Bob Dylan Plus Tom Petty Adds Up To Tour De Force For Concert
By Jonathon Taylor
Chicago Tribune - June 15, 1986
Lovers
In his 22 years in the spotlight, Bob Dylan has carried plenty of weight on his shoulders -- not the least of which has been the responsibility to be the voice and conscience of a generation.
For most of those years, Dylan has tried to shrug off that unwelcome burden. In so doing, often all that remained on his shoulders was a chip.
But last Monday night at the San Diego Sports Arena, Dylan kicked off his first national tour in five years with a performance that offered convincing evidence that he has gotten that chip off his shoulder. While his social conscience and passions remain undiminished, he nonetheless seemed at peace with himself and comfortable with his legacy.
Music: Dylan & Petty: Youngster outshines Uncle Bob
By Doug McDaniel
The Courier - June 20, 1986
PHOENIX-- A Memorial Coliseum audience representing the diverse demographics of two decades paid tribute Wednesday night to the legend of Bob Dylan.
Rock's poet laureate had fan of varied ages -- long-haired holdouts, bald-headed yuppies, nymphets in designer jeans, other who were babies during Dylan's heyday -- jumping in the aisles by the end of the show.
But it's hard to say whether the adulation was for what he is, or what he was.
During the 2 1/3-hour show in which Dylan was backed by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, the most revered musician in rock history sang a multitude of songs from his chameleon career.
Petty and his tight band mixed in their own tunes, and offered solid backing -- especially in the rockers -- for Dylan's historical mix.
Bob Dylan proves his appeal is timeless
By Andrew J. Edelstein
The Free Lance-Star - Saturday, June 21, 1986
Sometime in the early 70s, the National Lampoon off-Broadway revue contained a parody of one of those late-night K-Tel commercials featuring a grizzled-sounding Bob Dylan hawking "the hits of fabulous '60s." You didn't need a weather man to know which way wind was going to blow: America's premier protest singer would eventually be reduced to shilling the detritus of a long-gone counterculture.
It's 1986 and thus far, Dylan has avoided that fate. He has chosen not to take the options of other rocks of the '60s: He has not died (the easy way out taken by Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix), he has not become a parody of himself (like the Rolling Stones), he has not become a parody of himself (like the Rolling Stones), he has not been turned into a soppy crooner (like Paul McCartney) nor has he sunk to the level of a '60s nostalgia act (The Monkees).
At age 35, Dylan remains a vibrant, growing performer whose appeal is timeless. Evidence of this can be seen in the electrifying "Bob Dylan in Concert," an HBO special (airing this week on Tuesday and Friday). He plays acoustic and electric numbers, mixing his old and new material. The concert was filmed in Sydney, Australia, during Dylan's "True Confessions" tour and directed by Aussie film director Gillian Armstrong.
He's backed by four black women singers and by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Petty, a rock star in his own right, keeps a low profile here, but his presence offers a neat testimony to rock's ongoing creative process. Petty and the Heartbreakers are the American band whose existence pays virtual homage to the Byrds, the legendary folk-rock band of the '60s, whose own existence was based on their ability to interpret Dylan's folk material into rock 'n' roll.
Dylan-Petty crisp, clean for 20,000
By Marty Racine
Houston Chronicle - Saturday, June 21, 1986
It's a hard rain that's gonna fall, but you didn't need a weatherman to know that those ominous afternoon thunderstorms Friday cleared out in time for the much anticipated Bob Dylan-Tom Petty concert at Southern Star Amphitheater.
Indeed, it turned into a beautiful evening as the approaching full moon seemed to hang right out there over the Gulf, grinning at the stage.
All the better for one of the hottest, most soul-stirring concerts I've ever seen in this fair city.
A crowd estimated at 20,000 attended.
If one ever doubted that a superstar and a super-superstar could share the same stage, Friday's show took care of that. Not only did the crowd heap equal adoration and respect on Dylan and Petty, but the one long, 2 ½-hour hour set was a stroke of brilliant balancing. With Petty's Heartbreakers - drummer Stan Lynch, bassist Howie Epstein, keyboardist Benmont Tench and guitarist Mike Campbell - setting the table, the two main figures took turns on their own songs - appearing together, solo, and together again. They were complemented by a female backup vocal quartet, these days called the Queens of Rhythm, who've played off and on with Dylan for the past eight years.
