The 1976 leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue — Bob Dylan‘s all-star caravan tour where he crisscrossed the country with Joan Baez and a band that included guitarists Mick Ronson and T-Bone Burnett and violinist Scarlet Rivera — will be chronicled in the massive, 39-disc box set The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1976 Live Recordings.
The package, which arrives November 9, includes 381 tracks, and 371 of them have never been officially released. There’s also a booklet with liner notes from veteran Rolling Stone writer Mikal Gilmore. For a preview of the set, check out a live rendition of the Planet Waves deep cut “Going, Going, Gone” from a May 16, 1976, tour stop in Fort Worth, Texas.
The initial leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue took place between October 30, 1975, and December 8, 1975, primarily hitting smaller halls across the East Coast of the United States with little advance notice. Dylan brought a camera crew around for the ride, providing material for his 1978 movie Renaldo and Clara and Martin Scorsese’s 2019 pseudo-documentary Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese. (In 2019, every show in the vault from this tour was released on the box set Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings.)
The 1976 leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue hit larger venues and spread out across a wider section of America. The penultimate show in Fort Collins, Colorado, was filmed for the NBC television special Hard Rain. A companion live album with the same title hit stores at the same time, though some of the tracks were taped May 16 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The nine tracks on Hard Rain and a recording of “Seven Days” from an April 21, 1976, show in Tampa, Florida, on the first volume of the Bootleg Series were the sum total of live material officially released from the 1976 Rolling Thunder Revue prior to this new collection.
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A quirk of European copyright meant these recordings would enter the public domain if they weren’t released within fifty years of their creation. This has compelled Dylan’s record label to release several copyright protection packages in the past, though some of them were under-the-radar discs available in just a handful of record stores. The shows on this new set would have entered the public domain on January 1, 2027, if this set hadn’t been created.
Sadly, the final stop on the Rolling Thunder Revue in Salt Lake City on May 25, 1976, isn’t part of this box set because Dylan’s camp sent the recording equipment home following the Fort Collins TV taping a couple days earlier. It’s become somewhat of a holy grail show for Dylan obsessives since it featured the sole live rendition of the Blood on the Tracks epic “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” to this day, and the only “Gates of Eden” on the entire tour. (One contemporaneous newspaper account says Dylan also performed Desire‘s “Black Diamond Bay,” but this was likely an error.)
Four years ago, Dylan super-fans launched a campaign to find an audience tape of the show, but it didn’t produce any results. In all likelihood, it simply doesn’t exist.
But even without the mythical Salt Lake City tape, The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1976 Live Recordings gives the Dylan fan community quite a lot to chew on over the next few years, at least until the inevitable 1978 tour box arrives in the final weeks of 2028.
The track list for Bob Dylan’s The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1976 Live Recordings:
April 18, 1976 – Civic Center, Lakeland, FL
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Disc 1
Visions of Johanna
If You See Her, Say Hello
Vincent van Gogh
Weary Blues from Waitin’
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings – Incomplete
April 20, 1976 – Bayfront Civic Center Auditorium,
St. Petersburg, FL Disc 2/3
Disc 2
Mr. Tambourine Man
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Vincent van Gogh
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Seven Days
Disc 3
Railroad Boy
Wild Mountain Thyme
Blowin’ in the Wind
Shelter from the Storm – Incomplete
I Threw It All Away
Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You
Just Like a Woman
It Take a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
Mozambique
Lay, Lady, Lay
Idiot Wind – Incomplete
Gotta Travel On
April 21, 1976 – Curtis Hixon Hall, Tampa, FL
Disc 4
Seven Days ø
Railroad Boy
Wild Mountain Thyme
Blowin’ in the Wind
Shelter from the Storm – Incomplete
Going, Going, Gone
Romance in Durango
Lay, Lady, Lay
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
ø Previously released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991
