The Bob Dylan North America Tour 1965 was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan during the autumn of 1965. The tour was Dylan's first with a rock band, the Hawks, most of whom would later follow Dylan to Woodstock in 1967 and become The Band while helping Dylan record what become known as The Basement Tapes. Except for two shows at Massey Hall in Toronto, all concerts took place in the United States, with all the December dates taking place in California.
Background In May, Dylan returned to New York City from his short tour of England. A month later, he entered the studio of Columbia Records to record his next single, "Like a Rolling Stone," with session players including Mike Bloomfield of the Butterfield Blues Band and Al Kooper. Both Kooper and Bloomfield, along with Barry Goldberg and the rhythm section from the Butterfield band of Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay, would support Dylan when he went electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival on July 24, four days after the release of the single. At that concert, Dylan would configure his backing band of second guitar, two keyboards, bass, and drums, that would be his accompaniment for this tour.
Bloomfield and Kooper would also participate in sessions for the subsequent album, Highway 61 Revisited, recorded in late July and early August and released at the end of that month. Only two additional concerts would be played in between Newport and this tour, one at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens on August 28 and one a week later at the Hollywood Bowl on September 3. The Butterfield band had its own commitments, Dylan retaining Kooper along with session bassist Harvey Brooks for these shows and adding two members of the Hawks, Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson. When Brooks and Kooper declined to participate in the fall tour, Helm and Robertson convinced Bob to hire the rest of their band, keyboardists Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel along with bassist Rick Danko. Helm would quit before the group went to California, his place taken by session drummer Bobby Gregg who had played on the Highway 61 sessions.
Tour dates DateCityCountryVenueSeptember 24, 1965AustinUnited StatesPalmer Municipal AuditoriumSeptember 25, 1965DallasMoody ColiseumOctober 1, 1965New York CityCarnegie HallOctober 2, 1965NewarkMosque TheaterOctober 9, 1965AtlantaMunicipal AuditoriumOctober 16, 1965WorcesterMemorial AuditoriumOctober 22, 1965ProvidenceRhode Island AuditoriumOctober 23, 1965BurlingtonPatrick GymnasiumOctober 24, 1965DetroitCobo ArenaOctober 29, 1965BostonBack Bay TheatreOctober 30, 1965HartfordBushnell Memorial HallOctober 31, 1965BostonBack Bay TheatreNovember 5, 1965MinneapolisMinneapolis AuditoriumNovember 6, 1965BuffaloKleinhans Music HallNovember 7, 1965Yellow SpringsAntioch CollegeNovember 12, 1965ClevelandMusic HallNovember 14, 1965TorontoCanadaMassey HallNovember 15, 1965November 18, 1965CincinnatiUnited StatesCincinnati Music HallNovember 19, 1965ColumbusMemorial HallNovember 20, 1965RochesterRochester Community War MemorialNovember 21, 1965SyracuseWar MemorialNovember 26, 1965ChicagoArie Crown TheaterNovember 27, 1965November 28, 1965Washington, DCWashington ColiseumDecember 3, 1965BerkeleyBerkeley Community TheaterDecember 4, 1965December 5, 1965San FranciscoGrand Masonic AuditoriumDecember 7, 1965Long BeachMunicipal AuditoriumDecember 8, 1965Santa MonicaSanta Monica Civic AuditoriumDecember 9, 1965PasadenaPasadena Civic AuditoriumDecember 10, 1965San DiegoCommunity Concourse TheaterDecember 11, 1965San FranciscoGrand Masonic AuditoriumDecember 12, 1965San JoseCivic AuditoriumDecember 18, 1965PasadenaPasadena Civic AuditoriumDecember 19, 1965Santa MonicaSanta Monica Civic Auditorium
Set lists The first half of the concert would feature the familiar Dylan, alone with his guitar and harmonica. After an intermission, the second half would be Dylan with his rock band backing. By all accounts, there were no opening acts.
Acoustic half "She Belongs to Me" "To Ramona" "Gates of Eden" "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" "Desolation Row" "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" "Mr. Tambourine Man"
Electric Half "Tombstone Blues" "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down" "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" "Maggie's Farm" "It Ain't Me Babe" "Ballad of a Thin Man" "Positively 4th Street" "Like a Rolling Stone"
Tour personnel Bob Dylan — vocal, guitars, harmonica, piano Robbie Robertson — electric guitar Richard Manuel — piano Garth Hudson — organ Rick Danko — bass Levon Helm — drums through the end of November Bobby Gregg — drums dates in December
References
External links Bjorner's Still on the Road 1965: Tour dates & set lists