Flagging Down the Double E's

Flagging Down the Double E's

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Flagging Down the Double E's
Flagging Down the Double E's
The Grand Finale of Bob Dylan's 1974 Comeback Tour with The Band

The Grand Finale of Bob Dylan's 1974 Comeback Tour with The Band

1974-02-13/4, The Forum, Los Angeles, CA

Ray Padgett
Feb 14, 2024
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Flagging Down the Double E's
Flagging Down the Double E's
The Grand Finale of Bob Dylan's 1974 Comeback Tour with The Band
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Flagging Down the Double E’s is an email newsletter exploring Bob Dylan concerts throughout history. We’re currently looking at every show on Dylan’s 1974 comeback tour with The Band. Some installments are free, some for paid subscribers only. Sign up here:

Photo by Barry Feinstein via Snap Galleries

“Man this is so fuckin’ funky I think I'm gonna go out of my mind.” — Neil Young

“It was bloody fantastic, the best concert I've ever been to. They had you with six rockers in a row.” — Ringo Starr

"I was so ecstatic and it was so wonderful, I thought I was going to have the baby right then!" — Carole King, eight months pregnant

“I didn’t like the new album. I’m here to hear his old stuff.” — Cheech Marin

“The greatest show I've ever seen.” — Ramblin’ Jack Elliott

“What’re you supposed to think about a Bob Dylan concert? It was predictable.” — Dan Hicks

“Man, it got me fuckin' off!” — David Crosby

“After tonight, how is anybody going to do a concert tour?” — Neil Diamond

Those are all quotes from attendees of Bob Dylan and The Band’s final show of Tour ’74 at Los Angeles’s Forum. There were so many celebrities in the building it’s amazing any regular people could fit in the room. Roger McGuinn couldn’t get a ticket; Jerry Garcia showed up at the box office to find someone else had claimed his. Rolling Stone, which got those on-the-scene quotes, also captured some excellent Polaroids of the celebrity attendees:

LA being a hometown show for most of the musicians, their families were there too. The crew even set up a special green room for everyone’s kids backstage, with electric trains, a miniature pool table, magnetic darts, and a TV (with cable, the news articles excitedly proclaim). Here’s Dylan blowing up balloons for the kids backstage:

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