April 22, 1976 – Unaired TV Show (The Midnight Special), Starlight Ballroom, Belleview-Biltmore Hotel, Belleair, FL
Disc 5
Mr. Tambourine Man
The Times They Are A-Changin’
Blowin’ in the Wind
I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Like a Rolling Stone
Isis
Just Like a Woman
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Lay, Lady, Lay
April 23, 1976 – Sports Stadium, Orlando, FL
Disc 6
Mr. Tambourine Man
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Vincent van Gogh
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Isis – Incomplete
Disc 7
Blowin’ in the Wind – Incomplete
Railroad Boy
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Romance in Durango
I Threw It All Away
Seven Days
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Lay, Lady, Lay
Mozambique
Idiot Wind – Incomplete
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
April 25, 1976 – University of Florida Field, Gainesville, FL
Disc 8
Mr. Tambourine Man
Simple Twist of Fate
Vincent van Gogh
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Isis
Disc 9
Blowin’ in the Wind
Dink’s Song
Railroad Boy
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Shelter from the Storm
I Threw It All Away
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)
Going, Going, Gone
Mozambique – Incomplete
Lay, Lady, Lay
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
April 27, 1976 – Tully Gymnasium, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
Disc 10
Mr. Tambourine Man
If You See Her, Say Hello
Vincent van Gogh
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Isis
Disc 11
Blowin’ in the Wind
Wild Mountain Thyme
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Shelter from the Storm – Edit
I Threw It All Away
- Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
- You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
- Going, Going, Gone
Mozambique
Lay, Lady, Lay
Idiot Wind – Edit
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
April 28, 1976 – University of West Florida Field House, Pensacola, FL
Disc 12
Mr. Tambourine Man
Just Like a Woman
Vincent van Gogh
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Isis
Disc 13
Blowin’ in the Wind
Railroad Boy
I Pity the Poor Immigrant – Incomplete
Shelter from the Storm
I Threw It All Away
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)
Going, Going, Gone
Lay, Lady, Lay
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
April 29, 1976 (Early) – Expo Hall, Municipal Auditorium, Mobile, AL
Disc 14
Mr. Tambourine Man
Simple Twist of Fate
Vincent van Gogh
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Maggie’s Farm
Isis
Disc 15
Blowin’ in the Wind
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Shelter from the Storm
I Threw It All Away
Going, Going, Gone
Lay, Lady, Lay
Idiot Wind
Gotta Travel On
April 29, 1976 (Late) – Expo Hall, Municipal Auditorium, Mobile, AL
Disc 16
Mr. Tambourine Man
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Vincent van Gogh
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Isis – Edit
Disc 17
Blowin’ in the Wind
Railroad Boy
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Shelter from the Storm
I Threw It All Away
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Going, Going, Gone
Lay, Lady, Lay – Incomplete
Gotta Travel On – Incomplete
May 1, 1976 – Reid Green Coliseum, Hattiesburg, MS
Disc 18
Mr. Tambourine Man
Simple Twist of Fate
Vincent van Gogh
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Isis
Disc 19
Blowin’ in the Wind
Railroad Boy
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Shelter from the Storm
I Threw It All Away
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
You’re a Big Girl Now – Edit
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Lay, Lady, Lay
Mozambique
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
May 3, 1976 (Early) – The Warehouse, New Orleans, LA
Disc 20
Mr. Tambourine Man
Tangled Up in Blue
Vincent van Gogh
Maggie’s Farm
Mozambique
Isis
May 4, 1976 – Louisiana State University Assembly Center, Baton Rouge, LA
Disc 21
Mr. Tambourine Man
Simple Twist of Fate
Vincent van Gogh
Maggie’s Farm
Mozambique
Isis
Disc 22
Blowin’ in the Wind
Railroad Boy
Wild Mountain Thyme
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Shelter from the Storm
Oh, Sister
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
You’re a Big Girl Now
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Lay, Lady, Lay
Seven Days
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
May 8, 1976 – Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, TX
Disc 23
Mr. Tambourine Man
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
Vincent van Gogh
Maggie’s Farm
Mozambique
Isis – Incomplete
Disc 24
Blowin’ in the Wind
Railroad Boy
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Shelter from the Storm
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
You’re a Big Girl Now
