Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, artist and writer. He has been influential in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when he was both a chronicler and reluctant figurehead of social unrest. Early songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" became anthems for the Civil Rights Movement and anti-war movement. Leaving his initial base in the American folk music revival, Dylan's six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" altered the range of popular music in 1965. His mid-1960s recordings, backed by rock musicians, reached the top end of the United States music charts while also attracting denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement.

The Never Ending Tour commenced on June 7, 1988,Heylin (1996), p. 297. and Dylan has played roughly 100 dates a year for the entirety of the 1990s and 2000s—a heavier schedule than most performers who started out in the 1960s.Muir, pp. 7–10. By May 2013, Dylan and his band had played more than 2,500 shows, anchored by long-time bassist Tony Garnier, multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron, and guitarist Charlie Sexton.

1960s Year(s) Tour Dates Number ofshows19641964 World TourFebruary 1 – December 7, 1964471965Tour of North AmericaJanuary 29 – April 24, 196519 1965 Tour of England April 30 – May 10, 1965 8 Bob Dylan's first concert tour took place during late April and early May 1965. The tour was widely documented by filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, who used the footage of the tour in his documentary Dont Look Back. 1965 Tour of North America July 24 – Dec 19, 1965 42 Dylan toured America and Canada, including his infamous concerts at the Newport Folk Festival. 1966 World Tour February 4 – May 27, 1966 47 Dylan and his backing group gave concerts sporadically throughout the United States and Canada while the initial sessions for Blonde on Blonde were being recorded. The first leg of the tour took place in North America. Leaving the continental United States, Dylan traveled to Hawaii and from there to Australia. The tour group then flew to Scandinavia for concerts in Stockholm and Copenhagen. Dylan then toured the United Kingdom. He made a short trip to Paris before he finished the tour in London. On July 29, 1966, two months after the last concert of the World Tour, Dylan was involved in a motorcycle accident and although Dylan still had bookings for 1966 and beyond, he canceled all engagements.

1970s Year(s) Tour Dates Number ofshows 1974 Bob Dylan and The Band Tour January 3 – February 14, 1974 40 This tour reunited Dylan with The Band on stage after the release of the Dylan's Band-backed Planet Waves album. This was a high-profile comeback for both sides of the bill. While virtually all the songs here were familiar and might be considered 'hits'. At the beginning of the tour, a few songs from Planet Waves were performed in concert, but as the tour wore on, these songs gradually disappeared from the set list. By the end, only "Forever Young" would remain. 1975–76 Rolling Thunder Revue October 30, 1975 – May 25, 1976 57 The Rolling Thunder Revue was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with a traveling caravan of musicians, including Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Bob Neuwirth assembled the backing musicians, including T-Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, David Mansfield, Steven Soles, violinist Scarlet Rivera, bassist Rob Stoner, and drummer Howie Wyeth. 1978 World Tour February 20 – December 18, 1978 114 In 1978, Dylan embarked on a year-long world tour, performing 114 shows in Japan, the Far East, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the US, to a total audience of two million people. For the tour, Dylan assembled an eight-piece band, and was also accompanied by three backing singers. The 1978 tour grossed more than $20 million, and Dylan acknowledged to the Los Angeles Times that he had some debts to pay off because "I had a couple of bad years. I put a lot of money into the movie, built a big house ... and it costs a lot to get divorced in California". The live recording of the fourth and fifth shows (of eight) in Tokyo was released as the double album Bob Dylan at Budokan. It was on this tour that Dylan found Jesus and became a born-again Christian. 1979–80 Gospel Tour November 1, 1979 – May 21, 1980 79 On June 15, Dylan released the album Street-Legal, which received poor reviews from most American critics. Performances on his world tour also received negative reviews. The physical demands of touring were also taking a toll on the artist.

1980s Year(s) Tour Dates Number ofshows 1981 1981 Tour June 10 – November 21, 1981 54 The European tour ended in tragedy in Avignon, France where a member of the crowd fell into the electric cables before the first song and caused total power loss. Dylan and the band improvise an unplugged instrumental until the power is restored and ‘Saved’ is started from the beginning. In the accident two people were killed, but the show went ahead despite the incident. 1984 European Tour May 28 – July 8, 1984 27 Dylan played some of the biggest and best known European music venues including Ullevi Stadion in Gothenburg, Sweden, St. James Park in Newcastle, England, Wembley Stadium in London, England and Slane Castle in County Meath, Ireland. 1986 True Confessions Tour February 5 – August 6, 1986 60 Featuring Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The tour started with two concerts in New Zealand and thirteen concerts in Australia before four concerts in Japan. Both Dylan and Petty took a break after this tour before returning to the road in June to perform a forty-one date tour of the United States and Canada. 1987 Dylan & the Dead Tour July 4–26, 1987 6 Featuring The Grateful Dead. Each concert began with a lengthy set by the Grateful Dead of their own material (sometime broken into a first and second set, per the Dead's own practice), followed by a roughly 90-minute set of the Dead acting as Dylan's backup band. 1987 Temples in Flames Tour September 5 – October 17, 1987 30 Featuring Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. This was the last time that Dylan has toured with Tom Petty and the last tour before beginning the Never Ending Tour. Dylan and Petty briefly united in Holmdel, New Jersey in the summer of 2003. 1988 Never Ending Tour 1988 June 7 – October 19, 1988 71 This is the fewest performances on a 'Never Ending Tour' yearly tour. The 1988 tour stayed within the North America, performing 63 concerts in the United States and 8 in Canada. He performed in 29 states in the US and 6 provinces in Canada. 1989 Never Ending Tour 1989 May 25 – November 15, 1989 100 After finishing the European tour Dylan returned to the United States performing at many of the same venues that he had performed in the year before, on the first year of the Never Ending Tour. Dylan continued to perform in the United States and Canada until November 15.

1990s