Dylan Revisited: Bootleg Vol. 4 - Live 1966

A trip back to Manchester's Free Trade Hall for an electric show made infamous by a single shout.

This is a series by DylanRevisited based on former Twitter threads, now available here in an easier to read and longer lasting format.

We all know the infamous one-word biblical epithet bestowed on Bob Dylan’s 1966 electric tour of the United Kingdom, as captured in The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: LIVE 1966 - The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert.

But my personal favorite review of Dylan’s controversial rock formation came from a young man interviewed after the Newcastle show, who said in a broad Northern English accent: “Bob Dylan was a bastard in the second half.” Which does suggest he enjoyed the first half.

It’s easy to look down on those who booed and jeered the future, like the Parisians who objected to the atonal rattles of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. But it’s also worth trying to revisit that other country of the past and understand its differences.

Some of th…