The Bob Dylan World Tour 1978 was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In 1978, Dylan embarked on a year-long world tour, performing 114 shows in Asia, Oceania, North America and Europe, to a total audience of two million people.
Background For the tour, Dylan assembled an eight-piece band, and was also accompanied by three backing singers. Highlights of the European leg of the tour were Dylan's first concerts in West Germany where he had never wanted to play because of the Jews' persecution by the Nazis. However, after concerts at Dortmund and West Berlin, he performed on July 1 on the Zeppelinfeld at Nuremberg for 80,000 people. Promoter Fritz Rau had convinced him to perform in West Germany. It was the spot where Adolf Hitler had appeared prominently on his "Reichsparteitage", the party convention of the NSDAP. Dylan's stage was placed opposite to the rostrum where Hitler had given his speeches. After the concert, Bob Dylan said that it was a very special event for him, which he had marked by appearing in normal street clothes instead of the usual stage clothes. Eric Clapton, who also appeared at Nuremberg, joined him for two songs at the end of the concert. As a live album had been recorded at Budokan Hall, Tokyo, the Nuremberg concert recording was never officially released but only appeared on Bootleg recordings. Two weeks later, both artists performed again at a mass festival at the Blackbushe Aerodrome in England.
When Dylan brought the tour to the United States in September 1978, he was dismayed the press described the look and sound of the show as a 'Las Vegas Tour', as the European concerts had been a great success. His performances at Madison Square Garden were given a good review by Rolling Stone. The 1978 tour grossed more than $20 million, and Dylan acknowledged to the Los Angeles Times that he had some debts to pay off because "I had a couple of bad years. I put a lot of money into the movie, built a big house ... and it costs a lot to get divorced in California."Sounes, 2001, Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan, pp. 314–316. It was during the later stages of this tour that Dylan experienced a "born-again" conversion to Christianity, which would become the overriding thematic preoccupation in his music for the next couple of years, such as on the albums Slow Train Coming (1979) and Saved (1980).
Releases Concerts in Tokyo in February and March were recorded and released as the live double album, Bob Dylan at Budokan. Reviews were mixed. Robert Christgau awarded the album a C+ rating, giving the album a derisory review, while Janet Maslin defended it in Rolling Stone, writing: "These latest live versions of his old songs have the effect of liberating Bob Dylan from the originals."
Set list This set list is representative of the performance on November 15, 1978 in Inglewood, California. It does not represent the set list at all concerts for the duration of the tour.
"My Back Pages" "She’s Love Crazy" "Mr. Tambourine Man" "Shelter from the Storm" "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" "Tangled Up in Blue" "Ballad of a Thin Man" "Maggie's Farm" "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" "Like a Rolling Stone" "I Shall Be Released" "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)" "The Times They Are a-Changin'" "Rainy Day Women ♯12 & 35" "It Ain't Me Babe" "Am I Your Stepchild?" "One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)" "Blowin' in the Wind" "Girl from the North Country" "We Better Talk This Over" "Masters of War" "Just Like a Woman" "To Ramona" "All Along the Watchtower" "All I Really Want to Do" "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" "Forever Young" Encore "Changing of the Guards"