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Lay, Lady, Lay
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
May 10, 1976 – Memorial Coliseum, Corpus Christi, TX
Disc 25
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Mr. Tambourine Man
Vincent van Gogh
Maggie’s Farm
Mozambique
Isis
Disc 26
Blowin’ in the Wind
Railroad Boy
Wild Mountain Thyme
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Shelter from the Storm
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
You’re a Big Girl Now
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go – Incomplete
Oh, Sister – Incomplete
Lay, Lady, Lay
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
May 11, 1976 – Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio, TX
Disc 27
Mr. Tambourine Man
Spanish Is the Loving Tongue
Vincent van Gogh
Maggie’s Farm
Mozambique
Isis – Incomplete
Disc 28
Blowin’ in the Wind
Railroad Boy
Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Shelter from the Storm
Romance in Durango
I Want You
You’re a Big Girl Now
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Oh, Sister
Lay, Lady, Lay
Going, Going, Gone
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
May 12, 1976 – Municipal Auditorium, Austin, TX
Disc 29
Mr. Tambourine Man
It Ain’t Me, Babe
Vincent van Gogh
Maggie’s Farm
Mozambique
Isis – Incomplete
Blowin’ in the Wind
Railroad Boy
Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Disc 30
Shelter from the Storm
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
I Want You
You’re a Big Girl Now
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Oh, Sister
Lay, Lady, Lay
Going, Going, Gone
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
May 15, 1976 – Gatesville State School for Boys, Gatesville, TX
Disc 31
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
Oh, Sister
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You
Going, Going, Gone
May 16, 1976 – Tarrant County Convention Center Arena, Fort Worth, TX
Disc 32
Mr. Tambourine Man
It Ain’t Me, Babe
Vincent van Gogh
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Mozambique
Isis
Blowin’ in the Wind
Railroad Boy
Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Disc 33
Shelter from the Storm
I Threw It All Away *
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again *
Oh, Sister *
You’re a Big Girl Now
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Lay, Lady, Lay *
Going, Going, Gone
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
*Previously released on the 1976 Columbia Records album Hard Rain
May 18, 1976 – State Fair Arena, Oklahoma City, OK
Disc 34
Mr. Tambourine Man
Simple Twist of Fate
Vincent van Gogh
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Mozambique
Isis
Disc 35
Blowin’ in the Wind – Incomplete
Railroad Boy
Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Shelter from the Storm
Oh, Sister
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
You’re a Big Girl Now
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Lay, Lady, Lay
I Want You
Going, Going, Gone
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
May 19, 1976 – Henry Levitt Arena, Wichita, KS
Disc 36
Mr. Tambourine Man
It Ain’t Me, Babe
Vincent van Gogh
Maggie’s Farm
One Too Many Mornings
Mozambique
Isis
Blowin’ in the Wind
Railroad Boy
Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) – Incomplete
I Pity the Poor Immigrant
Disc 37
Shelter from the Storm
Oh, Sister
One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
You’re a Big Girl Now
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
It Take a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
Lay, Lady, Lay – Incomplete
Going, Going, Gone
Idiot Wind
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Gotta Travel On
May 23, 1976 – Hughes Stadium, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Disc 38
Mr. Tambourine Man
It Ain’t Me, Babe
Vincent van Gogh
Maggie’s Farm *^
One Too Many Mornings *^
Mozambique ^
Isis
Blowin’ in the Wind ^
Railroad Boy ^
Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) ^
I Pity the Poor Immigrant ^
- Previously released on the 1976 Columbia Records album Hard Rain
^ Previously broadcast on the 1976 NBC-TV special Hard Rain
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Disc 39
Shelter from the Storm *^
Oh, Sister
I Want You
Tangled Up in Blue
You’re a Big Girl *
You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
Lay, Lady, Lay
Going, Going, Gone
Idiot Wind *^
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door ^
Gotta Travel On
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall ^
- Previously released on the 1976 Columbia Records album Hard Rain
Ken Casey stuck around after the show in San Diego, California, talking to members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.John Francis Peters for Rolling Stone
Some of the challenge-coin haul.
