Dylan's back pages - Dylan disrupts CSNY 1970, and the start of the 'Never Ending Tour' 1988.

(Atlantic Records)

In June, 1970, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young played six nights at Bill Graham's Fillmore East, from the 2nd to the 7th. These concerts were recorded for part of  the double live album, 4-Way Street. On the final night, according to Clinton Heylin, Bob Dylan was in attendance. 

Here's Graham Nash's recollection of the evening, courtesy Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock And Out, by Bill Graham and Robert Greenfield (De Capo Press, pp 320-21):

We all knew the Big D was out there, so we said, listen, let's not get carried away. Let's just play. Let's just do the one song that each of us had been playing. But because Dylan was there in the audience, Stephen did four songs. I don't know how David and Neil felt but I was outraged. We had a game plan and we'll be in Fat City, right? But Stephen wouldn't follow the plan.

So I was arguing like **** with him. This was during the intermission. Bill was standing there. Me and Stephen were ******* screaming at each other. Stephen had a Budweiser can in his hand and he was slowly crushing it to a flat thing. It was all foaming and dripping over and Bill was looking at us and he was going "Oh God". And we went back out and did the best electric set we had ever done. I think that was the Tuesday night.

With us it was always that way, Stephen has always been crazy. I think if Stephen was not Stephen Stills, he would have been committed long ago.

Here's Nash telling the story another way:

I remember one night at the Fillmore East in New York. We were playing, and Dylan had come to see us. Our live shows usually would break down to an acoustic first half, followed by an intermission, followed by an electric set for the rest of the night. Within that structure, we would all have acoustic solos. I would do two songs, David would do two songs, Stephen would do two songs, and Neil would do two songs.

But on this particular night, because Dylan was there, Stephen goes out and does five songs. It pissed everyone off righteously. We all wanted to impress Dylan, and yet Stephen takes it on himself to go overboard. Well, we were all so infuriated by the time intermission came that I started talking to Stephen and telling him exactly what I think about him. And while I'm doing it, he's holding a can of Budweiser in his hand, and he's slowly gripping it, crushing it. Stephen is an immensely strong man, and with this maniacal energy of his he crushed the can flat, and now beer is frothing all over the carpet, and all over his pants.

And right after that, we went out and played the greatest electrical set we'd ever played. So go figure.
 

Nash seems to have gotten some of his facts wrong, as you can see by the information below. Throughout the six-night run, Stills might have played one extra song on any given night, and this was not one of them. Maybe Dylan showed up on a different night, or Stills' set was just extended. Here's the set list for (Sunday), June 7 :

Acoustic set:
1. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
2. Blackbird
3. On The Way Home
4. Teach Your Children
5. Tell Me Why
6. Triad (Crosby)
7. Guinnevere (Crosby)
8. Another Sleep Song (Nash)
9. Man In The Mirror (Nash)
10. Don't Let It Bring You Down (Nash)
11. The Loner>Cinnamon Girl>Down By The River (Young)
12. Black Queen (Stills)
13. 49 Bye-Byes>America's Children (including "For What It's Worth") (Stills)
14. Love The One You're With (Stills)
---
Electric set:
15. Pre-Road Downs
16. Long Time Gone
17. Helplessly Hoping
18. Southern Man
19. As I Come Of Age
20. Ohio
21. Carry On
---
Encore:
22. Woodstock
23. Find The Cost Of Freedom
 

Here's the opening acoustic set from the previous evening:

1. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
2. Blackbird
3. On The Way Home
4. Teach Your Children
5. Tell Me Why
6. Triad (Crosby)
7. Guinnevere (Crosby)
8. Simple Man (Nash)
9. King Midas In Reverse (Nash)
10. The Loner>Cinnamon Girl>Down By The River (Young)
11. Black Queen (Stills)
12. 4 + 20 (Stills)
13. 49 Bye-Byes>America's Children (Stills)
14. Love The One You're With (Stills)

In any event, after the show, Dylan is said to have attended the post-concert party for CSNY and The Who, who were performing Tommy twice at the Metropolitan Opera House the same evening. 

Dylan has been associated with the various members of CSNY throughout the years in one way of another, including The Byrds (with Crosby) covering Dylan songs in the mid-1960s - plus Dylan appearing with a reunited Byrds at a Roy Orbison tribute concert in 1990, Stills participating at the 1976 "Night Of The Hurricane 2" at the Houston Astrodome, and Nash leaving the Hollies when they decided to record a Dylan tribute album, while Young seems to have formed the closest bond with Dylan, appearing on stage with him on numerous occasions.

Wolfgang's Vault is streaming Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young Fillmore East concerts from June 4, 5, and 6, but unfortunately not the 7th. I've included part of Stills' solo set from June 6 here. Enjoy!. 

 Also on this day in 1988, the "Never Ending Tour" started at the Concord Pavilion in California, with none other than Neil Young playing guitar for part of the set. There have been more than 2,200 Dylan concerts since.

Dylan does not like the term "Never Ending Tour". The phrase came from a December, 1989, interview with Adrian Deevoy for Q Magazine (courtesy Michael Gray's Bob Dylan Encyclopedia):

Deevoy: 'Tell me about this live thing. You've gone straight into this tour again — one tour virtually straight into the next one.'
Dylan: 'Oh, it's all the same tour.'
Deevoy: 'It's the Never Ending Tour?'
Dylan: (unenthusiastically) 'Yeah, yeah'.

In the liner notes for 1993's World Gone Wrong, Dylan wrote "dont (sic) be bewildered by the Never Ending Tour chatter. There was a Never Ending Tour but it ended in '91. ." You can read the whole quote here, at Bob Dylan's official site, just above the You Tube videos.

Here's the information for the show:

Concord Pavilion, Concord, California, 7 June 1988
1. Subterranean Homesick Blues
2. Absolutely Sweet Marie
3. Masters Of War
4. You're A Big Girl Now
5. Gotta Serve Somebody
6. In The Garden

7. Man Of Constant Sorrow (trad. arr. by Bob Dylan)
8. Lakes Of Pontchartrain (trad.)
9. Boots Of Spanish Leather

10. Driftin' Too Far From Shore
11. Gates Of Eden
12. Like A Rolling Stone //
13. Maggie's Farm

First concert of The Never-Ending Tour. First concert of the Interstate 88 Tour, part 1: Summer Tour of North America. First concert with the first Never-Ending Tour Band: Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), G. E. Smith (guitar), Kenny Aaronson (bass), Christopher Parker (drums).

7-9 Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), G.E. Smith (guitar).
1 G.E. Smith (backup vocal)
1-6 and 10-13 Neil Young (guitar).
Notes: 1, 2, 8, 10 live debuts.

7 first live performance since 1961.
11 first electric version ever.

BobTalk:
Alright, thank you! We got Neil Young here playing tonight! (after You're A Big Girl Now)
Thank you! That's Neil Young on the guitar. Give him a hand! (after Like A Rolling Stone)
Oh, thank you people for being so nice! (before Maggie's Farm)

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