Photo by Bruce MacCallum
One of the greatest rock and roll tours in history began January 3, 1974 in Chicago — 49 years ago today.
It combined Bob Dylan, who had been absent from touring for more than seven years, with The Band — his friends and neighbors from Woodstock, New York. What happened inside that basement at Big Pink would be unleashed on the world.
The concert on this tour hit South Florida on Jan. 19, 1974 at the Sportatorium in Hollywood. I bought a ticket for $9.50 and went to the concert.
By today’s standards, the “Sporto” was a terrible venue. It was a hangar-like building made of concrete with a steel roof. It seated 14,000 people and had no air conditioning. When it rained, the roof leaked on the performers and the audience. Robert Plant once said it was the only venue where he was rained out inside of a building.
The sound was atrocious — like being inside of a large metal garbage can — which is essentially what it was. Billy Joel, after performing there, once called it “an acoustical nightmare.” But on the night Dylan and the Band played there, somehow it didn’t matter.
After attending nearly 50 years of Dylan concerts myself, this was one of the very best I ever witnessed. The sound was new, fresh and different. It holds up to this day. Dylan would tour the next few years before taking a break in 1981. Then, he began what’s called the “never-ending” tour in 1988, which continues today.
(A footnote: the Sportatorium, South Florida’s only rock venue for many years, saw a who’s who of major groups in it’s time. It was torn down in 1993, after several years of disuse and damage from Hurricane Andrew. A supermarket now stands in its place.)
The Hollywood, Fl Sportatorium
Ticket for the show in 1974