Bob Dylan, Copenhagen 1966
Photo: Jan Persson
Text: Torben Bille (Excerpt from the book ‘Midt i en Beattid’, Gyldendal 2008)
The double album Blonde on Blonde was just around the corner, and the hysteria surrounding the electrified betrayal by the Messiah of folk music had not yet died down — even if it didn’t match the uproar of the Newport Festival or the subsequent British concerts that autumn.
Some said Bob had gone pop. But he didn’t sound like it in K.B. Hallen on May 1, 1966.
First, he gave many people what they came for: in an acoustic set, he performed “She Belongs to Me,” “Fourth Time Around,” “Visions of Johanna,” “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” “Desolation Row,” “Just Like a Woman,” and to relieved cheers, “Mr. Tambourine Man.”
An acoustic guitar — that, at least, people understood. Apparently, rumors of the second set had spread beforehand, as only 2,000 out of 3,000 tickets were sold.
Dylan looked like a man who was enjoying himself with reckless abandon when he returned after the break. Along with Robbie Robertson, dressed in fashion-conscious mod attire and sporting a veritable corona of curly hair, he cranked up the volume for the opening number, “Tell Me, Momma,” followed by a snarling “Baby, Let Me Follow You Down.” The stage was set — and Dylan owned it. Especially when he sat down at the grand piano and intoned “Ballad of a Thin Man.”
Yes, something was happening, and some of us sensed where it was heading. The change had no name, but it couldn’t be contained in an answer blowing in the wind. Rather, it was a long series of questions.
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