Bob Dylan Top Charting Albums Prior To 1970

Bob Dylan is coming to the BMO Harris Bradley Center on November 17. Will he play the new album, or just the classics? I would think that most fans want to hear the classics, but I could be wrong.  Perhaps he could toss out a couple Traveling Wilburys songs too. 

Dylan first hit the charts in the US with his album titled The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.  That album was more popular in the United Kingdom, but managed to hit the top 25 in the charts here at home.  He had similar results with his third album titled The Times They Are a-Changin’

The album went gold in the states, and made the top ten in the UK.

In 1965 Bob Dylan had two very popular albums hit the charts.  Bringing It All Back Home sold over a million copies, charting at number six in the USA.  Once again, he had a number one hit on his hands in the UK.  Following up with Highway 61 Revisited, he made fans very happy with that effort.  He sold over 1.5 million copies of that album. 

Between 1966 and late 1970, Dylan released five albums.  All five albums were top ten efforts in the United States and Europe.  Nashville Skyline did best, selling well over one million copies.

His album titled Together Through Life was released in 2009.  That disk hit number one in American and abroad. 

Bob Dylan to Play Summerfest

Bob Dylan, with Willie nelson will perform at the Marcus Amphitheater on July 1st. Both men bring with them an enormous catalog of music. How these two guys ended up on the same bill, I don't know. I like the mix though.

Willie Nelson has a voice that you just fall into. It's so easy to find yourself hanging on his every word. I don't call it hypnotic, it's more about his rasp. Who else has that rasp?

As for Bob Dylan, too much has already been written about him. I don't need to add my two cents to that massive mountain of musings. Let's just say that co-workers much younger than I really like this guy. His fan base is old, young, black, white, and they will come from far and wide.

Two headliner spots have yet to be announced. If I could make a suggestion, let it be a band that attracts a younger crowd. The same could be said for the side stages. Will we see some cutting edge musical acts this year, or the same old junk? Take a page from Bumbershoot Mr. Smiley.

Here are just a few bands booked for that Seattle Music festival.
Sheryl Crow, Modest Mouse, The All-American Rejects, Katy Perry, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Franz Ferdinand, Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, De La Soul, Raphael Saadiq, Brett Dennen, Os Mutantes.

Let's compare this to the headliners booked for Summerfest 2009.
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Robin Trower, The Offspring, Barenaked Ladies, Buddy Guy, Jason Aldean, Whitesnake, Kevin Rudolph.

Heading across the border to see Bob

In my last post, I mentioned that Dylan is coming to Milwaukee. After two pre-sales, and the early "on-sale," he sold out. Someone crying about not getting tickets made a big enough impression on the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel that they featured her plight in print. The problem I have with that story is at the very end of the article. She has hopes that some kind ticket broker will sell her some tickets at face value, so she can go to the show.

There is a problem with that. The venue he's playing in Milwaukee hates brokers. If a broker sold her tickets at face value, the venue manager would be waiting for her to show up so he could kick her out of her seats, and keep her from seeing the show.

I doubt that the Journal/Sentinel would report that part of the story, but it's the sad truth.

That's why I'm heading across the border to get Northrop Auditorium tickets for the show. They don't have some rabid stage manager that wants to keep devoted fans out of the venue. Once a show is sold out, I don't understand why someone would try to keep people from reselling their tickets. Believe it or not, some people actually have to change their plans the night of a show. Sometimes a person will buy a four-pack of tickets only to have two friends back out, leaving someone holding the bag. Putting the tickets up on Craigslist will just get you a hornets nest of trouble.

I'm not going to say more than that. I'll just give my money to another venue.

Bob Dylan not playing the Rave this time.

The fans of Bob Dylan are happy to know that he is not playing at the Rave this time. He's has played there a number of times, and it is just not the best venue for his style and sound.

This time, he's playing in an old theater. That should make the show more acoustically favorable. When the house is full at The Rave, it is still an echo chamber. A co-worker commented on the fact that it is very rare when a band can get a good sound at the Rave.

For an artist like Dylan, I think it's better to have a place where the sound is absorbed by cloth seats, carpets, and an incline that can kill the echo. Dylan's catalogue is so enormous, that one could only guess which songs he will be playing on the night of November 6th.

I also think that most of the folks at the show will be above the age of 40. At least Bob shaved the pencil moustache. That hair thing was not appealing to me. Old guys should not try to pull off the stylish thin mustache. Grow the thing out first, and then see if it works. Sorry for the delay in any posts, I have been very busy doing my real job.