the absolute worst of the entire tour. So this is the first time we’ve been able to hear this show at all.
Some hoarseness remains from the previous night, but his voice begins to limber up about four songs in (his delivery on “leaving his po-ho-ho-ho-host” on “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” an early sign of returning mojo). Things peak with a terrific acoustic set. The insane harmonica solos that close “Don’t Think Twice” are becoming highlights of every show, and it goes into one of the best “Gates of Eden” I’ve ever heard. It’s not a Must-Hear Show, but it’s absolutely a Must-Hear Acoustic Set. Maybe his visit to the Governor inspired him. “Like a Rolling Stone” has more life than usual too, and you get another rare bit of BobTalk, as he yelps, “We’re gonna finish up where we started out” before they go back into their second “Most Likely” of the evening.
Notable inclusions: None
Missing tracks:
“All Along the Watchtower”
Read more about the Atlanta shows:
Missing shows (click links to learn about them):
Disc 15: January 26, 1974 (Afternoon) – Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, TX
** Must-Hear Show **
A few days later, and a few shows skipped on the box set, and Bob is back!
On paper, there’s nothing to distinguish this show from the ones around it; he was playing the exact same setlist every night now. But from the opening notes of “Most Likely” (the first one), you can hear more vigor than in quite some time. Even the warhorses—which is feeling like most of the set right now—come alive. The best “Like a Rolling Stone” we’ve had so far, with Bob stretching out notes and adding syllables left and right, just as he does on “Forever Young,” again a highlight. It’s not just Bob either; Robbie’s solo on “Watchtower” is one of the finest Band moments of the tour. Bob’s thanks to the crowd at the end sounds particularly enthusiastic, and I believe it. Sometimes the magic strikes on some random afternoon in Houston.
Notable inclusions: None
Missing tracks: None
Disc 16: January 26, 1974 (Evening) – Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, TX
The evening show just a couple hours later burns almost as hot. Richard Manuel, mixed higher than usual, steals the show on “Rainy Day Women” (some more sharp Robbie solos on that one too). Some white-noise static on the final “Most Likely” is the rare moment of less-than-pristine sound quality. Sadly, this soundboard misses a bit of reported BobTalk: “I’m happy to come to Houston. Sam Houston is a personal hero of mine!"
Both Houston shows were also notably poor audience tapes, so, for those who’ve already dug fairly deep into Tour ’74 in the past, these two are a treat to hear for that alone. But man, he couldn’t change one song for the people attending both shows in one day?
Notable inclusions: None
Missing tracks: None
Read more about the Houston shows:
Missing shows (click links to learn about them):
January 28, 1974 – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
January 29, 1974 – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
Disc 17: January 30, 1974 – Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
As you can read in my newsletter about these shows, Bob and The Band taking Madison Square Garden was an event. Just about every famous person in America was at one of these shows, as was every music journalist. Even Bob took (a little) notice, telling the crowd, “Good to be back. An honor to be here.”
Is the first MSG show itself special on the tape? Not really—though it’s certainly not bad. The big news is the first new song for some time: “Blowin’ in the Wind”! He’d played it twice solo-acoustic on the tour already (both missing from this set), but this was his first time ever playing it with the full Band. It came as a surprise second encore, after the usual “Most Likely” reprise. It would become a regular part of the shows going forward. In this first outing, it’s good-not-great, held back when you want it to explode. I do like the hollered backing vocals from the Band though. You generally only hear them on “It Ain’t Me Babe” and “Rolling Stone”; I wish they were given more room to sing along.
Notable inclusions:
“Something There Is About You” — final performance on tour
“Blowin' In The Wind” — first time electric on tour
Missing tracks:
“Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35”
“It Ain't Me, Babe”
“Ballad Of A Thin Man”
Disc 18: January 31, 1974 (Afternoon) – Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
The next afternoon, Madison Square Garden gets another new addition that would become a staple for the rest of the tour: “Highway 61 Revisited.” Surprisingly, Bob and The Band never did this together on their first electric tours. In fact, this is only the song’s second outing ever, after the Isle of Wight. It would quickly become his third-most-played song ever.
Due to a huge number of missing tracks, this is the shortest disc of the set: 9 songs (two of which aren’t even complete), 33 minutes. But with so many other discs being so similar, I kind of like this short-and-sweet approach. “Watchtower” makes a killer way to open the disc, just as it’s recently been opening the Outlaw Tour, and leads into one of the best “Hollis Brown”s of the box, with Levon Helm’s drums in particular jumping out. “Forever Young” continues to be Bob’s big vocal showcase of the night too.
The sound in general is terrific. This is the first of the multi-tracks recorded for Before the Flood. From here on out, every remaining disc is taken from a multi-track. To be honest, I can’t hear huge differences—the earlier, non-multitrack discs sounded great too—but you know you’re in for the best of the best sound from here on out.
