This wasn’t just happening in 1996. It continued into the next year, including at the show I saw on April 19, 1997 at the University of Hartford, in Hartford, CT.
At some point in the midst of the show one young guy jumped onto the stage and started dancing. I was pretty surprised he wasn’t removed. Right after he jumped back down, some other guy followed suit
Then a few girls joined in, getting up on stage - sometimes two or three at a time - to dance for a few minutes.
After a while a whole bunch more audience members started climbing up and it turned into a kind of single, long “receiving line,” as one by one each person took their turn to go right up to Bob. Some shook his hand, some girls gave him kisses, quite a few young guys and girls hugged him, and Bob was hugging them back.
I think the band kept playing a long instrumental break while this was happening.
I can’t remember for sure - it’s been a long time - but I’m pretty sure what eventually ended it was one or two security guys told the rest of the people who were bunched up in front of the stage waiting for their chance to climb up that was it, no more people could come up. Probably because Dylan couldn’t start singing another song with all these people coming up to shower affecrio on him.
It waa definitely one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen, and certainly never expected to see, at a Dylan concert.
At the time we (my husband and I) attributed it to an influx of bereaved Grateful Dead fans who’d started coming to Dylan shows the next year after Jerry Garcia died in August 1995.
The Dead, or various member combinations thereof had not returned to touring yet, so their concert-starved fans had nowhere else to go. For a lot of them, I guess, seeing Bob Dylan was the next best thing.
I have to admit that although no one minded them at first, eventually when they were a large presence in the auduence, they got pretty annoying to many typically more serious Dylan fans, and particularly those of us trying to tape (and especially videotape).
It waan’t unheard of for a few Dylan fans seated way up front to stand up and dance right from the start of the show - though that didn’t alway a happen either.
It was pretty common for a while in the 1990s for a large portion of the audience to rush the stage about halfway through shows, and a lot of places security let them stay and stand there - or dance there - for the rest of the show.
That was pretty annoying for people further back in the orchestra who really didn’t want to have to stand for the whole second half of the show in order
to have any chance at all of seeing Dylan and the band performing. Especially if, like me, you’re of the shorter persuasion.
But the Dead fans were worse. They’d be up dancing all over the place right from the start, and just kind of disrupting the regular vibe of Dylan shows where everyone there has come to see Dylan because they want to see and hear Bob Dylan, rather than use the occasion as some kind of affirmative group consolation ritual.
It was definitely a relief when the Deadheads got tired of coming and disappeared.
But I’m pretty sure they’re who started the whole jumping onstage with Bob phenomenon, so I guess they deserve thanks for creating a whole different kind of scene onstage with Dylan that none of us would have seen, nor would ever have imagined we might witness, if it weren’t for those younger Deadheads “invading” Bob’s shows.
My guess is Bob was aware this was going on as well. He was performing “Friend of the Devil” at some of these shows, and opened that night at U of Hartford with a very Dead-inspired “Not Fade Away.”
I was also at this show. Everything everyone is saying is right on. It was joyful chaos. Best part for me was getting to exchange a few words with Bob. First and only time that happened in 73 times seeing him. To back up a bit I was a 21 year old college student at the time that came to the show with my roommate at Bradley University in Peoria, IL. It was the 1st of 3 concerts that week for me. I also went to Davenport and Bloomington later that week. I don't remember this happening at those shows. What I do remember about Bloomington was seeing John Mellencamp and his wife at the time there which was really cool. But back to Dubuque. I remember the incredibly loud KWS set and not really enjoying that. I mean it was the loudest thing I'd ever heard. I was at the right side on the bleachers in my assigned seat. When Dylan came on it was easy to get in the middle which had become basically GA. We started at the back and once the stage crashers started doing their thing we slowly started inching forward. By Silvio, if not earlier we were on the rail right in front of JJ and stayed there the whole show until the end. I told my roommate let's not get up there and 1) be obnoxious as some were by interrupting the playing or worse, Dylan singing. 