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New Year's Message 2011-12
Bob Dylan - London Hammersmith Apollo 19.11.2011 Photo: Paolo Brillo
Bob Dylan - London Hammersmith Apollo 19.11.2011 Photo: Paolo Brillo
Greetings!
2011 proved to be another great year for Bob Dylan fans everywhere. It seems here was never a shortage of Dylan projects and events to discuss here on Expecting Rain during the year.
March brought a special Bob Dylan live performance of Maggie's Farm supported by Mumford and Sons and The Avett Brothers to the annual Grammy Awards ceremony. Dylan band members Tony Garnier and Stu Kimball also accompanied Bob in this special appearance, as did Harvey Mandel (who has played with such esteemed names as The Rolling Stones and Canned Heat).
Dylan fans the world over celebrated Bob's 70th birthday on May 24th, 2011 and found many of us toasting the Bard at special events in his honor to mark this very special milestone.
Bob and his band travelled near and far performing a total of 89 concerts worldwide in 2011. Chinese and Israeli fans alike were treated to long awaited performances - the first show ever for China and the first show performed in Israel in 18 years. Speculation about his set selections being driven by the Chinese government met with a special, personal message from Mr. Dylan to all his "fans and followers" to dispel any rumors of setlist tampering. Despite numerous news outlets reporting that songs were handpicked by government officials, we were assured that all song choices where his and his alone.
Australian fans were treated to the first tour Down Under since August 2007. After just over two weeks and eleven concerts across Europe, Bob and the band hit the road again to visit US fans with Special Guest, Leon Russell, as the summer opening act. Russell enjoys a long, professional relationship with Dylan, going back as far back as 1971, when he shared the stage with Bob at the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden. Russell also provided Bass on Dylan's George Jackson/Wallflower sessions and co-produced Bob's recordings of When I Paint My Masterpiece and Watching the River Flow that same year.
After a well-deserved break, the band hopped the pond to find its way to Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Germany and other places, marking only the sixth time ever, and the first time since 2000, that Bob would tour Europe twice inside one calendar year.
(Thanks to Thomas Wagner for the correction)
Mark Knopfler halted recording sessions of his own upcoming album when asked by Dylan's team to join his longtime collaborator's tour as the opening act. Knopfler has the distinction of playing on Slow Train Coming as well as producing Dylan's 1983 release, Infidels. Fans of both Knopfler and Dylan were treated to many joint performances during the European tour. The tour concluded in London with a moving duet of Forever Young with Knopfler respectfully gesturing to Bob on his musical legacy. Legions of fans reported Bob's continued energy and apparent enjoyment at performing and there was no indication given of him slowing down any time soon.
2011 also saw the a release of the critically acclaimed (and Dylan produced) tribute album of unreleased material written by one of Bob's musical heros, the late, great Hank Williams. Three years in the making, The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams contained Williams' lyrics set to music, composed & performed by contemporary artists including, among others, Levon Helm, Norah Jones, Jack White, Jakob Dylan, as well as a performance of The Love That Faded by Jakob's dad. Dylan had first been offered to work with these manuscripts in 1966, so this project, which was now released on Bob's own Egyptian Records label, was a long time coming.
A beautiful new book bringing the spirit of Blowin' in the Wind to children everywhere was published to critical acclaim. This sweet book contains beautiful illustrations by Jon J. Muth that accompany the beloved lyrics of this iconic Bob Dylan song. A CD of the song comes with every book as does an explanation of the song's message of tolerance, written by Greil Marcus. Published with children in mind, adults also fell in love with this lovely book.
Another exhibition of Bob Dylan's visual art, accompanied by a catalogue that comes with four collectable covers, "The Asia Series", said to have been inspired by and created during Bob's 2010 and 2011 tours in Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam, was shown at the Gagosian Gallery on Madison Avenue, NYC, from September 20 to October 22, 2011. Though it turned out that some of these paintings date from 2009, when Dylan didn't tour Asia at all, and it was revealed that most (likely all) of these works had been painted after pre-existing photographs. All of the paintings show his artistic skills and radiate with tradition and history that is typically Dylanesque.
On an operating note, ER saw the addition of three new members to the moderating team. Sir Dogg, Johanna Parker and Tellmemomma were brave enough to take us on in 2011. Their contributions to managing the site, along with their knowledge, humor & friendship have been welcome additions to the community. It's important that the moderating team reflect Bob's fan base and it's clear that there are Dylan fans from all age brackets and from all walks of life. We now better reflect the diversity of ages and locations as we hail from all parts of the globe.
LilRaven is a invaluable resource in the Recordings section and her contribution to that forum cannot be understated. She is one of our unsung heroes. Many, many thanks for all that you do!
Thanks also go out to all of you who follow the tours and provide us with your recordings of this prolific performer. Your generosity to share this material with other Bob Dylan fans is part of what makes you and being a member of this site so special.
Thanks to the folks who send in interesting content and updates for the front page of the site. Regular contributors are always on the lookout for things to share with the members of Expecting Rain. If you come across anything you think may be of interest, don't forget to forward a link to the Webmaster. Thank you!
Many thanks to the site founder, Karl Erik, and his daughter MadCow for forging ahead with what, we're sure, is a labor of love. Long hours go into making this site informative and fun. Besides owning the site, Karl Erik manages the overall operation and content of the front page and Madcow manages the smooth operation of all things technical that goes with running a site of this size.
Thanks to all of you, our members & friends. Your knowledge of all things related to Bob Dylan never ceases to amaze. You are a smart, funny and generous group of people and it's a pleasure talking with you and assisting you on a daily basis.
And last but not least, many thanks to Bob Dylan and his supporting bandmates, Tony Garnier, Donnie Herron, George Recile, Stu Kimball and Charlie Sexton. We thank them for the many hours of enjoyment they bring to Bob Dylan fans the world over. May the pace of travel be kind and the road bring them home safely in the coming year ahead.
From everyone here at Expecting Rain, we wish all of you a happy and healthy 2012!
News
Archives
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Number of Dylan concerts a year, according to
Olof's Files |
| 1960 |
1961 |
1962 |
1963 |
1964 |
1965 |
1966 |
1967 |
1968 |
1969 |
60s |
| 0 |
36 |
33 |
19 |
45 |
67 |
48 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
252 |
| 1970 |
1971 |
1972 |
1973 |
1974 |
1975 |
1976 |
1977 |
1978 |
1979 |
70s |
| 0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
40 |
31 |
26 |
0 |
114 |
26 |
239 |
| 1980 |
1981 |
1982 |
1983 |
1984 |
1985 |
1986 |
1987 |
1988 |
1989 |
80s |
| 70 |
54 |
0 |
0 |
27 |
0 |
60 |
36 |
71 |
99 |
417 |
| 1990 |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
90s |
| 93 |
101 |
92 |
80 |
104 |
116 |
86 |
94 |
110 |
119 |
995 |
| 2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
00s |
| 112 |
106 |
107 |
98 |
111 |
113 |
99 |
98 |
97 |
98 |
1039 |
| 2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
10s |
| 102 |
89 |
86 |
85 |
92 |
87 |
75 |
82 |
84 |
77 |
859 |
| 2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
|
|
|
|
20s |
| 00 |
22 |
82 |
75 |
(45) |
|
|
|
|
|
224 |
Never Ending Tour, from 7 June 1988 - 3246 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total |
3981 |
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