Notable inclusions:
“Highway 61 Revisited” — first time on tour
Missing tracks:
“Most Likely You Go Your Way”
“Lay Lady Lay
“Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues”
“Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35”
“It Ain't Me, Babe”
“Ballad Of A Thin Man”
“Just Like A Woman” (acoustic)
“It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)” (acoustic)
“Maggie’s Farm”
“Blowin’ in the Wind”
Incomplete: “Gates of Eden” (acoustic), “Like a Rolling Stone”
Disc 19: January 31, 1974 (Evening) – Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY
** Must-Hear Show **
The third MSG show is the best of the bunch. There are no more setlist surprises, but it’s a top-notch performance with top-notch sound.
When I was taking notes on the individual songs, I wrote down practically every one as a highlight. From the “Most Likely” opener, which is more sung/less shouted than it often is, to even livelier-than-usual versions of the every-single-night numbers like “It Ain’t Me Babe” and “Thin Man.” His harmonica on “Just Like a Woman” is among the best harp of the box, and he adds a cool stutter-scatting effect to the nightly “Forever Young” vocal theatrics. Both the newly-added numbers are greatly improved too, especially “Blowin’ in the Wind” which gains more energy.
Notable inclusions: None
Missing tracks: None
Read more about the Madison Square Garden shows:
Missing shows (click links to learn about them):
February 3, 1974 – Indiana University Assembly Hall, Bloomington, IN
February 4, 1974 (Afternoon) – Missouri Arena, St. Louis, MO
Disc 20: February 9, 1974 (Afternoon) – Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, WA
As you see above, there are a lot more missing shows between discs 19 and 20 than anywhere else on this set. One theory: Once they brought in the multi-track recording truck to tape shows for Before the Flood, they stopped bothering to grab the more basic soundboards. So the shows where they didn’t send the truck—which is all of those—are all suddenly tape-less.
To be honest, you’re not missing that much. Setlist-wise, three acoustic songs made their only appearances on these missing shows: “A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall,” “Desolation Row,” and “Visions of Johanna.” And while they’d be nice to have (“Visions” especially), three new songs isn’t much when spread out over six full discs. Leon Russell also sat in in St. Louis—the only guest appearance the entire tour—but his appearance was more “hanging out onstage,” less “actually contributing anything musically.” The photos are must-see though.
There’s a silver lining too. Now that these are all multi-tracks, you are hearing the shows without tape gaps in between each song, where it fades out and then back in. So what little BobTalk there is (“Thank you, we’re just waking up,” he tells the crowd early on here) is preserved.
Which brings us to Seattle, nine days after the last show in New York. Bob and the band had taken a few extra days off (at the Playboy Club no less) to rehearse more before the final leg, presumably with an eye on the live album. Can you hear an improvement after that extra woodshedding?
Not really. Bob is in full-on shout mode at this point. That works on occasion (“Highway 61” rips), but makes many of the other songs a tough listen. The acoustic set in particular suffers, as he yells the entirety of “The Times, They Are a-Changin’,” “Don’t Think Twice,” and “Wedding Song”—a welcome return on paper, but nowhere near as good as it was before. I don’t want to speculate about what pharmaceuticals might have in the mix here, but man he has a lot of energy.
The two high points are “Hollis Brown,” his vocals given a jolt without sacrificing actual singing (Levon’s drums sound fabulous here too), and a solo “She Belongs to Me.” The acoustic sets on these discs had gotten pretty stale, so it’s nice to hear him finally mixing them up again, and with a powerful performance too, devoid of the usual shouting. If you’re making a mix, keep those two, maybe the “Highway 61” as well, and dump the rest.
Notable inclusions:
“She Belongs to Me” (acoustic) — first appearance on this set (played at missing Denver show)
Missing tracks:
“Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35”
“It Ain't Me, Babe”
“Ballad Of A Thin Man”
“Like A Rolling Stone”
“Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)”
Disc 21: February 9, 1974 (Evening) – Seattle Center Coliseum, Seattle, WA
The entire first half of the show is missing, making this, at just ten tracks, the second-shortest disc. As I said with Disc 18, after so many similar-starting discs, it’s kind of nice to jump right into a show in progress rather than sitting through the “Most Likely”/“Lay Lady Lay”/ etc progression for the 21st time. Only bummer is it means we miss a bit of local-color BobTalk: “Good to be in Seattle, home of Jimi Hendrix!”
The shouting remains in full force, dooming the acoustic set again, but “Highway 61 Revisited” seems to get better every night. Robbie’s train-whistle guitar effects shine through on this tape, and Bob’s yelping works, especially when the band strips down to just Levon’s drums for the last line of every first.
