Bob Dylan – St James Park, Newcastle 5th July 1984

I think it’s fair to say that I was pretty excited when Dylan announced his 1984 tour dates and one of them was in Newcastle! There were only two shows in the UK this one and another one two days later at Wembley Stadium in London and we went to both of them! I was at college in Newcastle at the time so I must have become ill suddenly on that Thursday morning! In reality we were ouside St James Park quite early on to make sure we had the best place in the queue when the doors opened. I seem to recall that when they did open we had to run up to the top of the Gallowgate end and back down the terraces and across the pitch! We must have done well though because we ended up quite near the front!

It was a beautiful day so sitting on the pitch listening to music was no great hardship! Dylan was touring with Carlos Santana and each gig had one or two other artists as supports acts. In Newcastle funnily enough it was Lindisfarne! I hadn’t seen them for a while and quite frankly on the day I thought they were rubbish! A lot of people said they stole the show but I thought they had lost all the wonderfulness that made them and replaced it with a 4/4 rock backbeat!

Here’s a video of them at the gig so you can make your own mind up!

Lindisfarne Setlist;

Moving House
Lover Not a Fighter
Lady Eleanor
Warm Feeling
Day of the Jackal
Jacka’s Bit
Stormy Weather
Meet Me on the Corner
Run for Home
Fog on the Tyne
We Can Swing Together
Clear White Light

Next up was Carlos Santana. I’ve never been a huge Santana fan but I’ve always wanted to see him (and I did twice in three days!) The thing I remember most about his set was that he had joss sticks burning in front of him – stuck into his pedal board if I recall correctly!

Santana Setlist:

Touchdown Raiders
Spirit
By the Pool
Samba pa ti
Breaking Out
Gypsy Queen
Incident at Neshabur
Waited All My Life
Two Points of View
Brotherhood
Savor
Who Loves You
Open Invitation
She’s Not There
Europa (Earth’s Cry, Heaven’s Smile)
Right Now

I was really happy to be the closest I’d ever been to Dylan having been at the back at Blackbushe in 1978 and up in the gods at Earls Court two years later. I also had my camera and was looking forward to taking some photographs of the man. Unfortunately about 3 songs into his set my girlfriend decided that she wasn’t happy down the front and that she wanted to go and sit with her mum and sister in the stands. So I had to fight the way out with her, deliver her to the stands (having to convince security to let her through in the process) and then fight my way back to the front again! ( Her mum and sister ended up on the TV report that night!)

Dylan’s band included ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor on guitar, ex-Faces’ keyboard player Ian McLagan, drummer Colin Allen and bassist Greg Sutton and for a couple of songs they were joined by Carlos Santana.

The set was a mix of favourites and new songs from his latest album Infidels.

Licence to Kill and Tombstone Blues were recorded at this gig and included on the Real Live album

Bob Dylan Setlist:

Highway 61
Jokerman
All along the watchtower
Just like a woman
Maggies Farm
I and I
Licence to kill
Just My Imagination (Sang by Greg Sutton)
A hard rains a gonna fall (Acoustic)
Tangled up in blue (Acoustic)
It’s alright Ma (Acoustic)
Simple twist of Fate
Masters of War
Ballad of a thin man
Enough is Enough
Every grain of sand
Like a Rolling Stone

Encores
Mr Tambourine man (Acoustic)
Girl from the North Country (Acoustic)
It aint me babe (Acoustic)
Leopard skin pill box hat (with Carlos Santana)
Tombstone blues (with Carlos Santana)
Blowin in the wind (with Carlos Santana)

Knockin on heavens door (with Carlos Santana)
The times they are a changin (with Carlos Santana)

9 Replies to “Bob Dylan – St James Park, Newcastle 5th July 1984”

  1. Was there with my lovely wife to be. Don’t remember much as I had a motorbike related head injury the previous year. I don’t think we were greatly impressed by Lindisfarne. Santana seemed to play forever much to our delight. We were transported for more than one reason? Bob arrived and the crowd went wild, for a wonderfully long time, who is that man in the white suit? Mick Taylor of course. The best day at a football ground since The Who at Parkhead in 76

  2. I was there near the front ,fantastic day , first time I had seen him Live , It took a couple of days to recover !

  3. My first (and, so far, only) stadium gig. £11.50 seemed a lot back then but, allowing for inflation, it’s only about £47 – which would be a bargain.

    Went with mates from Saltburn, got there early so we could stand at front. Lindisfarne were great, Santana set was too long (but the Bongo player in front of us was amusing) and, once he got going, Dylan was absolutely brilliant.

  4. Thanks for this, I was there with my then girlfriend and her sister. I remember Lidisfarne as being disappointing with all that footbally crap making them feel like a novelty act – I had seen them before and loved them too. I liked Santana ( and especially as Chester Thompson was playing drums with his that tour and wierdly Santana must have had the only band in the world with TWO musicians called Chester Thompson at the same time. The other one was on keys ) As for Dylan he was wonderful after a slightly dodgy start soundwise. Does anyone else remember the students from the Uni dancing on the roofs of the buildings outside the park? what a band too – I am a drummer and wanted very badly to play like Colin Allen for a good while after seeing him play that day.

  5. I was at this concert. I couldn’t remember seeing Lindisfarnr, so I obviously wasn’t impressed with them either, sadly.
    Santana blew me away; I remember the sun setting behind the backdrop and watching the most fantastic, handsome black guy playing the largest Conga drums I’d ever seen!
    I travelled with friends from Manchester to see this concert in their Red Ford Escort and we drove there and back the same day.
    Wonderful memories.

  6. What a day! We hired a car from a place called Rent a Wreck in Lincoln. For the day. Great occasion and I still have the ticket.
    Thanks for the memories.

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