Last year, one of YouTube’s premier collectors of live Bob Dylan links uploaded a high-quality audio concert in its entirety from one of Dylan’s better shows of the 21st century.
Making it extra special for West Valley fans of Dylan, the 2006 show was recorded in Sun City West.
That April, Dylan played the old Sundome for the second time in a five-year span. Since demolished, the Sundome occupied the space where the Fry’s on R.H. Johnson Boulevard now sits, and by Dylan’s second show had been rechristened as the Maricopa County Events Center.
For a guy who name-checked Arizona in his 1963 song “Let Me Die in My Footsteps” off the “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” album, Dylan has played the Grand Canyon State many times over the years, including on his Never Ending Tour — the popular name for his endless touring schedule — which began in 1988. He’s played familiar venues like Arizona Federal Theatre and Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and he’s also hit up the likes of Mesa and Tucson.
A check of the archives at boblinks.com, which chronicles the singer’s entire live concert history, shows Dylan’s first-ever show in Arizona came as part of his 1978 world tour. On Nov. 18 that year, he played the ASU Activities Center in Tempe, followed the next night with a show at the McKale Center on the UA campus in Tucson. And he was due to play Glendale in the summer of 2020 before COVID canceled his scheduled appearance at Gila River Arena.
But it’s those couple of detours in the way West Valley that brought Dylan to the retirement community of Sun City West. The Sundome was a terrific venue that sat as many as 7,000 fans, and also boasted great acoustics for live shows, and Dylan had rocked the house there in August of 2001 with a set that featured a particularly rousing “Tangled Up In Blue.”
Dylan returned to Sun City West and the same Sundome stage in 2006.
Memorable for the fact that Bob played his upright keyboard at center stage that night rather than his customary guitar, the 14-song show was notable for much more than that.
The YouTuber who uploaded the show last year, and who goes by “mr tambourine” and has more than 12,000 subscribers, called the Sun City West stop “Definitely one of the best ’06 shows, without a doubt. And certainly one of the best shows in the 2004-2008 period.” The YouTuber’s channel is packed with hundreds of Dylan links and has amassed almost five million views since debuting in 2015. Some of the channel’s other posted gems include “Bob lets audience sing ‘Lay Lady Lay’... and they don’t... Pittsburgh May 16 1980,” along with the live debut in Chicago in 1974 of “All Along The Watchtower,” which has since become Dylan’s most performed live song to date, and a compilation of live acoustic cuts from the 1984 tour, including a charged up and celebratory “Desolation Row” from Rome that summer.
The 2006 Sun City West show would be one of 99 concerts Dylan performed in a big year that saw his record “Modern Times” become his first No. 1 album in 30 years. Merle Haggard opened the show, and NBA legend Bill Walton was spotted in the crowd. And in typical Bob fashion, other than the double encore closers of “Like A Rolling Stone” and “Watchtower,” the show’s other 12 songs were completely different than the setlist he performed the night before in Las Vegas, and would be completely different still from his show two nights later in Tucson.
Dylan fans that night in Sun City West were treated to a “Down Along The Cove” that had an especially rhythmic swing to it. The capacity crowd went completely nuts during a final-three run of “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” “Like A Rolling Stone” and “Watchtower.”
On “Rainy Day Women,” the then-65-year-old was telling everybody in the retirement community of Sun City West that they must get stoned, and on that night, Bob probably could’ve pulled that off.
Other selected cuts worth checking out:
“Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)”
Kicking off the show with this “Blonde On Blonde” track is reminiscent of the “Before The Flood” live album with The Band in 1974, when he opened live shows on that documented tour with this one. (He’d play three “Blonde On Blonde” tracks on this night.) There’s nothing quite like the moment when Dylan first goes to his harmonica in a show, and the audience that night got it in the opener after a great jam from the band.
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
Dylan’s voice is always an easy target, even in these later years as it adds gravel to the growl that’s always been there. But his voice spreads a message on this night that still makes you really believe that things will work out. The crowd is right with him on this one.
“Mr. Tambourine Man”
His rocky rasp tells you “in the jingle jangle morning, I’ll come following yOUUUUU,” and he ain’t kidding, even 41 years after he first recorded it. The live recording of this night comes from the audience which raises the crowd’s presence, and is certainly felt on Bob’s harmonica solo on “Mr. Tambourine Man” and the crowd’s huge cheer along for the ride.
CHECK IT OUT: Bob Dylan live show from 2006 in Sun City West, with audio uploaded in its entirely on YouTube
Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment
YourValley.net
@stevestockmar
sstockmar@iniusa.org
Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.
Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.
Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.
Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.
Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.
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