2) I wanted to keep this spot and I knew if we got up we'd have to exit on the right side and probably head to the back again. Wow what a show. I think it gets lost how good the band was sounding at the time. I loved when Kemper joined. They really had that Dead jam band vibe going. I first saw Dylan in Chicago in 1994 and most recently at the Hollywood Bowl this summer having moved from IL to SoCal in the early 00' so I’ve seen lots of different Dylans in 30 years. Anyway, I remember all these people flying over me and next to me but because I think we were so close we didn't get hit by them or have to catch them. I remember a bigger guy jump out and no one caught him and that looked painful. At the end of the main set you can see JJ flick a pick in to the crowd. I still have that pick along with the original Five Flags Center sleeve that the tickets came in (and the ticket itself). So back to the show. Our plan was to wait until Dylan sang the last word of the last song and then get up on stage. As RDW ended we made our move. You can see me and my friend at the 2:00:59 mark come up on stage. I have a blue hat and not that you can tell in the grainy video, the black If You Want Someone You Can Trust, Trust Yourself T-shirt. We stood next to him and danced with our stupid swinging arms move for a minute. I get a kick out of seeing myself looking on the stage for the joint that someone threw up earlier. Had my eye on it all show lol. The other funny part is you can see us get dragged off with the old hook move. My friend even tried to come back, right to left and they yanked him back haha. At this point we, like everyone else that came off went into the darkness on the side of the stage but we stood there for the last minute in the shadows. As the band came off I made my move. I took a couple of steps over to where the band was about to walk by just in time to sort of greet them. Bucky and Kemper ignored me. Tony smiled and JJ had a huge grin. I know he enjoyed that night. But best of all who comes down last but Dylan himself. I grabbed his hand and arm for a shake and got the famous dead fish handshake. I said "Great show tonight Bob!" because I wasn't expecting this to happen , best I could muster. Without breaking stride he said "Oh thanks man" That was it but just so cool. Really wouldn't have wanted more. One last funny tidbit to go along with the people who’ve said this wasn't the only time it happened. 4/29/97 at Muncie, IN where my sister went to Ball State she got us 1st row seats and she jumped up in the middle of the show, gave him a hug and then came right back to the seat. I got a picture of it on a disposable camera. Ahh the 90's.
I attended this show. I remember feeling surprised and disappointed that drummer Winston Watson had been replaced. Watching Dylan perform with an endless parade of fans getting in his face made me think, "This is what it'd be like if he tried busking on the street." I didn't care about stage-divers getting hurt; they were all young and bendable. I was concerned that Dylan might get hurt. I don't know which song it was, but a serious-looking guy wearing a black-leather jacket slowly walked up to Dylan and said who-knows-what. He gave off Altamont 1969 vibes, and I was relieved when he disappeared. Thanks for making this article free to read!
I also recall a review from then of Dylan in Oregon somewhere, where there was a line of folks getting up onstage to kiss him, then finally when another girl got onstage, he gestured towards Tony Garnier as if to say 'Kiss HIM!" In retrospect, it all reminded me of the one time I saw Sunny Ade and The African Beats in Wash DC in the '80s, and the steady stream of I guess Nigerian expat fans getting onstage to apply dollar bills to the band's sweaty foreheads.
What a gig. And what I want to know is what happened to the kid who got onstage, KISSED Jack Johnson, then did a cannonball split move back into the crowd??
I like the girl who decided the only way to stop people from going up on stage and dancing was for her to go up on stage and dance. I guess it makes sense?
Pretty sure something like this happened at the Fox Theater in St. Louis in the spring of '94. I remember there being candles and incense on the stage and people coming up from the audience and sitting on the stage. I don't recall a lot of dancing. However, I was in a very stressful romantic entanglement at the time, so I can't vouch for any of my memories of that show, unless you get corroboration from somebody else who was there.
Happened at the Pine Knob show 5/16/1996. A few girls jumped up and started dancing during Highway 61 and Bob didn't seem to mind but then a large group followed. I remember Bob ditching his guitar and leaving the stage. After security cleared the stage, he came back out and played Alabama Getaway. He seemed to stress the 'Getaway' while singing it. First show for me and hooked me for a lifetime.
Saw it happen twice. The second time I was in the front row. The wife and I had to fight our way out of the ensuing masses. As soon as we got to an open area, he ended the song abruptly. End of show. I didn't pay to see a bunch of kids who couldn't dance in the first place obstructing my view as well as my way out of there. No fun, my babe, no fun.
Wild!!! Saw him in St. Paul a few years after this at the St. Paul Saints Stadium with Willie Nelson - in 2002 or 2003 I think - and it was a great show - I was in the mob in front of the stage but I don’t remember people getting on the stage. He and Willie did a set together including Pancho and Lefty 💋❤️🌹🙏⭐️⭐️
You should work for the FBI.
I swear there’s no-one that you can’t find.
