Storytime: Bob Dylan Concert in Nottingham and My 20 Favourite Dylan Covers

So, I did it. I finally saw the legend Bob Dylan live. While I’m not actively in the Bob Dylan fan community, I was in a way a fellow traveller because I like his music and I’ve reviewed a lot of Bob Dylan books for this blog. I’d always hear people in the Bob Dylan fandom say you gotta see Bob Dylan live. One of my friends, John, is a big fan of his music and he really wanted to check “go to a Bob Dylan concert” off his bucket list. So when he saw that he was doing a UK tour, he bought tickets for himself, me, and my husband Eoin. I’m not sure if I would have gone alone, but I’m glad I had a friend to go along with, especially one who is very passionate about his music. He bought a harmonica and started playing Bob Dylan songs on it as well as “Ring of Fire” and “Piano Man”. For his birthday we watched five hours of Bob Dylan related movies/documentaries. That’s how much he loves Bob Dylan.

One of the books I reviewed was Matthew Ingate’s Together Through Life, a book about all the times he’s seen Bob Dylan. So I wasn’t going into this completely blind. I also looked up people’s thoughts on seeing Bob Dylan live on Reddit and the things I’ve read track. This ain’t Taylor Swift Eras Tour with fancy sets and visuals. There isn’t even a big screen with video on it so if you’re way in the back, he looks like a little dot on stage. This ain’t going to be a concert where he chats with the audience and tells stories about the songs or introduce them. As much as I love that style of show, that’s not who Bob Dylan is. Nope, Bob Dylan is incredibly professional and punctual with when he starts the concert and no he’s not going to play peekaboo with you and play an encore. This isn’t a Marvel movie where there’s a post credits scene. Like Paul McCartney, he is still releasing new music and is touring. Incredible and I always have so much respect for musicians who continue to make new music and tour even in old age. It shows how much they love what they do. They could have easily retired and said that’s it, but they keep going. We Millennial and Gen Z classic rock fans appreciate that. Unlike the boomers, we didn’t have a chance to see these legends in their prime and there’s no chance a time machine will be invented. Of course with him being 83 years old, he’s not going to sound like he did in the 60s. No one should expect that. Be realistic. The fun of seeing Bob Dylan is how he rearranges his older songs to work with his current vocal range, so it may take you a while to suss out what he’s playing. There’s an art in it and I appreciate it. If you want to hear it played like the album, what’s the point of going to a concert? Also, do not expect this to be like a Paul McCartney concert where he’s going to be playing the greatest hits for the most part. As much as I’d like that, it’s Bob Dylan and he’s gonna do what he wants to do because he can. You don’t tell him what to do. His latest album is Rough and Rowdy Ways and most of the setlist is going to be made of up largely of songs from that album, if you check setlist.fm. There were some classics and the crowd went wild for them: “All Along The Watchtower” was the opener and the band were fabulous. Second song was “It Ain’t Me Babe”. The crowd also loved “Desolation Row” and “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”. These were the highlights for me, but I also enjoyed the newer material. Overall, I’m glad I went.

You might be wondering why I haven’t posted pictures of the show and it’s because Bob Dylan concerts are phone free shows, and honestly it’s a good thing. A few years ago I wrote about the Yondr phone pouches and shared my thoughts on them, but now I might be rethinking things since my opinion is more informed from going to a concert that had these pouches and this anti-phone policy. These pouches have worked in making the concert really feel like one from the good old days and honestly, it was refreshing to take a break from the internet even for a few hours. Bob Dylan has done more for mental health than the Keir Starmer’s Labour Party have. A soon as you walked into the venue, workers had the pouches ready and snapped them closed to keep the phone in there. It is removed with a device that kinda looks like the one shops have to remove anti-shoplifting tags on clothes. However, since in this day and age our phones are our clocks too, we had no idea what time it was so we just chatted to pass the time. While I think someone could theoretically get away with having a dummy phone for the Yondr pouch, pretended they didn’t have a phone, or bring another device with a camera and they could pull it out and try to take a picture, but I think they’d be quickly reprimanded by staff. Thankfully I didn’t see people trying this. While going through security, I saw someone have to take out their camera, but I don’t know what happened to that person and their camera. Did it reduce distractions? Yes. Definitely. I like that everyone was on equal standing where they had their phones locked away and we could just live in the moment.

