Give Florida a Shot

1974-01-19, Hollywood Sportatorium, Hollywood, FL

A few unusually interesting local newspaper reports from this two-show stand in mid-Florida. The first comes from an article in The Tampa Bay Times that ran a couple days after the shows took place:

Miami promoter Leas Campbell…booked Dylan in Miami without even knowing who he was presenting.

The Dylan tour was the best-kept secret in the history of American pop music. Promoter Campbell was visiting rock empressario [sic] Bill Graham…in his office last fall and noticed a map on the wall behind Graham’s desk.

He said he noticed that though pins were placed at most of the major cities in the country, there were none in any of the Florida portion of the map. Campbell told Graham that though he didn’t know whose tour the map represented, Graham would be missing the boat by not giving Florida a shot.

Several weeks later, Graham called Campbell from L.A. and asked him to reserve a hall for a concert for last Saturday’s date, again refusing to divulge the identity of the artist, on that “he was big.”

Shades of Rolling Thunder right? Booking venues without telling the venue who the artist is. Difference is this is presumably happening several months - not weeks - in advance, and these venues are giant corporate arenas, not small-town New England theaters that could probably be sold out by the local yodeling club.