Expecting Rain

The Top 75 Dylan Concerts: Final Results

Earlier this year I began a poll to try to narrow down the top 75 Dylan concerts. There were several objectives. Pure interest in what the results would be was there, but the main goal was to try to come up with a list of shows from throughout Bob's career that everyone should have. A place for a newbie to start in the A-Z list. As a broad spectrum, it would also provide an idea of where to look in a year a fan might have ignored until now. Every year Dylan toured ended up being represented, save one that didn't even come close to making the list: 1991. Note that the poll was early in '07, so not all of the concerts he had performed this year had circulated yet, and most people had not had a chance to listen to the ones that had.
If you missed the original polls, and want a recap:

Step 1:
http://pool.dylantree.com/phorum5/read.php?1,778680 [link dead]
http://74.52.77.196/~karl3rik/discussio ... hp?t=16636
http://www.allalongthewatchtower.dk/pho ... p?1,342455
http://www.theneverendingpool.com/compo ... 6/catid,6/
Step 2:
http://pool.dylantree.com/phorum5/read.php?1,806256 [link dead]
http://74.52.77.196/~karl3rik/discussio ... hp?t=18487
http://www.allalongthewatchtower.dk/pho ... p?1,345421
http://www.theneverendingpool.com/compo ... 2/catid,6/

You can read the results of Step 1 at any of the Step 2 links. Official releases were theoretically not supposed to be voted on, but if they were anyway I counted the votes. After a long delay, I added the votes for the remaining concerts to the original tally, and whittled it down to the top 75. But first...

In Brief: The Top 10 Dylan Concerts
October, 1962 – Gaslight Café, New York, NY
May 16, 1976 – Tarrant County Convention Center Arena, Fort Worth, TX
November 16, 1979 – Fox Warfield Theater, San Francisco, CA
April 20, 1980 – Massey Hall, Toronto, CA
June 30, 1988 – Jones Beach Music Theater, Wantaugh, PA
November 16-17, 1993 (both) – The Supper Club, New York, NY
March 11, 1995 – Congress Hall, Prague, Czech Republic
March 31, 1995 – Brixton Academy, London, England
October 7, 2002 – Tehama County Fairgrounds, Red Bluff, CA
November 24, 2003 – Hammersmith Apollo, London, England

Those are all the shows that received 10 or more votes the first time around. Here, however, is the full list:


The Final List: The Top 75 Dylan Concerts
November 4, 1961 – Carnegie Chapter Hall, New York, NY
July 2, 1962 – Finjan Club, Montreal, Quebec
October, 1962 – Gaslight Café, New York, NY
April 12, 1963 – Town Hall, New York, NY
October 26, 1963 – Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
May 7, 1965 – Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England
July 25, 1965 – Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI
September 3, 1965 – Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA
December 4, 1965 – Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA
April 12, 1966 – Sydney Stadium, Sydney, Australia
May 16, 1966 – Gaumont Theatre, Sheffield, England
May 17, 1966 – Free Trade Hall, Manchester, England
January 20, 1968 – Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert, New York, NY
August 31, 1969 – Isle of Wight, England
February 14, 1974 (afternoon) – The Forum, Los Angeles, CA
October 31, 1975 – War Memorial Auditorium, Plymouth, MA
November 11, 1975 – Palace Theater, Waterbury, CT
November 21, 1975 (evening) – Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA
December 1, 1975 – Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario
December 8, 1975 – Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
May 3,1976 - The Warehouse New Orleans, Louisiana
May 16, 1976 – Tarrant County Convention Center Arena, Fort Worth, TX
May 23, 1976 – Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
July 6, 1978 – Pavillon de Paris, Paris, France
December 10, 1978 – Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, NC
November 16, 1979 – Fox Warfield Theater, San Francisco, CA
April 20, 1980 – Massey Hall, Toronto, CA
November 15, 1980 – Fox Warfield Theater, San Francisco, CA
June 29, 1981 – Earls Court, London, England
July 25, 1981 – Palace des Sports, Avignon, France
November 10, 1981 – Saenger Performing Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
November 12, 1981 – The Summit, Houston, TX
June 28, 1984 – Minestadio, Barcelona, Spain
February 24, 1986 – Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia
September 12, 1987 – Autodroma, Modena, Italy
June 10, 1988 – The Greek Theater, Berkeley, CA
June 30, 1988 – Jones Beach Music Theater, Wantaugh, PA
October 19, 1988 – Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
February 8, 1990 – Hammersmith Odeon, London, England
May 9, 1992 – State University, San Jose, CA
September 12, 1993 – Greet Woods Performing Arts Center, Mansfield, MA
November 16, 1993 (both) – The Supper Club, New York, NY
November 17, 1993 (both) – The Supper Club, New York, NY
August 14, 1994 – Woodstock ’94, West Saugerties, NY
October 8, 1994 – Orpheum Theater, Boston, MA
March 11, 1995 – Congress Hall, Prague, Czech Republic
March 30, 1995 – Brixton Academy, London, England
March 31, 1995 – Brixton Academy, London, England
June 17, 1996 – Tempodrome, Berlin, Germany
December 8, 1997 – Irving Plaza, New York, NY
December 19, 1997 – El Rey Theater, Los Angeles, CA
May 19, 1998 – San Jose Arena, San Jose, CA
June 9, 1998 – Globe Arena, Stockholm, Sweden
April 28, 1999 – Hala Tivoli, Ljubljana, Slovenia
June 14, 1999 – University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
November 14, 1999 – Centrum Arena, Worcester, MA
March 10, 2000 (late) – Sun Theatre, Anaheim, CA
March 15, 2000 – Civic Auditorium, Santa Cruz, CA
March 16, 2000 – Civic Auditorium, Santa Cruz, CA
September 24, 2000 – Guildhall, Portsmouth, England
September 25, 2000 – Guildhall, Portsmouth, England
October 1, 2000 – Halle Muensterland, Muenster, Germany
October 6, 2000 – Wembley Arena, London, England
October 5, 2001 – Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA
February 9, 2002 – Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA
October 7, 2002 – Tehama County Fairgrounds, Red Bluff, CA
November 13, 2002 – Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
November 23, 2003 – Shepherds Bush Empire, London, England
November 24, 2003 – Hammersmith Apollo, London, England
November 25, 2003 – Brixton Academy, London, England
July 10, 2004 – Estadia Municipal Escribano Castilla, Motril, Spain
November 13, 2004 – Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
November 27, 2005 – The Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
November 12, 2006 – Agganis Arena, Boston, MA
November 20, 2006 – New York City Center, New York, NY


