Bob Dylan and The Band U.K. Tour - Film Study
By: Kieran Lefebvre
Thanks to writer Anders Lindh we now have a definitive guide of everything that was filmed on the tour.
Behind The Cameras:
D.A. Pennebaker
Howard Alk
Bob Dylan
Various other members of Dylan’s entourage
Behind The Sound:
Richard Alderson
Jones Alk
Bob Neuworth
Columbia
C = A complete filmed performance
I = An incomplete filmed performance
F = A fragment of a performance was filmed
Songs that are in bold were filmed by two cameras.
ETD = Eat The Document
NDH = No Direction Home
OT66 = On Tour w/Bob Dylan 1966
DAP = Dylan Archives Promo
Stockholm, April 27 - 29, 1966
Nothing from the concert was filmed. However there is footage of Bob riding a kickbike at the airport, a press conference and hotel footage.
Copenhagen, April 30 - 2, 1966
Again, nothing was filmed from the May 1st concert. There is footage of Bob and Manuel wandering around before approaching the young couple seen in ETD with Manuel trying to buy the girl from her boyfriend. Dylan engages in a conversation with the girl even though the girl doesn't understand a word of English.
London, May 3, 1966
Before starting the tour of the British Isles, Dylan made a stopover in London. Footage of a press conference used in ETD and NDH comes from here. More footage here of Dylan and entourage walking around Hyde Park. The Apothecary Scene comes from here. An open air art exhibition is covered on several reels, briefly seen in the Ballad of a thin man clip from Belfast. A Zoo Water Bus boat trip through Regent's Park to Camden is also covered.
Dublin, Ireland May 5, 1966
She Belongs to Me ( c )
Fourth Time Around ( f )
Desolation Row (I) (NDH)
Just Like A Woman ( c ) (Outtake)
Tell Me Mamma ( c )
I Don't Believe You ( c )
Baby, Let Me Follow You Down ( c )
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues ( c ) (First line used in ETD)
Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat ( c ) (NDH, outtake)
One Too Many Mornings ( c )
Ballad Of A Thin Man ( c )
Like A Rolling Stone ( f )
The majority of the electric set was filmed using two cameras, one on the right and one on stage left. Also the train scene from Dublin to Belfast briefly seen in ETD occurred on this day or the next morning.
*Late at night, in a hotel room, Bob and Robbie try to work on new material, but are interrupted by the night manager, due to complaints from other guests. A brief clip of this is seen towards the end of ETD (the scene where Robbie’s on the phone).
Belfast, Ireland May 6, 1966
She Belong To Me ( c )
Fourth Time Around ( c )
Visions Of Johanna ( c ) (66US, VOJ Promo)
Desolation Row (I)
Mr. Tambourine Man ( c ) (NDH, outtake)
Tell Me Momma (I) (Brief clip in NDH)
I Don't Believe You (f)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (I)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (I) (NDH, ETD)
One Too Many Mornings (C) (everything used in ETD until "It's a restless hungry feeling")
Ballad Of A Thin Man (Outtake edited by Jesse Dylan)
Like A Rolling Stone (f) (ETD)
Almost all of One Too Many Mornings was used in ETD minus the last few verses of the song. Why Dylan and Alk made this decision while editing I don’t know as the song was completely filmed. A common outtake, a complete version of Ballad Of A Thin Man comes from this date.
Bristol, England May 10, 1966
Unfortunately no concert footage again. But there is backstage/hotel room footage and writer Michael Braun and Dylan having a conversation. Also here is a car ride leaving Bristol in heavy rain. There's footage of Dylan and Feinstein getting out of the car , but not the actual shoot producing the famous picture of Dylan used for the cover of NDH and Bootleg Series Vol. 7.
Cardiff, Wales May 11, 1966
I Don’t Believe You (I) (ETD)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (f)
One Too Many Mornings ( C ) (NDH)
Ballad Of A Thin Man (I) (ETD, Outtake)
Like A Rolling Stone (f) + silent unidentified stage footage.
Everything here was filmed with one camera stage left by Howard Alk as Pennebaker was away for a couple of days to attend the Cannes Film Fest. This is the only footage available of I Don’t Believe You and it is missing a few verses. Also from this date is the Dylan Cash duets footage used in ETD and NDH.
Birmingham, England May 12, 1966
No concert footage. The clip of the 90 year old lady and Dylan backstage between sets comes from here, a small bit was used in ETD.
Liverpool, England May 14, 1966
Mr. Tambourine Man (I)
Tell Me Mama (I) (ETD)
I Don't Believe You (I)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (I) (ETD)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues ( c )(NDH)
Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat ( c )
One Too Many Mornings ( C ) (NDH)
Ballad of A Thin Man ( c )
Like A Rolling Stone (I)
One Too Many Mornings was used as an extra on NDH, why used footage from Newcastle and Edinburgh as filler I don’t know, since there are two angles of this song and JLTTB. Footage of Bob and kids in a bricked doorway also comes from this date.
Leicester, England May 15, 1966
I Don't Believe You (f)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (f)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (f)
Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat (f) (NDH)
One Too Many Mornings (I)
Ballad Of A Thin Man (I)
Mostly short excerpts, all shot from the back.
Sheffield, England May 16, 1966
Mr. Tambourine Man (harp solo) (I)
Ballad of A Thin Man (I)
Like A Rolling Stone ( c )
- Silent concert footage.