The band started as a bet. “My band has a show in three weeks,” Casey’s coworker told him in 1996. “I dare you to open for us.”John Francis Peters for Rolling Stone
Dropkick Murphys (from left): Casey, DaRosa, Webster, Kelly, Rheault, Brennan, and Lynch John Francis Peters for Rolling Stone
Casey is largely the voice of the band, but the other members back him up. “We’re so lucky he’s the mouthpiece,” says Brennan, left. John Francis Peters for Rolling Stone
“Only the Irish can take a song about death and destruction, famine, alcoholism, and raise a glass like it’s an anthem,” says Casey. John Francis Peters for Rolling Stone
“Anytime it feels like things are about to plateau for us, something gives us a little bump,” says guitarist Lynch. “It feels exciting. It feels dangerous. It feels like doing something.” John Francis Peters for Rolling Stone
Jay-Z performing at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis in Paris.
Jay-Z Deserves the Super Bowl Halftime Gig
Where’s the love? Jay-Z asked that question 25 years ago, in the chorus of one of many songs in his catalog that still move audiences today. If he performs “Heart of the City” as part of his Super Bowl halftime show next February, those indignant bars are sure to be a highlight: “First the Fat Boys break up, now every day I wake up, somebody got a problem with Hov…” It would be an appropriate choice, too — because then as now, any time Jay-Z notches a new achievement, people find a way to complain.
The jokes and nonsense started almost as soon as the first rumors trickled out that Jay, whose company Roc Nation has executive-produced the Super Bowl halftime show since 2019, might be choosing himself to headline next year’s show. “Jay-Z just Dick Cheney’d himself for the Super Bowl,” Puck‘s Matthew Belloni quipped on X last week, alluding to the time that the late prince of darkness, who’d been asked to run the vice-presidential search committee for George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign, put himself on the ticket. (Super hip and current reference, and not at all apples-and-oranges.) Others pointed to TMZ reports that pop stars like Harry Styles and Justin Bieber had been asked first. “How are they the frontrunners, and he end up in the front?” Cam’Ron, who’s delighted in trolling Jay for many years, wondered aloud on his podcast. “Out of all the people on the roster, they couldn’t pick nobody else?” asked Cam’Ron‘s co-host, Ma$e.
These critiques miss the point, which is that Jay-Z is one of the best choices for a high-profile gig like this. He’s a superstar with a comparable level of name recognition to any other A-lister in music. He has a deep stack of classic songs going back decades. And he’s a highly skillful live performer who knows his way around a stadium stage, as he’s spent this year reminding people on his Jay-Z 30 tour. He tore down Yankee Stadium three nights in a row this summer; just last week, he rocked SoFi Stadium, which happens to be the same place where the 2027 Super Bowl is being held. He held the crowd’s attention with ease at all of those shows, and though there were plenty of glittery guests — that’s a given at a Jay show, and it will surely be true at the Super Bowl, too — he did it mostly through the force of his own magnetic energy. Let’s state the obvious here: Jay-Z is really, really good at rapping. We’re talking about one of the slickest, sharpest talkers in the history of words, someone who made it to the top through a sustained act of myth-making, then kept going. Are we seriously asking whether he can handle a 15-minute televised performance?
And yeah, there’s a touch of self-congratulation in the way he appointed himself. So what? Praising his own gifts is arguably Jay-Z’s greatest talent of all. He made a fine art out of self-applause. He told his story again and again, retracing the steps from Marcy Projects to the corner suite, and he made us believe. It would almost be insulting to the audience if he didn’t give himself the gig at some point.
Pop culture observers in recent years surely remember the backlash to Super Bowl headliners like Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny — all of it at least culturally conservative, and much of it frankly just racist. The blowback to Jay’s announcement is mostly coming from other quarters, at least for now (let’s just wait to see what the right-wing swamps make of this one). But it’s disappointing in a different way. Jay-Z has spent his career expounding hip-hop as a mainstream commercial force. He’s not a businessman, he’s a business, man. But he’s also an artist. He’s made huge amounts of money, and gotten himself into the rarefied rooms where he even has the ability to give himself a gig like this, by spinning his experiences into compelling narrative art, one verse at a time. Let’s not lose sight of how impressive his life’s work really is. Jay-Z is not some random C-suite bro, and he’s definitely not Dick Cheney. He’s one of the greatest rappers of all time, by any measure. He’s earned that Super Bowl spot.