Neverending Tour

Never Ending Tour

World tour by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan and his Band, Spectrum, Oslo, Norway, March 30, 2007
Location	North America Europe South America Australia Asia Central America
Start date	June 7, 1988
No. of shows	2,819 (as of November 23, 2016)

The Never Ending Tour is the popular name for Bob Dylan's endless touring schedule since June 7, 1988. During the course of the tour, musicians have come and gone as the band continued to evolve. They amassed a huge fan base with some fans traveling from around the world to attend as many Dylan shows as possible.

According to Swedish researcher Olof Björner Dylan played his 2,000th show of the Never Ending Tour on October 16, 2007, in Dayton, Ohio. Dylan has attributed much of the versatility of his live shows to the talent of his backing band, with whom he recorded each of his 21st Century studio albums: Love and Theft (2001); Modern Times (2006); Together Through Life (2009); Christmas in the Heart (2009); Tempest (2012); Shadows in the Night (2015); Fallen Angels (2016); and Triplicate (2017).

The tour's name was cemented when journalist Adrian Deevoy published his interview with Dylan in Q Magazine no.39, December 1989. The critic Michael Gray listened to Deevoy's interview tape, and points out in The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia that though Deevoy's article put the phrase into Dylan's mouth, in fact the label came from Deevoy in the following exchange:

Dylan has been dismissive of the Never Ending Tour tag. In the sleeve notes to his album World Gone Wrong (1993), Dylan wrote:

Don't be bewildered by the Never Ending Tour chatter. There was a Never Ending Tour but it ended in 1991 with the departure of guitarist G. E. Smith. That one's long gone but there have been many others since then: "The Money Never Runs Out Tour" (Fall of 1991) "Southern Sympathizer Tour" (Early 1992) "Why Do You Look At Me So Strangely Tour" (European Tour 1992) "The One Sad Cry Of Pity Tour" (Australia & West Coast American Tour 1992) "Outburst Of Consciousness Tour" (1992) "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Tour" (1993) and others, too many to mention each with their own character & design.