Bob Dylan has announced a comprehensive box set dedicated to the 1976 leg of his Rolling Thunder Revue touring caravan. The collection, titled “The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1976 Live Recordings,” will contain 39 discs featuring 381 tracks when it releases on November 9. Among these recordings, 371 tracks are being officially released for the first time, offering fans extensive documentation of the historic tour.
The 1976 Rolling Thunder Revue represented the second iteration of Dylan’s ambitious all-star touring concept, expanding to larger venues across a broader geographic area compared to the original 1975 run. The caravan featured notable musicians including Joan Baez, guitarists Mick Ronson and T-Bone Burnett, and violinist Scarlet Rivera. A notable highlight from the tour was the Fort Collins, Colorado show, which was filmed for the NBC television special “Hard Rain.”
Prior to this release, official recordings from the 1976 tour were extremely limited, with only nine tracks from “Hard Rain” and a single additional song previously available through official channels. The box set includes a preview track of the “Planet Waves” deep cut “Going, Going, Gone,” recorded during a May 16 performance in Fort Worth, Texas. A companion booklet features liner notes from veteran music journalist Mikal Gilmore, providing context and historical perspective on the tour’s significance.
European copyright law played an unexpected role in prompting this release, as the recordings would have entered the public domain on January 1, 2027, if not officially released beforehand. Dylan’s record label created this comprehensive collection to protect the copyright on these historical performances.
Originally reported by Rollingstone →
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