Bob Dylan Takes His Songs to the People
Bob dylan started the longest and most continuous tour of his career on September 15th in Augusta, Maine. The three-month tour of the United States and Canada will include sixty-five concerts in sixty-two cities.
A spokesman denied the rumor that Dylan was broke because of his divorce settlement, and said he was touring ”to get as wide a hearing as possible because of bad reviews of Street Legal.” Dylan’s initial response to critics, the spokesman continued, was that they ”might as well get used to this sound, because this is what it will be for a long time, into the Eighties.”
Dylan has been on tour most of this year (in Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Los Angeles and Europe) with the following lineup: lead guitarist Billy Cross; rhythm guitarist Steve Soles; bassist Jerry Scheff; keyboardist Alan Pasqua; drummer Ian Wallace; David Mansfield on steel guitar, violin and mandolin; Bobbye Hall on percussion and Steve Douglas on woodwinds. The band also has three backup singers.
This story is from the October 5th, 1978 issue of Rolling Stone.