Real Not-Yet-Live: Bob Dylan's 1984 Tour Rehearsals, Part 1

1984-05-23, Beverly Theater, Los Angeles, CA

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Bob Dylan rehearsing with Carlos Santana at the Beverly Theatre, May 23 1984. More photos at The Clendaniel Collection

Rehearsal tapes always seem like a small miracle. How do tapes of private sessions where Bob Dylan is practicing with his band make their way online for us all to hear? I don’t know, and it’s best not to ask. Don’t want to get anyone in trouble.

Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to two tapes of Bob and his band woodshedding ahead of the 1984 summer tour immortalized on the Real Live album. What a band too: Mick Taylor from the Stones, Ian McLagan from the Faces, Colin Allen from Focus, Gregg Sutton from a bunch of places. Oh, and Carlos Santana sat in for a ton of songs (including during the rehearsals).

Two tapes of these rehearsals are out there, the first from the Beverly Theatre in Los Angeles a few days before the tour kicked off, the second from Verona, Italy right before the first show. I’ll be covering them in two installments. This first one is free, the second on Sunday will be for paid subscribers only.

In Behind the Shades, Clinton Heylin paints a fairly grim picture of this first set of LA rehearsals:

Rehearsals only began in earnest at the Beverly Theater barely a week before the first show, in Verona, Italy. Previously, Dylan’s commitment to his material had always been 100 percent. Arthur Rosato, who witnessed most rehearsals from 1974 through 1981, remembers a Dylan who, ‘even if it’s in rehearsal … sings his lyrics. He doesn’t run through them; he sings them.’ In 1984, he expressed no such commitment and as a result, whereas his previous bands had always responded to this man who brought fire to his kingdom, the 1984 band were denied any such spark. The rehearsals were frankly awful. Not only did the band sound as though they were playing under half a hundredweight of porridge, but Dylan’s singing voice had lost its elasticity.

Sounds bad! But good news: This tape does not bear that out at all.

To be fair, I believe it comes from one of the final LA rehearsals, maybe even the last day. The earlier attempts may have been every bit as chaotic as Heylin suggests. But there’s a lot in this late-rehearsal recording to like. Plus, since it was recorded by the studio engineer, it’s basically soundboard quality.

The full thing’s at the bottom as always, but I’ll embed some highlights as we go.