Bob Dylan growing from musical diety into rock-and-roller
By Rick Shefchik
Ottawa Citizen - Saturday, June 21, 1986
COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Bob Dylan seems finally to be on the verge of overcoming his past as a reclusive legend and getting on with his future as an entertainer.
It's been a number of years since Dylan has written a song that really mattered in the grand scheme of things, and it's safe to say the number of record-buyers who regard him as a prophet has dwindled sharply since the '60s.
But Dylan remains a powerful figure in the pop music world. Just as Elvis Presley's phenomenon grew in his final years of touring -- even as he plumbed artistic depths -- Dylan finds himself in a position to make a lot of money in concert if he should be so inclined. He appears to be.
Dylan cable special plugs current tour
By Gary Graff
Youngstown Vindicator - June 21, 1986
Make no mistake about the timing of Bob Dylan's first TV concert special; it's definitely an hour-long commercial for his current North American tour.
Home Box Office's timing for "Bob Dylan in Concert: Hard to Handle" (10 p.m. today) may be convinient, but it hardly makes the show anything less than a satisfying sample of Dylan circa 1986 that leaves you wanting more.
Maybe you'll even want to buy a ticket to one of the shows on the tour, which is probably just what the promoters want.
The Essential Dylan Comes Through
By John J. O'Connor
Warsaw Times-Union - June 24, 1986
NEW YORK -- Bob Dylan can't be described as returning when he's never really left. The troubadour has been steadily recording albums from the early 1960s to the present. He has rebelled, covered his roots. But the essential Dylan will remain closely identified with the songs of his early years, the various anthems that captured the sounds and images of an era even as he switched from a simple folk mode to electric rock-and-roll. Some of them, or at least their still powerful echoes, can be heard in "Bob Dylan in Concert," a Home Box Office presentation that can be seen June 27 and 30, July 2, 6 and 8.
The concert was filmed in February at the Sydney Entertainment Center in Australia. It is part of Dylan's continuing "True Confessions" tour with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his backup band. This film person of the event was directed for Angel Street Films Ltd. by Gillian Armstrong, whose movie credits include "My Brilliant Career" and "Mrs. Soffel." For the most part, the direction is carefully unobtrusive, recording one number, fading out in the middle of the applause and cutting right to the start of the next number. There is no fat. The performance arena is large and darkened. Only that portion of the audience close to the stage can be seen. Perhaps the house wasn't completely sold out. Perhaps Armstrong, using a crane camera, was merely seeking a theatrical effect.
It felt like the 1960s again at Dylan, Grateful Dead concert
Lakeland Ledger - June 28, 1986
MINNEAPOLIS -- A sense of 1960s nostalgia prevailed as Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead performed their first concert together this summer.
Dylan, who left Minnesota for New York City almost 25 years ago, hammered out 1960s protest tunes and hard-edged rock 'n' roll Thursday night in his first concert in his home state in eight years.
The Grateful Dead, who opened the show, played for hundreds of tie-dyed "Dead Heads" dancing on the field of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.
Dylan, backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and a four-woman chorus, drew a wild ovation from the crowd of 50,000. He opened his set with a new song, "So Long, Good Luck, Goodbye," before launching into 1960s favorites such as "Positively 4th Street" and "Just Like a Woman."
He referred to Minnesota in introducing his anti-war song "Masters of War."
"Here's a song I wrote a couple of years after I lived here," said Dylan, 45, who was born in Duluth. "It's nice to see it's still here."
He wrapped up the two-hour, 40-minute set with a duet with Petty on "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," then walked off the stage shaking a tambourine.
Review: Dylan turns back time with Petty, the Dead
By John Petric
The Columbus Dispatch - July 3, 1986
AKRON -- The Akron Rubber Bowl colorfully exploded back in time as tens of thousands of tie-dyed rock fans celebrated one of the most unusual stadium shows of the '80s.
Troubadour of the '60s, Bob Dylan, who is using Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as backup, and psychedelic relics, the Grateful Dead, have paired themselves for a limited summer tour consisting of only four outdoor stadium dates.
It's as strange a formula as it looks but it works -- to varying degrees of success.
Mixing a legend like Dylan (who is struggling to sell records these days) and Petty (a certified platinum pop/rock phenomenon) with the Dead, (figureheads of the remaining hippie subculture) makes for a very interesting evening, indeed.