Bob Dylan Announces 39-Disc Rolling Thunder 1976 Box Set

Overview and Release Details

The upcoming collection, The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1976 Live Recordings, provides a comprehensive chronicle of the second leg of the all-star tour. The package is scheduled for release in early November; however, sources differ on the exact date. According to Source 1, the set arrives on November 9, while Source 2 reports a release date of November 6.

The box set contains a total of 381 tracks, with 371 of them never having been officially released before. For listeners interested in a preview, a live rendition of the Planet Waves deep cut "Going, Going, Gone," recorded on May 16, 1976, in Fort Worth, Texas, has been made available. This specific Fort Worth concert will also be released as a standalone 3xLP vinyl set on the same day as the larger box set. The collection also includes a booklet featuring liner notes by veteran Rolling Stone writer Mikal Gilmore.

The Touring Band and Guest Artists

The 1976 leg of the tour saw Bob Dylan traveling across a wider section of the United States and playing in larger venues than the initial 1975 run. The Folk Rock icon was accompanied by a diverse band that included guitarists Mick Ronson and T Bone Burnett, violinist Scarlet Rivera, bassist Rob Stoner, and drummer Howie Wyeth. The tour also featured high-profile guests such as Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelson, and Allen Ginsberg.

Musician T Bone Burnett described the tour's raw energy and its influence on the burgeoning music scenes of the time:

"The Rolling Thunder Revue was the first national punk rock tour. It opened a door that led to a furious explosion of new music—the Clash, Elvis Costello, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and on and on. Dylan had done it again. He is good at walking through doors that no one else even sees, doors that others think are walls."

— T Bone Burnett

Historic Broadcasts and Missing Recordings

Prior to this announcement, the only officially released live material from the 1976 leg consisted of the nine tracks on the 1976 album Hard Rain and a recording of "Seven Days" from a Tampa, Florida show. The new set includes the audio from the penultimate show in Fort Collins, Colorado, which was originally filmed for the NBC television special also titled Hard Rain.

Despite the set's massive size, the final stop of the tour in Salt Lake City on May 25, 1976, is not included. This is because the recording equipment was sent home following the Fort Collins taping. This missing show has become a "holy grail" for collectors because it featured the only live performance of the Blood on the Tracks song "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts," as well as the only performance of "Gates of Eden" on the entire tour. While one newspaper account from the time suggested Dylan also played "Black Diamond Bay" from the album Desire, this was likely an error. Fans launched a campaign four years ago to find an audience tape of the performance, but no recording was found.

Comprehensive Tour Coverage and Track Highlights

The 39 discs capture nearly every professionally recorded show from the spring 1976 run. The recordings document the tour's progression through several states, including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado. Key dates and locations featured in the set include:

• April 18, 1976: Civic Center, Lakeland, FL

• April 22, 1976: Unaired TV Show (The Midnight Special), Belleair, FL

• April 29, 1976: Two shows at the Expo Hall, Mobile, AL

• May 3, 1976: The Warehouse, New Orleans, LA

• May 11, 1976: Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio, TX

• May 23, 1976: Hughes Stadium, Fort Collins, CO

The tracklists reveal a variety of performances, including songs like "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Vincent van Gogh," "Maggie's Farm," "Isis," and "Idiot Wind." The set also captures rare inclusions such as "Spanish Is the Loving Tongue," "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)," and "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat."

Artist Background and Context

Bob Dylan, who formed in 1941, has utilized such releases to address European copyright quirks. Under these regulations, recordings may enter the public domain if they are not officially released within 50 years of their creation. This box set ensures the 1976 recordings remain protected, as they would have otherwise entered the public domain on January 1, 2027.

This collection follows the 2019 release of a similar box set chronicling the 1975 leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue. That release was timed to coincide with Martin Scorsese's pseudo-documentary, Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese. The 1975 leg was also the subject of Dylan's 1978 movie, Renaldo and Clara.