It’s unknown whether the stills below are from this date or Leicester, but for now I've placed them here:
My
Manchester, England May 17, 1966
Backstage (ETD, NDH)
I Don't Believe You (I)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down ( c )
Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat ( c )
Like A Rolling Stone ( c ) (Partially used in NDH)
All shot from a high angle. There is a tendency from the cameraman to wander off into the audience at times. Also from here are probably the audience reactions used in ETD and NDH. The next day the entourage took a bus trip to Scotland for the concert, briefly seen in ETD. Also a brief scene from ETD, on this date the entourage visits the cave of 'Robert The Bruce' with an older man as a guide.
Glasgow, Scotland May 19, 1966
Mr. Tambourine Man (Harp solo only)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (f)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (f)
Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat (i)i
One Too Many Mornings (i)
Ballad Of A Thin Man ( c )(bridge used in ETD)
Some street scenes were used in ETD and NDH incl. the dressage show with police dogs, long queues of fans outside the Odeon. Bob and Robbie working on songs used in ETD incl. On A Rainy Day, What Kind Of Friend Is This, I Can't Leave Her Behind, If I Was King, a pleasant waltz and a blues song.
Edinburgh, Scotland May 20, 1966
Tell Me Momma (I) (ETD, OT66)
I Don't Believe You (c)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (I) (NDH, ETD)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (I) (Brief clip used in NDH)
One Too Many Mornings (I) (NDH)
Ballad Of A Thin Man ( c )(NDH, ETD)
Like A Rolling Stone (I) (NDH)
Footage of the band leaving the stage and into a car from Edinburgh is placed after the Newcastle Like A Rolling Stone. Also footage of Dylan and Robbie in a hotel room from this date (different from Glasgow). Also possibly from this date is sound check footage seen in ETD.
Below is what I've assembled from this concert:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pjTpc9DHdnWX797IGYVrhAz7dc_o8QP4/view?usp=sharing
Newcastle, England May 21, 1966
She Belongs to Me ( c )
Visions Of Johanna ( c ) (NDH)
Mr. Tambourine Man (I) (ETD)
Tell Me Momma (I)
I Don't Believe You (I)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (I) (NDH)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (f) (NDH)
Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat (c)
One Too Many Mornings (c) (NDH)
Ballad Of A Thin Man ( c )(ETD)
Like A Rolling Stone ( c ) (NDH)
The well known footage of a complete Like A Rolling Stone comes from this date. This day also coincides with Albert Grossman’s birthday of which we see the entourage jokingly pass a plate of food at a table in ETD.
Paris, France May 24, 1966
She Belongs To Me (I)
Fourth Time Around (f)
It's All Over Now Baby Blue (I)
Desolation Row (I)
Just Like A Woman ( c )
Mr. Tambourine Man (I)
Tell Me Momma (I) (NDH, ETD)
I Don't Believe You (I)
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (NDH, OT66)
One Too Many Mornings ( c )
Ballad Of A Thin Man (I) (Brief clip of Dylan sitting at the piano appears in ETD)
Like A Rolling Stone ( c )
Outro (Footage of Dylan leaving the stage and the curtain closing appears in ETD)
Footage at the Georges V Hotel shows him playing around with people for the film briefly seen in ETD. Footage from the press conference on May 23rd shows Dylan sitting with his new advisor, Monsieur Finian, a puppet he bought at a flea market the day before. At the Olympia pre show Dylan meets a variety of people incl. Mason Hoffenberg, Johnny Hallyday and Francoise Hardy. Of course May 24 is Bob's birthday, in DAP we see him celebrate with a cake. Some of Dylans banter during the acoustic set is in OT66. Backstage during intermission between sets Bob complains about not being able to hear "fucking shit" to Richard Alderson. He blames the supposedly state of the art sound system.
London, England May 26, 1966
Soundcheck (OT66)
She Belongs To Me ( c )
Fourth Time Around ( c )
Visions Of Johanna ( I ) (NDH)
It's All Over Now Baby Blue ( c ) (DAP)
Desolation Row (I)
Just Like a Woman (I) (DAP)
Mr. Tambourine Man (I)
Dylan entering Stage for electric set (NDH)
Tell Me Momma (I) (Brief clips used in NDH and ETD)
I Don't Believe You ( c ) (Very brief clips in VOJ promo)
Baby Let Me Follow You Down ( c )
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (I)
Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat (I)
One Too Many Mornings ( c )
Ballad Of A Thin Man (I)
Like A Rolling Stone ( c )
Here is arguably and probably the best show of the whole tour. There are only brief excerpts of the acoustic and electric sets in NDH, no complete song has surfaced. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue and Baby, Let Me Follow You Down were apparently shown at one of the Bob Dylan Center screenings.
Below is the five and a half minutes of footage available:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nG9dijYq7mukdoOqSV3l2fBYVcrAxMSQ/view?usp=sharing
London, England May 27, 1966
Visions Of Johanna (I)
It's All Over Now Baby Blue (I)
Desolation Row (I)
Mr. Tambourine Man ( c )
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues ( c )
Ballad of A Thin Man (I)
Like A Rolling Stone ( c )
The only footage circulating publicly from this date is the car ride with Lennon. There is also footage of Bob talking w/Eric Clapton about Robert Johnson etc. backstage in the archive. None of the concert footage circulates to the public at this time. Dylan is obviously exhausted and disoriented throughout. Like A Rolling Stone has two complete takes (one incl. the only introduction Bob gave of the band from the whole tour), the other is a full stage capture from the back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g2X_MtVRqk