Tour dates DateCityCountryVenueAttendanceBox OfficeAsiaFebruary 20, 1978TokyoJapanNippon Budokanrowspan="11" rowspan="11" February 21, 1978February 23, 1978February 24, 1978OsakaMatsushita Denki Taiikukan February 25, 1978February 26, 1978February 28, 1978TokyoNippon BudokanMarch 1, 1978March 2, 1978March 3, 1978March 4, 1978OceaniaMarch 9, 1978AucklandNew ZealandWestern Springs Stadiumrowspan="12" rowspan="12" March 12, 1978BrisbaneAustraliaBrisbane Festival HallMarch 13, 1978March 14, 1978March 15, 1978March 18, 1978AdelaideWestlake StadiumMarch 20, 1978MelbourneSidney Myer Music BowlMarch 21, 1978March 22, 1978March 25, 1978PerthPerth Entertainment CentreMarch 27, 1978April 1, 1978SydneySydney Show GroundNorth AmericaJune 1, 1978Los AngelesUnited StatesUniversal Amphitheatre36,750 / 36,750$459,375June 2, 1978June 3, 1978June 4, 1978June 5, 1978June 6, 1978June 7, 1978EuropeJune 15, 1978LondonEnglandEarls Court Exhibition Centrerowspan="19" rowspan="19" June 16, 1978June 17, 1978June 18, 1978June 19, 1978June 20, 1978June 23, 1978RotterdamNetherlandsFeijenoord StadionJune 26, 1978DortmundWest GermanyWestfalenhallenJune 27, 1978June 29, 1978West BerlinDeutschlandhalleJuly 1, 1978NurembergZeppelinfeldJuly 3, 1978ParisFrancePavillon de ParisJuly 4, 1978July 5, 1978July 6, 1978July 8, 1978July 11, 1978GothenburgSwedenScandinaviumJuly 12, 1978July 15, 1978CamberleyEnglandBlackbushe AerodromeNorth AmericaSeptember 15, 1978AugustaUnited StatesAugusta Civic Centerrowspan="13" rowspan="13" September 16, 1978PortlandCumberland County Civic CenterSeptember 17, 1978New HavenNew Haven ColiseumSeptember 19, 1978MontrealCanadaMontreal ForumSeptember 20, 1978BostonUnited StatesBoston GardenSeptember 22, 1978SyracuseOnondaga County War MemorialSeptember 23, 1978RochesterWar Memorial AuditoriumSeptember 24, 1978BinghamtonBroome County Veterans Memorial ArenaSeptember 26, 1978SpringfieldSpringfield Civic CenterSeptember 27, 1978UniondaleNassau ColiseumSeptember 29, 1978New York CityMadison Square GardenSeptember 30, 1978October 3, 1978NorfolkNorfolk ScopeOctober 4, 1978BaltimoreBaltimore Civic Center9,613 / 9,613$89,999October 5, 1978LargoCapital CentreOctober 6, 1978PhiladelphiaThe Spectrum18,800 / 18,800$164,772October 7, 1978ProvidenceProvidence Civic Centerrowspan="24" rowspan="24" October 9, 1978BuffaloBuffalo Memorial AuditoriumOctober 12, 1978TorontoCanadaMaple Leaf GardensOctober 13, 1978DetroitUnited StatesDetroit OlympiaOctober 14, 1978Terre HauteHulman Civic University CenterOctober 15, 1978CincinnatiRiverfront ColiseumOctober 17, 1978ChicagoChicago StadiumOctober 18, 1978October 20, 1978RichfieldRichfield ColiseumOctober 21, 1978ToledoCentennial HallOctober 22, 1978DaytonUniversity of Dayton ArenaOctober 24, 1978LouisvilleFreedom HallOctober 25, 1978IndianapolisMarket Square ArenaOctober 27, 1978KalamazooWings StadiumOctober 28, 1978CarbondaleSIU ArenaOctober 29, 1978St. LouisCheckerdomeOctober 31, 1978Saint PaulSt. Paul Civic CenterNovember 1, 1978MadisonDane County Memorial ColiseumNovember 3, 1978Kansas CityKemper ArenaNovember 4, 1978OmahaOmaha Civic AuditoriumNovember 6, 1978DenverMcNichols Sports ArenaNovember 9, 1978PortlandMemorial ColiseumNovember 10, 1978SeattleHec Edmundson PavilionNovember 11, 1978VancouverCanadaPacific ColiseumNovember 13, 1978OaklandUnited StatesOakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena26,790 / 26,790$237,561November 14, 1978November 15, 1978InglewoodThe Forumrowspan="11" rowspan="11" November 17, 1978San DiegoSan Diego Sports ArenaNovember 18, 1978TempeASU Activity CenterNovember 19, 1978TucsonMcKale Memorial CenterNovember 21, 1978El PasoSpecial Events CenterNovember 23, 1978NormanLloyd Noble CenterNovember 24, 1978Fort WorthTarrant County Convention CenterNovember 25, 1978AustinSpecial Events CenterNovember 26, 1978HoustonThe SummitNovember 28, 1978JacksonMississippi ColiseumNovember 29, 1978Baton RougeLSU Assembly CenterDecember 1, 1978MemphisMid-South Coliseum11,868 / 11,868$104,774December 2, 1978NashvilleNashville Municipal Auditorium9,459 / 9,459$87,985December 3, 1978BirminghamBJCC Coliseumrowspan="6" rowspan="6" December 5, 1978MobileMobile Civic CenterDecember 7, 1978GreensboroGreensboro ColiseumDecember 8, 1978SavannahSavannah Civic CenterDecember 9, 1978ColumbiaCarolina ColiseumDecember 10, 1978CharlotteCharlotte ColiseumDecember 12, 1978AtlantaOmni Coliseum14,660 / 15,962$127,239December 13, 1978JacksonvilleJacksonville Coliseumrowspan="3" rowspan="3" December 15, 1978LakelandLakeland Civic CenterDecember 16, 1978Pembroke PinesHollywood Sportatorium
References
External links
BobLinks – Comprehensive log of concerts and set lists with categorized link collection Bjorner's Still on the Road – Information on all known recording sessions and performances by Dylan