Rolling Thunder Revue
| North American tour by Bob Dylan | |
Harvard Square Theater concert poster, November 20, 1975
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| Location | North America |
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| Start date | October 30, 1975 |
| End date | May 25, 1976 |
| Legs | 2 |
| No. of shows | 57 First leg: 30 Second leg: 27 |
| Bob Dylan concert chronology | |
The Rolling Thunder Revue was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan with a traveling caravan of musicians, including Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott. Bob Neuwirth assembled the backing musicians, including T-Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, David Mansfield, Steven Soles, and from the Desire sessions, violinist Scarlet Rivera, bassist Rob Stoner, and drummer Howie Wyeth. The tour included 57 concerts in two legs—the first in the American northeast and Canada in the fall of 1975, and the second in the American south and southwest in the spring of 1976.
The prevailing theory of why Dylan chose "Rolling Thunder" as the tour name was that it was named after the Native American shaman Rolling Thunder. Others maintained that the tour was named after Operation Rolling Thunder, the U.S. aerial bombardment campaign conducted during the Vietnam War. According to Dylan, there was a simpler explanation for the name: "I was just sitting outside my house one day thinking about a name for this tour, when all of a sudden, I looked into the sky and I heard a boom! Then, boom, boom, boom, boom, rolling from west to east. So I figured that should be the name."
The release of Dylan's album Desire in January 1976 fell between the two legs of the tour.
The tour was thoroughly documented through film, sound recording, and in print.
In late July 1972, Dylan saw the Rolling Stones perform at Madison Square Garden. According to Arthur Rosato, the soundman on Renaldo and Clara, their 1972 world tour reignited his interest in playing live, and also had a large influence on Dylan's return to the concert circuit.
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