The Bootleg Series, Vol. 4: Live 1966: The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert

The second half was great! The first half was fine, and really enjoy a few of those songs but I’ve got a pretty low tolerance for harmonicas.

Я розумію історичну цінність цього концертника, але мені слухати було дуже нудно, особливо першу частину. Не люблю тембр Ділана та його манеру співу, але коли все це з бендом, то ще якось норм. Тому 2.5.

A compelling argument for why rock is better than folk. Despite most of the best songs being on the solo acoustic + harmonica disc 1, the performances from the full electric band on disc 2 is just way more fun to listen to. Fun hearing him respond to the energy in the band, have more support, and let the possibilities of the songs blossom into something more fully realized.

disc 1: Not singing, big harmonica action (2/5)
disc 2: Singing, actual melodic music (4/5)

Jamais écouté avant.

En général peu client des albums live, je dois bien admettre que celui-là m'a soufflé. Pour sa valeur historique, bien sûr, mais aussi et surtout pour la performance de Dylan et du groupe qui deviendra The Band, pleine de hargne face à un public hostile. Grandiose.

Top : Tell Me, Momma
Flop : Visions of Johanna

Judas guy needs his ears checked. The electric half of this album is way more compelling than the acoustic half.

Never have I ever wanted to punch a harmonica down someone’s throat as much as I do after listening to this.
3 of my most dreaded words are Bob Dylan Live

he’s so fucking annoying and making all of his songs ten minutes long makes them significantly worse

A game of two halves.

A slow start saw Dylan bogged down by excessive harmonica that left the listener feeling, at times, like they were wading through treacle.

After a half-time dressing down an electrified Dylan re-emerged for the second half and finally delivered on his promising potential.

I had the privilege of seeing Bob Dylan live in September of 2025. The thing you will notice when seeing him live is that he has allowed his music to outlive him to the point where he is essentially singing Bob Dylan covers. This mysticism extends to the story behind this performance. While the versions of the songs he plays here are mostly conventional, the energy with which they are performed is what makes the performance. He hangs onto every single word of Like A Rolling Stone. The Band was operating exceptionally here. Also, if bootlegs are allowed I think The Basement Tapes might also warrant inclusion. The drawn out acoustic first half is great with its copious harmonica, but the second half is really the highlight here.

There are undeniably great songs here. I prefer folk Dylan, and this didn't change my mind.

Side One - On the whole, I prefer the studio versions. There are some great moments (the harmonica on Mr Tambourine Man), but he sounds bored of singing the songs at times (also Mr Tambourine Man).

Side Two - Again, great songs, but I don't think his rock arrangements are very interesting, and it drags.

6.7

Have you ever noticed that ol' Bob is usually in photographs by himself? Here's the thing, he's got a MASSIVE head. I'm not even talking about how comically large it is on his thin frame but when you do see him in a picture with another person his watermelon is even more noticeably large when you see what a regular sized cranium is supposed to look like. Is he just pictured with people that possess pea heads at all times?

Oh, clearly he is a talented songwriter (the media has told me so since before he became famous) and influential. His voice ruins any of the faux poetry he is caterwauling though whatever song he is playing. At least this live recording really puts his vocals in the forefront so you can really lean into his odd annunciations and that sweet sweet nasally voice.

How many times is Robert Allen Zimmerman going to be on this list? However many times it is it's that many times too many for me.

i admire dylan so much. an incredible collection of songs. of course the production quality of the bootleg isn’t great, but it gets the five stars for cat power’s full interpretation as well.

not really my thing but enjoyed a couple of these! such clean recording for a live album. but also they all sound pretty much the same to me lol. but yeah, i can appreciate it

In a vacuum, this is a great live recording: the sixties is now a baggage of associations for those of us who didn't live thru it, and even for some of us who did, and this does as good a job as anything in recreating what it must have felt like to be alive during that seminal decade. Aesthetically, I dig the transition from acoustic to electric on its own terms. It's a nice structuring element as well as a notorious event that occurred. Dylan's playing, and in particular his singing, is inspired, approximating something that's natural + ritualistic, invigorated by spirit and invention. And yet, this one is known for its historical significance more than the music itself: 'Judas - I don't believe you, you're a liar.' For some reason, that bit is cut out - kinda annoying, no?

When I first started getting into Dylan, I picked up CDs pretty indiscriminately, including a lot of the newly available bootlegs and live stuff at the time. I found it all pretty distracting while I was still trying to get to know the core material, so I've got a chip on my shoulder about a lot of this stuff. At some point I just don't care about how Bobby messed around with the songs on any particular day.
However, this recording represents such a specific moment in history and such a pivotal transition that I was fascinated by it. I love that he did an acoustic set and an electric set and how much it pissed people off. I love the messy mix of material from Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde. It's the rare live album I could actually imagine returning to with some regularity.

A good live album. Actually recorded at the Free Trade Hall Manchester. Historicly interesting.

Ha ha this is what I get for telling someone "I like The Mekons more than Bob Dylan" yesterday. What can I say, everything by him has always sounded kind of samey to me, and then he takes out the harmonica, etc etc.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the first couple tracks on this record, acoustic things that I wasn't very familiar with. But it stopped being fun around the halfway point, with a number of tracks like "Mr. Tambourine Man" that I've already heard enough times for an entire lifetime. There was also the issue that somebody in the Youtube comments brought up, that the mixing wasn't great on the electric songs so the singing was obscured by the music, fairly average blues-rock stuff.

tldr: while the first half of the record had me thinking "this is more interesting than I thought it was going to be, I'm going to give it three stars," by the midpoint it started dragging and ends with a two. Not entirely Bob's fault, but he's got a Nobel so he probably won't mind this too much.

This was much more audible and understandable than I thought it was going to be. I liked it, but I don't know if there's a little bit of bias because I liked the movie so much. Something so peaceful about his music... The harmonica can be a little bit grating after a while though, which would take me out of the peace.

I'm not sold on Bob Dylan live. His voice really isn't good on this one. It's so strained and drawn-out and 'off'. It can't be overstated, it really is woeful.

And SO many of the songs feel really drawn-out and samey. It's hard to see the distinction in them when it's the same warbly vocals stretching out over the song, and with that constant harmonica shoving itself up into everyone's business.

Bob, kindly, why don't you shove your harmonica up your fucking arse instead? Then next time you're going for a shit you can experience what we all have to.

...ok, the second half is much better I'm pleased to say, and with less focus on his voice alone it's a much, much better listen. The instruments are vibrant, the tone is upbeat, and the songs themselves just come completely alive.

Still, I'll never get that 45 minutes back again from the first half.

2.5 rounded down.