Notable inclusions: None
Missing tracks:
“Most Likely You Go Your Way”
“Lay Lady Lay
“Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues”
“Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35”
“It Ain't Me, Babe”
“Ballad Of A Thin Man”
“All Along the Watchtower”
“Ballad Of Hollis Brown”
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”
Read more about the Seattle shows:
Disc 22: February 11, 1974 (Afternoon) – Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA
Another tape that starts partway through. “Watchtower” once again makes a killer faux-start to a show, a fiery version that leads into an ever fiery-ier “Hollis Brown.” The sound quality on this disc seems especially good, one of the best on the set, and the backing vocals on songs like “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” punch through. Ditto Levon’s drums (editing this later, I realize I’m saying this again and again—like wow, Levon Helm is a really good drummer, who knew?), on “Highway 61” especially.
It loses a bit of juice during the acoustic set. “Don’t Think Twice” has gotten ridiculously fast, like a sprint to the finish, and the final “Wedding Song” remains a pale shadow of the earlier versions. This is more than just the final “Wedding Song” too; it’s the final new song of the entire tour other than the nightly “Forever Young.” Planet Waves, the one album he ever recorded with The Band, has been all but forgotten by this point. A shame.
One shining moment in the acoustic set though: Don’t miss the harp-guitar duet halfway through “Hattie Carroll.” Generally in these solo sets, on his harp solos he just keeps on strumming the chords and blows over them. Here, though, the harp takes the lead, the tempo and pacing of the strumming flexing and flowing while he plays, slowing way down at one point. One of the most unique harmonica solos of the tour, and the second solo that closes the track is almost as good.
Notable inclusions:
“The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll” (acoustic) — final performance of tour
“Wedding Song” (acoustic) — final performance ever
Missing tracks:
“Most Likely You Go Your Way”
“Lay Lady Lay
“Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues”
“Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35”
“It Ain't Me, Babe”
“Ballad Of A Thin Man”
Incomplete: “Like a Rolling Stone”
Disc 23: February 11, 1974 (Evening) – Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA
It’s Garth Hudson time! For all your Huds-heads out there, this is the disc for you. For whatever reason, he is mixed unusually loud throughout, as loud as Bob’s vocal at times. You’d probably call it too loud if this were the only release, but 23 shows in, it’s fun to hear a different sonic mix. The rest of the band fade into the background as Garth wails away up front. “It Ain’t Me Babe” is a particular highpoint for him, as is his solo on “Rainy Day Women” (which features some new lines up top: “They’ll stone you when you’re trying to take a bath / They’ll stone you when you’re trying to walk a path / They’ll stone you when you’re climbing in your brain (?) / They’ll stone you when you’re trying to catch a train”).
Alas, Garth’s standout night sees Bob in subpar form. He once again sounds a bit hoarse and—big surprise—shouts extra loud to compensate. “Watchtower” is particularly dire, as he tunelessly hollers the lyrics as if just trying to get them over with. The return of “Maggie’s Farm” into “Blowin’ in the Wind” to close is a refreshing change of place though, skipping the “Most Likely” reprise entirely.
Notable inclusions:
“Maggie’s Farm” — first on box since Jan 4 show (1/31 performance missing)
Missing tracks:
Incomplete: “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” “Highway 61 Revisited”
Read more about the Oakland shows:
Disc 24: February 13, 1974 – The Forum, Inglewood, CA
** Must-Hear Show **
The tour reaches its last stop, Los Angeles for three shows. Bob gives ‘em the longest show so far, with 20 songs (not including The Band’s sets). Perhaps knowing he’s finally near the end, Bob gets a second wind for the entire run.
This first night is the best “normal” show of the entire month. No huge setlist surprises, nothing that would leap out reading through the track list, but some top-notch performances of what have become the tour standards. “It Ain’t Me Babe,” “Ballad of a Thin Man” (check out the staccato delivery on “tax deductible charity organizations”), and “All Along the Watchtower” rank with the best performances of the tour. And he keeps the shouting at bay until near the end, highlighted by some of his most tuneful singing in a while on “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” Ditto the acoustic set, longer than usual at six songs. “Love Minus Zero” makes its first appearance in weeks, and sounds great with a light reggae upstrum.
We also now enter Before the Flood mode. Three-and-a-half of its tracks come from this show: "Lay Lady Lay,” “Rainy Day Women,” “Like a Rolling Stone” (one of the show’s shoutiest numbers, alas), and half of a spliced “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Plus The Band’s “The Weight,” not included here.
Notable inclusions:
“Love Minus Zero/No Limit” (acoustic) — final performance on tour
“Most Likely You Go Your Way” — final reprise performance on tour
Missing tracks: None
Disc 25: February 14, 1974 (Afternoon) – The Forum, Inglewood, CA
Another standard show kicks off the final day, not hitting the heights of the night before. Perhaps Dylan knew he had another show to get through, and with more surprises in store then too. It’s remarkable how tight and professional this unit is, so even on a show where they seem to be going through the paces a bit, the performance and energy level remains high.