Let the arguing begin...

Looks good, penguins. Thanks for all your efforts and putting this list together.




Why are both of the Supper Club shows regarded as on concert? I would have to disagree with having both 1995 shows in there... I probably would have replaced one with a 2004 show... possibly Kool Haus. I do think that a 1966 show should be in the top 10. Sheffield is amazing.

The only reason for combining all the Supper Club shows there was that that was the only way the number would work out to 10

The top 10 generally is I think much more controversial that the top 75. If people had voted for the officially released Manchester '66 show, it would have been there I'm sure, but as it was some followed the rule of only voting for non-official releases, and others didn't, it didn't receive that many votes.

Also, the votes were highly divided in years where he played basically the same show night after night (66, 75, 79, etc) as opposed to the NET, where there was more generally agreement of which show was the one.

That makes sense. But, in my opinion, shouldn't of been the method for choosing... just because a concert is more distinct, doesn't mean it's his best. This works in the favor of Supper Club, and the opposite for shows like Sheffield... which I think should be in the top 5.

That wasn't the method for choosing, just the way it worked out. One person voted for only concerts from '75, and those votes were counted too.

Yes, you're right. Method was a wrong word. We're in complete agreement. I'm just saying, just because consecutive shows within a tour are very similar, doesn't mean they should be overlooked.

Glad to see the final results posted. Thank you very much for your time and effort into collecting the votes and making this list. I have used your preliminary list to get my database started and it has been a great tool for me.

Agreed, thanks for taking the time to do this!

Looks like an excellent list. I'm just surprised by the omission of the Chance in Poughkeepsie N.Y. on August 4, 2004. I think it's
as good as the Supper Club shows.

Great Job on the list!!! Thanks for putting in the time to help others find great Bobshows.

BTW - anyone else notice that according to the results, Bob really seems to shine in November? Something like 18 of the top 75 are in Nov. March and October look like hot months for Bobby as well.

Thank you for putting this together. Gives me some direction. I do have a question about a couple of the dates in the top 10. March 11, 1995 – Congress Hall, Prague, Czech Republic- The A-Z list has Prague on March 12. And March 31, 1995 – Brixton Academy, London, England- the A-Z list has Brixton Academy on March 29. Or am I looking at different shows here?

Thaanks for the list

finally got the whole way through! Thanks!

I had the good fortune to have attended 6 of the chosen 75,,What about the rest of you guys?!

I would like to ask you if you could make a thread about your experiences at them all and maybe tell us if there is a show that you thought was just as good that didn't make it.

If you could be more specific I would appreciate it but ,off the top of my head,those 2 Santa Cruz shows in March of 2000 really stand out. Santa Cruz is a beautiful little coastal town and I've been going there since I was a ba by. The venue was the tiny but classic Civic Auditorium in Downtown Santa Cruz..He I believe it was an open floor surrounded by seats and a balcony..I chose to stand near the stage..When they came out all of a sudden there he is like 9 feet away from me playing that baby blue Fender Mustang and squinting right at me! At the time I was puffing on a Jazz cigarette so it was quite a startling moment for me.He still had Charlie and Larry back then.I went both nights so my memories kinda bleed into each other but the SOUND was spectacular in that little place. Bob was into it BIG TIME..Check out the boots of those shows. After the second night I headed to Reno for 2 shows at the Hilton.4 shows in 3 nights!I hope I'm not boring anyone.I'll get to the other shows soon if you still are interested.

I am still interested. These are supposedly the best shows Dylan ever did according to us, so do you agree with that? And yes I would like to hear about them all.

And that goes for anyone else here who has been to any of these.

wtf. yeah, I went to all of the newport shows, manchester 66, and i hung around with dylan and the boys during the recording of the basement tapes. what now son!!!

I can't find the Halloween Concert in New York 1964. This concert shows Bob at his best!

People were discouraged from voting for anything officially released. That would seem to bias it too much towards availability, though some did anyway, so a few made it.

Good thing this is still a sticky...

Hammersmith-Apollo was a great show, Bob's vocals on Romance in Durango were some of his best ever. I think quite a few people overrate the version of Jokerman from that show however.

can anyone lead me to or post the hammersmth-apollo jokerman?

Gee the concert in 1964 i was about in 4th grade. but nonetheless, if it was a halloween concert was he wearing a costume? pictures, anyone?

What was the criteria for choosing the top 75?