Memories of Dylan's controversial 1966 'Judas' tour in Bristol
2025-02-04
Category: entertainment

Almost 60 years ago folk star Bob Dylan was branded "Judas" after "turning electronic" to unexpecting audiences during his world tour.Alan Snook, who was seated front centre for the controversial tour when it came to Bristol's Colston Hall, now Bristol Beacon, remembers the audience were "completely shaken"."I think it was the sheer volume of the sound," said Mr Snook, who has shared his memories of the night with the concert hall.As the biopic Bob Dylan, A Complete Unknown hits UK cinemas, the Bristol Beacon is celebrating the pivotal moment in music history. 
"I remember that they knew that it would be a sell-out concert," said Mr Snook."I wanted to be close to the front and the middle so I had a really good view," he said.
Despite being a regular concert goer, he was not a "massive fan" of Dylan, nor a "folky", he said. "But I just knew he was the big thing and he was likely to be in the future."Dylan performed the first half of his show "with his harmonica and his guitar, singing the sort of songs that people were familiar with", said Mr Snook.
'Too loud, turn it down'
But when he walked on for the second half, the singer was joined by "a few guitarists, a drummer and goodness knows what else", as well as "huge speakers", "which for those times were pretty unusual", he said.He added: "The whole thing changed completely."The sound levels were so phenomenal the audience was completely taken aback. "He didn't come on and build up to it. Everybody was completely shaken by this."He remembers audience members shouting "too loud, too loud, turn it down"."They took no notice whatsoever," added Mr Snook.
He recalled that at one point between songs it fell silent because the audience were so shocked."Somebody shouted out 'say something, say something'."Dylan sort of drawled into the mic, 'what do you want me to say?' and then he blasted into the next song," he said."I'm not sure that the reaction was against him turning so-called electronic. I certainly didn't have any problem with that."I think it was the sheer volume of the sound. I don't think anybody had heard anything like it."
The controversy had first begun at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival in the US, where Dylan was booed when he played electric, but the message had clearly not reached all fans.Following his performance in Bristol, Dylan played in a few more venues around the UK, before hitting Manchester's Free Trade Hall on 17 May 1966.Just before the final song of the set, one audience member shouted "Judas", leading the tour to become known as the Judas Tour.
Speaking of the Bristol concert, Andy Boreham, director of audiences at Bristol Beacon, said: "We've been amazed by the vividness with which people can recall that moment even though it's nearly 60 years ago."He added they had also received memories from people who had "loved the whole concept and and really embraced his new direction".
The concert hall has a story wall, which illustrates the concert as one of the iconic moments that have taken place there since it opened in 1867."As this moment reverberated so massively through music history it was only right that it had its place here on this wall as well," said Mr Boreham.He added the media "had a field day" reporting on it.The hall has collated some of the local newspaper cuttings, including quotes that say "ear-splitting disaster", and "a dreadful din". "For generations that come after you can only imagine," Mr Boreham said."So to hear from people who were in the room is really special and I'd have loved to have been there and seen it for myself," he added.
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