Bob Dylan Comics, Part 2
Two new shows, and an old show
Thanks to everyone who read, and/or subscribed to, this new Substack comics project! If you signed up because you’re a Bob Dylan fan, you’ve come to the right place. If you aren’t a Bob Dylan fan, just bear with us for one more story - I promise to post some non-Dylan-themed comics soon!
When I first thought of posting some old Bob Dylan comics online, I didn’t expect I’d be having any new Dylan adventures. The last time I saw Dylan live was in 2017. A busy life full of family caregiving… and a pandemic… have kept me off the touring road. But things have changed! In 2020, Dylan released an album of new and awesome songs (Rough and Rowdy Ways). At first, I wasn’t expecting much (Dylan’s recent albums haven’t been my favourites), but fellow fans urged me to listen more closely. This music really grew on me. As with all good music, I could feel the songs speaking to my own life situation. Bob sings about taking what life hands you and making something out of it. And he sings about drawing on the past as a guide to the future.
Then, Dylan - who’s 82 years old - announced a North America tour with two nights in Toronto. This was enough to kick me out of my homebody lifestyle and back into touring mode.
In my previous post, I wrote about the first Dylan shows I saw in the late 90s. I saw those shows with my friend, who still lives in Toronto. She’s still a fan. We went to these new shows together, too!
The first night
No phones were allowed, but drawing books were allowed. Here’s the view from our seats on the second balcony, on the first night.
So that was the first night.
It was so beautiful out, that we walked along Yonge Street after the show… and I took advantage of the opportunity to distribute a few Sprawl zines - part of a Calgary pop-up journalism project that you can read more about, here!
The second night
The second night, we arrived early to chat with fellow fans outside before the show.
So that’s it - those were our 2023 Bob Dylan adventures. And that’s almost the end of the story, except for one more thing.
One more night, from long ago
In my previous post, I talked about the first three Dylan shows I saw, back in 1996. I just want to pick up that story again here, to mention the next show I attended: Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre in August 1997.
Here’s what I drew about that show, all those years ago. (Why did I mention Time Out Of Mind? It hadn’t quite been released by the time of this show, had it? Maybe we were hearing rumours of it. My memory fails me.)
I would have waited to talk about that show another time, but I thought I’d include it in here because of a conversation we had with some fans at the Massey Hall show last week. See my notes below!
That’s all. Thanks for reading!