Ever tried to find someone who was in the crowd at Salt Lake City in 1976? 😊
My first thought: Soy Bomb.
This wasn’t just happening in 1996. It continued into the next year, including at the show I saw on April 19, 1997 at the University of Hartford, in Hartford, CT.
At some point in the midst of the show one young guy jumped onto the stage and started dancing. I was pretty surprised he wasn’t removed. Right after he jumped back down, some other guy followed suit
Then a few girls joined in, getting up on stage - sometimes two or three at a time - to dance for a few minutes.
After a while a whole bunch more audience members started climbing up and it turned into a kind of single, long “receiving line,” as one by one each person took their turn to go right up to Bob. Some shook his hand, some girls gave him kisses, quite a few young guys and girls hugged him, and Bob was hugging them back.
I think the band kept playing a long instrumental break while this was happening.
I can’t remember for sure - it’s been a long time - but I’m pretty sure what eventually ended it was one or two security guys told the rest of the people who were bunched up in front of the stage waiting for their chance to climb up that was it, no more people could come up. Probably because Dylan couldn’t start singing another song with all these people coming up to shower affecrio on him.
It waa definitely one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen, and certainly never expected to see, at a Dylan concert.
At the time we (my husband and I) attributed it to an influx of bereaved Grateful Dead fans who’d started coming to Dylan shows the next year after Jerry Garcia died in August 1995.
The Dead, or various member combinations thereof had not returned to touring yet, so their concert-starved fans had nowhere else to go. For a lot of them, I guess, seeing Bob Dylan was the next best thing.
I have to admit that although no one minded them at first, eventually when they were a large presence in the auduence, they got pretty annoying to many typically more serious Dylan fans, and particularly those of us trying to tape (and especially videotape).
It waan’t unheard of for a few Dylan fans seated way up front to stand up and dance right from the start of the show - though that didn’t alway a happen either.
It was pretty common for a while in the 1990s for a large portion of the audience to rush the stage about halfway through shows, and a lot of places security let them stay and stand there - or dance there - for the rest of the show.
That was pretty annoying for people further back in the orchestra who really didn’t want to have to stand for the whole second half of the show in order
to have any chance at all of seeing Dylan and the band performing. Especially if, like me, you’re of the shorter persuasion.
But the Dead fans were worse. They’d be up dancing all over the place right from the start, and just kind of disrupting the regular vibe of Dylan shows where everyone there has come to see Dylan because they want to see and hear Bob Dylan, rather than use the occasion as some kind of affirmative group consolation ritual.
It was definitely a relief when the Deadheads got tired of coming and disappeared.
But I’m pretty sure they’re who started the whole jumping onstage with Bob phenomenon, so I guess they deserve thanks for creating a whole different kind of scene onstage with Dylan that none of us would have seen, nor would ever have imagined we might witness, if it weren’t for those younger Deadheads “invading” Bob’s shows.
My guess is Bob was aware this was going on as well. He was performing “Friend of the Devil” at some of these shows, and opened that night at U of Hartford with a very Dead-inspired “Not Fade Away.”
mm
comfort
I was also at this show. Everything everyone is saying is right on. It was joyful chaos. Best part for me was getting to exchange a few words with Bob. First and only time that happened in 73 times seeing him. To back up a bit I was a 21 year old college student at the time that came to the show with my roommate at Bradley University in Peoria, IL. It was the 1st of 3 concerts that week for me. I also went to Davenport and Bloomington later that week. I don't remember this happening at those shows. What I do remember about Bloomington was seeing John Mellencamp and his wife at the time there which was really cool. But back to Dubuque. I remember the incredibly loud KWS set and not really enjoying that. I mean it was the loudest thing I'd ever heard. I was at the right side on the bleachers in my assigned seat. When Dylan came on it was easy to get in the middle which had become basically GA. We started at the back and once the stage crashers started doing their thing we slowly started inching forward. By Silvio, if not earlier we were on the rail right in front of JJ and stayed there the whole show until the end. I told my roommate let's not get up there and 1) be obnoxious as some were by interrupting the playing or worse, Dylan singing. 