Dylan in Sydney

Dylan’s return to Sydney next Wednesday, as part of a rare NZ/Australia tour, evokes vivid memories of the show I saw at Sydney Showground in April 1978.

The Sydney media had been building up Bob to boiling point for weeks – Radio 2JJ had been celebrating Zim since my arrival in January - I often mused that the Qantas 747 had dropped me off in Heaven by mistake.

The Sydney 1978 set was the Budokan (aka “Las Vegas”) show. Classic material, radically reworked. Many affected to despise the arrangements; I love ‘em. Well, most of ‘em - maybe not the cloying flute and horns.

The Sydney weather had been atrocious for days – with the result that the open air arena, normally used to house agricultural shows, was a sea of mud. From the back of a crowd approaching 30,000 I could just about make out Dylan’s girly white blouse and heavy make-up, with the help of binoculars.

Unpromising, but I savoured every single second. With Dylan still reeling from the panning of Renaldo & Clara, and Street-Legal about to get another critical drubbing, you might have expected a downbeat Bobby. In fact, he was in great form at the time – writing and performing at the peak of his powers.

Living in Sydney – a world-class city – for another year after the Bob show, I duly missed the epochal week of London Earl’s Court shows and the Blackbushe spectacular, back home in England. But the memory of a great Oz show eased the pain.

And Sydney 1978 ensured that the Dylan habit would last a lifetime.



Gerry Smith