Things pick up after a joyful “Forever Young,” with big full-band sing-alongs on “Rolling Stone” and “Blowin’” ending strong. The acoustic “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” released as a single to promote this box set, is another highpoint, though the Jan 6 Philadelphia performance is even better (listen to them back to back and you will immediately hear how much shoutier his vocals got over the six weeks). And listen close to Rick Danko, who adds some beautiful bass rumble to “Forever Young” and an especially hot “Highway 61.”
Two-and-a-half Before the Flood tracks come from this show: “Thin Man,” “Watchtower,” and the other half of that “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Plus two Band songs, "I Shall Be Released" and “The Shape I’m In.”
Notable inclusions:
“It's All Over Now, Baby Blue” (acoustic) — final performance on tour
Missing tracks: None
Discs 26 & 27: February 14, 1974 (Evening) – The Forum, Inglewood, CA
** Must-Hear Show **
We made it! The final show of the tour, and, due to its supersized length, the only one that takes up two discs on this box set.
The high point is obvious: The first electric “Mr. Tambourine Man” with The Band. Hell, if I’m not mistaken, it’s the first electric “Mr. Tambourine Man” ever. Sometimes these things don’t live up to their on-paper promise, but this is easily one of the single best tracks on this entire set. How they left it off Before the Flood, which includes a ton of tracks from this show, boggles the mind. Garth Hudson’s beautiful accordion threatens to steal the show, and makes you wonder why he wasn’t playing accordion more often on this tour. Whatever mix or playlist you might make from this set, this “Mr. Tambourine Man” needs to be on it.
And the rest? You can hear the last-day-of-school exuberance throughout. Bob mostly finds a better balance between energy and shouting than he often has in the final weeks, though still sometimes crosses the line. Levon Helm especially sounds great (tune into his toms especially on “Most Likely” and “It Ain’t Me Babe,” and his fill kicking off “Watchtower”). The joy permeates the set—mostly for the best, though I might quibble that “Hollis Brown” has lost its venom. The concluding trio though, “Rolling Stone” into “Maggie’s Farm” into “Blowin’,” is a treat. You’ll be grinning as wide as (judging from the show photos) they were.
Notable inclusions:
“Mr. Tambourine Man” — only time electric on tour
Missing tracks: None
Read more about the Los Angeles shows:
PS. DIY Playlist Version
I pulled out some specific performances I praised in my writeup below. If you’ve got the files on your computer, all 431 MP3s worth, this makes a pretty good playlist!
Hero Blues - Chicago 1/3
Maggie’s Farm - Chicago 1/4
Tough Mama - Philly 1/6 aft
Song to Woody - Philly 1/6 eve
It’s All Over Now Baby Blue - Philly 1/6 eve
Rainy Day Women 12 & 35 - Philly 1/7
Ballad of a Thin Man - Philly 1/7
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry - Toronto 1/9
Nobody ‘Cept You - Montreal 1/11
Wedding Song - Largo 1/15
Just Like a Woman - Largo 1/15
Something There Is About You - Largo 1/16
Forever Young - Charlotte 1/17
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues - Atlanta 1/22
Gates of Eden - Atlanta 1/22
Most Likely (opener) - Houston 1/26 (aft)
Like a Rolling Stone - Houston 1/26 (aft)
Watchtower - Houston 1/26 (aft)
Ballad of Hollis Brown - NYC 1/31 (aft)
It Ain’t Me Babe - NYC 1/31 (eve)
Blowin’ in the Wind - NYC 1/31 (eve)
She Belongs to Me - Seattle 2/9 (aft)
Highway 61 Revisited - Seattle 2/9 (eve)
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll - Oakland 2/11 (aft)
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door - Inglewood 2/13
Love Minus Zero / No Limit - Inglewood 2/13
Mr Tambourine Man - Inglewood 2/14 (eve)
The last time I even attempted to listen to all of 1974 was when Les Kokay dropped his “Tour ‘74” document. When was that…15-20 years ago? I couldn’t pass up this set for the price, and the soundboards are exciting. So…damn you, Bob…I guess I’ll try again. Ray, you’re in line with the consensus that the tour started strong and Before the Flood was not a good document. I suspect that I gave up all those years ago because I heard the quality dropping.
Interesting side note that I think I shared with you once before… I really got into collecting 30 years ago with the help of a guy named Dan Marowski (RIP), whose first Dylan audience tape is (I believe) the only known audience copy of Bloomington, IN ‘74. He was a good guy who should be remembered and I would’ve enjoyed exchanging thoughts on this with him.
Maybe I’ll take the Charlotte disc down to the old Coliseum and take a selfie :)
Wow! Thank you for pulling this together. What a great time to be a Bob Dylan fan.
27 discs, 430+ tracks ... and a spanner.