My story is like this – listening to Bob Dylan’s “Desire” in 1976, I was 14 years old – a life-changing experience I’ll never forget, it became the foundation of a deep and everlasting relationship to Bob Dylan’s music, next step was being overwhelmed by “Street Legal” in 1978. Then, visiting a friend in 1979, I, for the first time, heard the sound of Bob Dylan live, as “Mr Tambourine Man” from “At Budokan” (AB) came thundering through the speakers – the room was dark, I remember the warmth and the light from the fireplace, and most of all I remember the warm sound of the live performances. No, I hadn’t heard the live albums “Before The Flood” and “Hard Rain”, I hadn’t seen Dylan live, living up North in Norway, in Lofoten, high above the Polar Circle. Little did I know that it was even possible to see Dylan live, let alone as many times I now have been attending his shows. But – “At Budokan” was the first time, and I was overwhelmed by the commanding vocals, the power of the performances, both of a few songs I’ve heard before, and songs I heard for the first time in their “At Budokan” versions. I didn’t know the critics who was speaking about “selling out”, about “going Vegas”, “going Springsteen”, “going Elvis” (not meant positive), going nuts with the wrong instruments, nor did I know the stories about how inferior some people ment “At Budokan” was, compared to the later shows in Europe, as in Paris or Blackbushe, or even more, compared to the shows in US the fall of this year of 114 shows. I was a blank sheet of paper when it came to Dylan as live artist, and I just loved what I heard. And still – I guess the first cut was deep, I always had a soft spot for this album, because it meant a key to a kingdom I never knew before this day. I can’t unring that bell. Even as the years went by and I listened to lots of fabulous concert recordings from this year, learning to love the shows from Nürnberg, Paris, Blackbushe, Carbondale, Nashville and more, the sloooow recitation of “Mr Tambourine Man”, the spoken intros to “Senor” and “One More Cup of Coffee”, the fabulous and changing versions of “Going, Going, Gone” in Paris, and, of course, the first and many live versions of songs from “Street Legal”. Even now, after listening to shows from all of Dylan’s tours, all his live albums, seeing him live from 1984 to this year, I still can recall that warm feeling from the first time I heard heard “At Budokan” – and I still think that it holds my favorite versions of both “Blowing In The Wind” and “I Want You”. It was the album that introduced me to the live performing artist, the one I love as much as the recording artist, and as the fabulous poet & songwriter.

So, that’s it, I’m biased! I loved it from the start and still loves it – it might not be my favorite live album or my favorite tour, but I love it. The news of the release of “The Complete Budokan 1978” – remixed from the multi-track tapes, with an ambition to lift the vocals even more up to the front, well, I thought it was a great idea. Of course, it’s not actually the complete Budokan 1978, then it would have been eight complete shows, covering the two shows we now got, 28th of Februar and 1st of March, but also the shows from 21st, 23rd & 24th of February, the 2nd, 3rd & 4th of March. But two ouf of eight ain’t that bad! And – of course, it is the two complete shows that “At Budokan” was made of.

Bob Dylan + Japan = True!

When Bob Dylan launched his first tour outside North America since 1966, he, for the first time, took the trip to Japan, starting a year of 114 shows in Tokyo, at Budokan, in February 1978. No one would know this would be the first of 108 concerts in the land of the rising sun, and no one could believe that he would revisit it both in 1986, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2014, 2016 and 2023. But he did, fulfilling his promise in the liner notes of “At Budokan”: “If the people of Japan wish to know about me, they can hear this record – also they can hear my heart still beating in Kyoto at the Zen Rock Garden – Someday I will be back to reclaim it.” He kept his promise. Several times.

The great triple-album compilation “Masterpieces” was released in March 1978, in Japan, Australia and New Zealand, to prepare the audience for the tour to come, but soon to be a collector’s item all over the world, not least because of the side three of the set, with songs, so far, hard to find anywhere else.

The release of “At Budokan” was at first planned as an exclusively release for Japan, but the public demand in the West was soon rising, leading to a worldwide release in April 1979, reaching the #13 spot in US, #4 in UK.

