At the infamous 1965 Newport festival where he would later shock the world with his electric performance with Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, and the rest of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (sans Butterfield himself), Dylan begins the day with a workshop performance of "Love Minus Zero/No Limit." At this point the crowd is still very much in the mindset of worshipping their idol.
The day later ends with the historic performance that signaled Dylan's clear break with the folkies, and the begining of his status as a true musical maverick and cultural icon. Watching this now all these decades later, it's actually a little hard to understand why this performance so shocked the world.
It's definitely loud. Mike Bloomfield in particular just shreds his way through the guitar parts on "Maggies Farm." But this is hardly the stuff that you'd think would instantly turn the messiah into Judas — at least not today. But turn him it did, as the performance is cut short amid a torrent of boos. In his outro, Peter Yarrow (who seems to get stuck with all the toughest emcee assignments), is near apologetic for the spectacle which has just unfolded.
Still when Dylan returns to the stage with an acoustic guitar for "Mr. Tambourine Man," the crowd just as quickly seems to be willing to forgive him, at least for that moment. But it was all but clear that Dylan had already moved on.
The Other Side Of The Mirror is absolutely fascinating to watch, both as a concert film and as a character study of both Dylan and the rest of the players involved. By simply showing the events exactly as they happened for the first time, the story almost takes on the character of an opera. Just fascinating stuff, and absolutely essential for any Dylan fan.
The Other Side Of The Mirror is available from Sony Legacy in stores on DVD on October 30. The Dylan three disc set hits stores on Tuesday.
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Article comments
1 - Sean
I believe you are mistaken about the 1965 Newport show being complete. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry is missing!!
2 - Eric Whelchel
Nicely written Glen. Overall I don't share your assessment of this needless compilation (my far-inferior review should hit this site soon, if it passes muster), but it's given me something to think about.
Haven't seen the DVD yet - sounds worthwhile though.