2) I wanted to keep this spot and I knew if we got up we'd have to exit on the right side and probably head to the back again. Wow what a show. I think it gets lost how good the band was sounding at the time. I loved when Kemper joined. They really had that Dead jam band vibe going. I first saw Dylan in Chicago in 1994 and most recently at the Hollywood Bowl this summer having moved from IL to SoCal in the early 00' so I’ve seen lots of different Dylans in 30 years. Anyway, I remember all these people flying over me and next to me but because I think we were so close we didn't get hit by them or have to catch them. I remember a bigger guy jump out and no one caught him and that looked painful. At the end of the main set you can see JJ flick a pick in to the crowd. I still have that pick along with the original Five Flags Center sleeve that the tickets came in (and the ticket itself). So back to the show. Our plan was to wait until Dylan sang the last word of the last song and then get up on stage. As RDW ended we made our move. You can see me and my friend at the 2:00:59 mark come up on stage. I have a blue hat and not that you can tell in the grainy video, the black If You Want Someone You Can Trust, Trust Yourself T-shirt. We stood next to him and danced with our stupid swinging arms move for a minute. I get a kick out of seeing myself looking on the stage for the joint that someone threw up earlier. Had my eye on it all show lol. The other funny part is you can see us get dragged off with the old hook move. My friend even tried to come back, right to left and they yanked him back haha. At this point we, like everyone else that came off went into the darkness on the side of the stage but we stood there for the last minute in the shadows. As the band came off I made my move. I took a couple of steps over to where the band was about to walk by just in time to sort of greet them. Bucky and Kemper ignored me. Tony smiled and JJ had a huge grin. I know he enjoyed that night. But best of all who comes down last but Dylan himself. I grabbed his hand and arm for a shake and got the famous dead fish handshake. I said "Great show tonight Bob!" because I wasn't expecting this to happen , best I could muster. Without breaking stride he said "Oh thanks man" That was it but just so cool. Really wouldn't have wanted more. One last funny tidbit to go along with the people who’ve said this wasn't the only time it happened. 4/29/97 at Muncie, IN where my sister went to Ball State she got us 1st row seats and she jumped up in the middle of the show, gave him a hug and then came right back to the seat. I got a picture of it on a disposable camera. Ahh the 90's.
I attended this show. I remember feeling surprised and disappointed that drummer Winston Watson had been replaced. Watching Dylan perform with an endless parade of fans getting in his face made me think, "This is what it'd be like if he tried busking on the street." I didn't care about stage-divers getting hurt; they were all young and bendable. I was concerned that Dylan might get hurt. I don't know which song it was, but a serious-looking guy wearing a black-leather jacket slowly walked up to Dylan and said who-knows-what. He gave off Altamont 1969 vibes, and I was relieved when he disappeared. Thanks for making this article free to read!
I also recall a review from then of Dylan in Oregon somewhere, where there was a line of folks getting up onstage to kiss him, then finally when another girl got onstage, he gestured towards Tony Garnier as if to say 'Kiss HIM!" In retrospect, it all reminded me of the one time I saw Sunny Ade and The African Beats in Wash DC in the '80s, and the steady stream of I guess Nigerian expat fans getting onstage to apply dollar bills to the band's sweaty foreheads.
What a gig. And what I want to know is what happened to the kid who got onstage, KISSED Jack Johnson, then did a cannonball split move back into the crowd??
I like the girl who decided the only way to stop people from going up on stage and dancing was for her to go up on stage and dance. I guess it makes sense?
Pretty sure something like this happened at the Fox Theater in St. Louis in the spring of '94. I remember there being candles and incense on the stage and people coming up from the audience and sitting on the stage. I don't recall a lot of dancing. However, I was in a very stressful romantic entanglement at the time, so I can't vouch for any of my memories of that show, unless you get corroboration from somebody else who was there.
Happened at the Pine Knob show 5/16/1996. A few girls jumped up and started dancing during Highway 61 and Bob didn't seem to mind but then a large group followed. I remember Bob ditching his guitar and leaving the stage. After security cleared the stage, he came back out and played Alabama Getaway. He seemed to stress the 'Getaway' while singing it. First show for me and hooked me for a lifetime.
I believe I was there as well.
Saw it happen twice. The second time I was in the front row. The wife and I had to fight our way out of the ensuing masses. As soon as we got to an open area, he ended the song abruptly. End of show. I didn't pay to see a bunch of kids who couldn't dance in the first place obstructing my view as well as my way out of there. No fun, my babe, no fun.
Wild!!! Saw him in St. Paul a few years after this at the St. Paul Saints Stadium with Willie Nelson - in 2002 or 2003 I think - and it was a great show - I was in the mob in front of the stage but I don’t remember people getting on the stage. He and Willie did a set together including Pancho and Lefty 💋❤️🌹🙏⭐️⭐️