As Japan since this obviously has a special place in Dylan’s heart, the love seem to go both ways, surely demonstrated by the carefully crafted labor of love put into the box set “Complete Budokan” (this time also the CD set comes with the format and size of vinyl albums), the remastering and remixing, the booklet, the Edna Gundersen essay, the memorabilia enclosed (even a replica of the great tour program!), Heckel Sugano’s story about the process of making this “Complete Budokan” project come true, every detail builds up to a release the Japanese team from Sony can be very proud of, of which the great work with the sound might be this release’s greatest asset.

Japanese singles and EP’s has long been collector’s items, both because of their beauty and their value. Japan has also made several great compilations of Dylan’s music, showing both great love and understanding of Dylan’s art.

I guess it might be a problem for all involved, not least the customers, that this release has become surprisingly expensive, as I understand mostly due to the rise of production costs the last years. Makes you wonder about the prognosis for similar projects in the future. Let’s just hope this good work will continue, there are still so much ground to cover, not least when it comes to Dylan’s massive and diverse live project.

The double vinyl version is great, too – a fine compilation of the most important “bonus tracks” you need as a companion to “At Budokan”. Of course, some of us want it all, just because!

The Concerts.

At the end of this post you can see the setlists, and which songs that are “the chosen ones” from each show. Eleven of the songs was not included on the original release, some of them present both nights. 22 out of 28 songs were repeated both nights. That makes 58 tracks (56 without the band introductions) included in this set, 33 (31 without the band introductions) of them previously unreleased. There is an instrumental version of “A Hard Rain’s A-gonna Fall” opening each show.

I won’t go deep into the cuts already known from “At Budokan”, but will be focusing on the previously unreleased tracks, and the differences between versions, that is – where I can find them.

As I already said, here we find Dylan at the start of a world tour, of a year also resulting in the great “Street Legal” and “At Budokan”, alongside an impressive vault of shows full of changes both in setlists and arrangements. This release is the tip of an iceberg, but a beautiful tip. To listen to “Complete Budokan” is almost like having Dylan in the room with you, the soulful vocal will touch your soul if you listen close. More than anything it is, once again, the sound of Bob Dylan that might be this project’s greatest contribution. The vocals and a new voice of Dylan, the 1978 version, presented in crystal clear, pristine quality.

As I listen, I’m thinking of the great documents of Dylan’s earlier tours, 1966, 1974, 1975, 1976, every tour with their distinct style and focus, both musically and vocally – almost a new voice or attitude for each tour, a different collection or setlist of songs from that unfathomable treasure chest of songs. “Complete Budokan” doesn’t actually remind me of any of them – this tour is completely its own creature, but it was another creature at the end of 1978. I’m thinking of the fact that this was about just sixteen years into this artisanship, sixteen banners united over the field, while we now are looking back on over sixty years of endless search and creative work, hunting for new ways of performing a song, of new songs to perform, always tangled up in blue, heading for another place to sing his songs. Still going strong. And we are still waiting for both new and old songs to make our lives richer.

Then – a little bit about the concerts & about the music.

28th of February.

Already after the instrumental “A Hard Rain’s A-gonna Fall” we get the first “new” song, and the first highlight of the set, “Repossession Blues”, written by rockabilly artist Roland Janes’, here a real blues stomper, playing up to the fact that someone named the tour “Alimony Tour”, coming the year after Dylan’s divorce:

“Well, I ain’t got no money
I’m gonna lose everything I own
Well, I ain’t got no money
I’m gonna lose everything I own
You know a man’s coming out this mornin’
They want to repossess my home“

A great performance, up there with his fine renditions of older blues tunes in the same spot this year. Its Roland Janes’ song, but it might as well be Billy Lee Riley’s version that is Dylan’s, a well known Billy Lee Riley fan, inspiration to bring it to the show. After a “Mr Tambourine Man” close to the one from “At Budokan” (AB), here comes a really sad and beautiful version of “I Threw It All Away”, with some lyric changes, and a wailing sax solo:

“I once held her in my arms
She said she would always stay
But what did I do,
I started looking at you,
I guess I threw it all away“

He sings the bridge and the last verse twice, with lyrical changes the last time.