However, did that stop all shitty behaviour? No. Some people are inconsiderate jerks. A lot of boomers will complain about young people having no manners and not being raised right (ummm remember which generation raised us?). I’ve seen people my age or younger being rude, no doubt. But as a Millennial, I often find that Boomers and Gen X can have even worse manners and more of a sense of entitlement. When I go out, I sometimes think to myself, “damn some people were not raised right”. Behind us were this older couple and they were yapping pretty much the entire concert, as if this was their living room. Excuse me! Bob Dylan is on stage and you’re yapping? Bob Dylan’s the main character here, not you. Show some respect. Not only that, but you’ve spent nearly £100 each on tickets, in this economy. I don’t get when people talk or text during a movie when movie tickets are like £10-20, but I really don’t understand why someone would be chatting at a concert that costs 10 times more. Why bother going if you’re going to yap the entire time. Go rent a movie or watch a concert film in your living room if you want to talk so badly. You can even pause it if you want to take a bathroom break or get a snack. I’m here to hear Bob Dylan, not your play by play commentary or whatever bullshit you’re yapping about. A few times I had to turn around and make the shhh gesture and they didn’t give a crap. I can’t imagine I was the only one who was annoyed. It’s one thing if this was a kid who doesn’t know any better, but if you’re middle aged or elderly, you know better. This isn’t your first rodeo. When my brother and I were kids, my dad would always go “Behave yourselves, this isn’t your first time going to a restaurant, a plane, a hotel, a movie, or a live show. You know better than that.” I’ve seen some children who are better behaved than a lot of adults.

Anyway, I want to end this blog post on a cheerier, happier note. I’ve never written a blog post about Bob Dylan covers in the nearly 10 years I’ve been running this blog, so I’ll share a little list of my favourites and share a corresponding Spotify playlist for you to listen to. Just one rule: for a little variety, I cannot pick more than one song per musician and I can’t pick the same song twice. Otherwise, this list would be half Byrds and a lot of Manfred Mann. It’s hard to pick favourites, so I’ll just list them here, unranked.

1. “All Along The Watchtower” – Jimi Hendrix

It would be a crime to not include this cover. This is easily one of those covers that blows the original out of the water. This is the GOAT Bob Dylan cover and this is the coldest classic rock take. This isn’t Bob Dylan’s song, this belongs to Jimi Hendrix.

2. “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” – The Byrds

It’s hard to pick a favourite Byrds cover of a Bob Dylan song. I love how they mixed jangle pop with Bob Dylan, electric folk. Some of them, I prefer Bob Dylan’s version of “The Times They Are A-Changin'”. Both versions of “Mr Tambourine Man” are fabulous. The Byrds definitely beat Dylan with “My Back Pages”. But this one, I actually like The Byrds’ version better. I love the guitar intro and the harmonies. If this opinion is controversial, I don’t care. This is my special interest and I’ve got my opinion.

Honourable mention: I also love The Chocolate Watchband’s version. Very Rolling Stones-esque.

3. “The Mighty Quinn” – Manfred Mann

Another group very well known for their Dylan covers, they’ve covered “With God On Our Side”, “If You Gotta Go, Go Now”, and “Just Like A Woman”. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band also covered Dylan’s compositions “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”, “Father of Day, Father of Night”, “You Angel You”. This was a big hit for the Manfreds with it topping the British charts and reaching the top 10 in the US. This song was originally titled “Quinn The Eskimo” and was on The Basement Tapes, released in 1967.

4. “It Ain’t Me Babe” – The Turtles

Just like their contemporaries, The Byrds, The Turtles started off doing a lot of Dylan covers. On their 1965 debut album It Ain’t Me Babe, they covered “It Ain’t Me Babe”, “Like A Rolling Stone”, and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit”. But I like this one the best. This one is a lot more lively than the original.

