Fact #52485
When:
Short story:
Bob Dylan plays at The Royal Albert Hall, London, England, UK, Europe, with John Lennon and George Harrison of The Beatles, plus various members of The Rolling Stones in the audience.Full article:
Brian Carroll (IBC sound engineer) : I was backstage after helping to set up the recording equipment . Another engineer and I stared in disbelief as we saw Dylan walk up the stairs that led to the stage. This man seemed so out of it that we saw him talking to a fire extinguisher and we both thought that there was going to be a riot when he either failed to appear or stumbled around the stage. Suddenly, a man in a suit led him to the bottom of the stairs and we watched in amazement as he walked up into the lights and gave one of his best performances on the tour.
Mick Farren (rock musician) : He was obviously exceedingly stoned and probably taking a lot of pills, that’s what we all figured…. Little did we know - amphetamine and heroin.
Steve Abrams (fan) : The most interesting part came in the first half of the concert when Dylan was about to sing Visions Of Johanna. He said “Now this next song is what your English newspapers would call a drug song., but I don’t write drug songs and anybody who says I do is talking rubbish.”
Sue Miles (fan) : In the first half he was just earnestly twanging away, groaning away with the old harmonica and the guitar. Out for the intermission, and The Band appeared and I remember thinking, ‘This is great. This is wonderful. This is proper stuff.’ Dylan had frizzy, slightly blue hair. He and Robbie Robertson rubbed up against each other all the time. It was great. Half the audience pissed off - all the ones that had rucksacks.
Dana Gillespie (singer/friend of Dylan) : After the Royal Albert Hall show, Dylan and I did talk about how he felt though and, although I never heard him say anything derogatory about British fans, I knew he was very surprised by the response because he had felt that England was far ahead of any other country in pop music. When the audience booed and jeered in London, he just rocked more to annoy them.
Johnny Byrne (writer) : I happened to be staying in the flat where Dylan came back later. He was visibly vibrating. I should imagine it was the exhaustion and a good deal of substances. He was totally away. There was a yawning chasm between him and any kind of human activity.
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Mick Farren (rock musician) : He was obviously exceedingly stoned and probably taking a lot of pills, that’s what we all figured…. Little did we know - amphetamine and heroin.
Steve Abrams (fan) : The most interesting part came in the first half of the concert when Dylan was about to sing Visions Of Johanna. He said “Now this next song is what your English newspapers would call a drug song., but I don’t write drug songs and anybody who says I do is talking rubbish.”
Sue Miles (fan) : In the first half he was just earnestly twanging away, groaning away with the old harmonica and the guitar. Out for the intermission, and The Band appeared and I remember thinking, ‘This is great. This is wonderful. This is proper stuff.’ Dylan had frizzy, slightly blue hair. He and Robbie Robertson rubbed up against each other all the time. It was great. Half the audience pissed off - all the ones that had rucksacks.
Dana Gillespie (singer/friend of Dylan) : After the Royal Albert Hall show, Dylan and I did talk about how he felt though and, although I never heard him say anything derogatory about British fans, I knew he was very surprised by the response because he had felt that England was far ahead of any other country in pop music. When the audience booed and jeered in London, he just rocked more to annoy them.
Johnny Byrne (writer) : I happened to be staying in the flat where Dylan came back later. He was visibly vibrating. I should imagine it was the exhaustion and a good deal of substances. He was totally away. There was a yawning chasm between him and any kind of human activity.