5. “Blowin’ In The Wind” – Sam Cooke

This is a song Sam Cooke was impressed by because he was amazed that a white man could write a song that really described the struggles Black Americans have been going through for centuries. I love hearing covers done in a different genre and yet is it really that different? R&B and rock and roll have similar roots. They’re cousins. No studio version of this one, but what’s wrong with a live version? This one is from Sam Cooke At The Copa. His famous song “A Change Is Gonna Come” was influenced by this song.

6. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” – Odetta

Imagine being so good at what you do that one of your idols covered your song. Even more than that, she recorded a whole album of covers of your songs and it’s the first album of Bob Dylan covers. One of Bob Dylan’s biggest influences besides Woody Guthrie and Robert Johnson was The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement, Odetta. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks were huge fans. Both Odetta and Bob Dylan performed at the March on Washington.

7. “Mr Tambourine Man” – Duane Eddy

I love Duane Eddy’s guitar playing and I love twangy guitar instrumentals. Really cool to hear Bob Dylan interpreted this way. There’s more Dylan covers where this came from because this is off of Duane Eddy’s 1965 album Duane Does Dylan.

8. “I Want You” – The Hollies

Yes, they released a Dylan covers album, Hollies Sing Dylan in 1969. At this point Graham Nash had left the band to join Crosby, Stills, and Nash. One of my favourite Bob Dylan songs is “I Want You” from Blonde On Blonde and while I think no one beats his version, I like The Hollies version. Even if they’re not really proud of this album, I like The Hollies and I like hearing their interpretations of Bob Dylan.

9. “If Not For You” – George Harrison

This cover is on George Harrison’s incredible solo album All Things Must Pass. The two were friends and I love how he covered his friend’s song. Olivia Newton-John based her version off of George Harrison’s cover of the song.

10. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” – Bryan Ferry

This incredibly stylish rock star is a huge Bob Dylan fan and released his own covers album called Dylanesque in 2007, but decades earlier he covered “A hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” on his covers album These Foolish Things. I like this version a lot.

11. “Visions of Johanna” – Marianne Faithfull

This cover was recorded in 1971, but wasn’t released until 1985. This is another favourite Dylan composition from the classic Blonde on Blonde.

12. “Just Like A Woman” – Richie Havens

Before he was the first musician to play Woodstock, he recorded an album called Mixed Bag and recorded a cover of “Just Like A Woman”. Besides this song, Richie Havens covered “Maggie’s Farm”, “All Along The Watchtower”, “If Not For You”,

13. “Lay Lady Lay” – The Isley Brothers

A beautiful interpretation of this classic from Bob Dylan’s country rock era. Over 10 minutes long when the original was only 3:20.

14. “Farewell, Angelina” – Joan Baez

You know I had to include Joan Baez. While this song wasn’t officially released by Bob Dylan, it is one of his compositions and he tried to record it during the Bringing It All Back Home sessions. This cover is on her 1965 album of the same name.

15. “Maggie’s Farm” – The Specials

I love how they made this folk protest song into a more punk/ska version. This time Maggie is referring to Thatcher. Very apt and really good timing, as this was released in 1980.

Honourable mention: I love Solomon Burke’s cover of this song.

16. “All I Really Want To Do” – Cher

Cher is no stranger to Bob Dylan covers. This is one of my favourites of hers. She has also covered “Like A Rolling Stone”, “Blowin’ In The Wind”, “The Times They Are A Changin'”, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”, and “I Want You”.

17. “I’ll Keep It With Mine” – Nico

Nico and Bob Dylan, two singers with unique voices. He tried to record it for Blonde On Blonde, but it didn’t make it onto the album. This cover is on her album Chelsea Girl. The first recording of the song was actually by Judy Collins.

18. “Mr Jones (Ballad of a Thin Man)” – The Grass Roots

Another great Bob Dylan composition. Love the original and I think this version’s pretty good.

19. “My Back Pages” – Eric Johnson

A good cover from the guitarist who brought you the Grammy-winning guitar instrumental “Cliffs of Dover”.

20. “Si Tu Dois Partir (If You Gotta Go, Go Now)” – Fairport Convention

A British folk rock band covering a Bob Dylan song in French. Love it!

So there you go, 20 different songs by 20 different artists. Did I miss your favourite Dylan cover or a favourite Dylan composition? Ever seen Bob Dylan live and want to share your story? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

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