Shelter From The Storm & Love Minus Zero are the ones we know from AB, followed by one of the most tender versions of “Girl From The North Country” you ever heard, think “I Want You” from AB. Heartbreakingly beautiful. Powerful versions of “Ballad of a Thin Man” & “Maggie’s Farm”, both very close to the renditions from AB, also because of the tight arrangements with a great band and back-up singers. A gorgeous “To Ramona” with the back-up singers following close. “Like A Rolling Stone” close to the AB version, Dylan commenting the applause, not satisfied with the foreign sound in his ear: “Thank you! It must sound better out there than it does here.”

I always loved the AB version of “I Shall Be Released”, Dylan doing his magic, shedding of one more layer of skin in one of his great songs, making it new. Beautiful version, but this is also very similar to the AB version, the tight arrangements doesn’t always give the room for improvisation, even less in the start of the tour, I guess, both musicians and back-up singers are still learning the name of the game here.

“We’re gonna play a new song, one who’s never been played before. I hope we can play it right for you!” The song is “Is Your Love In Vain”, preceeding the recording of the song for “Street Legal” with a couple of months. A long harmonica intro marks the start of the first live version of the song, and you can almost hear and see that Dylan is teaching both musicians and back-up singers the song this night. It’s still a very fine version.

When starting “Going, Going, Gone” Dylan laughs and says: “This one you might know better…”, knowing well that almost no one in the audience ever listened to “Is Your Love In Vain” before. There are some lyrics changes from one night to the other – this night we can hear:

“From Memphis to Norfolk, it’s a thirty-six hour ride
and I gotta be leavin’ you baby, cause I’m so dis-satisfied
I’m going, I’m going, I’m gone”

and later

“I’m leaving here quick, and I’m telling you soon
you can find me, baby, by the light in your moon,
I’m going, I’m going, I’m gone.”

This night, during the ending of the song, Dylan also speaks: “We’ll be back in about ten minutes, I got a press conference to do”!!

A cool, deep sax tone from Mr Douglas is the driving force of “One of Must Know (Sooner or Later)”, a song just played once live, in 1976, before Dylan brought it with him to this tour of Japan in 1978. A strong rhythm throughout, and I love the way he sings the chorus:

“Sooner or later, one of us must know
You just did what you’re supposed to do
Sooner or later, one of us must know
That I really did try to get close to you“

“Blowing In The Wind” – a beautiful rendition, again very close to the AB version, with the same strong phrasing of the words “FEHEEEREEEE” and “CAARYYHAY”. If I must choose, the 1st of March version is still my favorite version of the song.

“Just Like A Woman” – strong, intense version, not so far from the AB version, but with this long, intense harmonica solo in the higher register, it might easily be the reason to choose the version from the night after, the one with a “cleaner”, more successful harp solo at the end.

As much as I loved “Oh, Sister” from “Desire”, I can remember the overwhelming effect the AB arrangement had on me, not only the change of rhythm and groove, but the drama, the voices, the moaning, the sax, Dylan the driving force behind it all. To my ears both versions these two nights are great, but I just love the sax solo at the end here, and think this must be my favorite of the two – the “non-AB” version.

“Here’s a simple love story, happened to me”, says Dylan, and we know it is the beautiful AB version of “Simple Twist of Fate”, played just this of the two nights, and is of course a highlight here as it is on the first release.

Many of us dived early into the Rundown Rehearsal Sessions, and two of my favorite songs from this rehearsals are included in the set this night, none of them used at “At Budokan”. I’m talking about “You’re A Big Girl Now” and “Tomorrow Is A Long Time”. The first one obvious a sketch, a slow, jazzy, bluesy arrangement, Dylan mostly talkin’ the blues, but in his way singin’ through these tears. To my ears a brave and radical change of the song. The version of “You’re A Big Girl Now” this night is (of course) tighter than the rehearsed version, the drama in the vocals rises and falls through the song, intensity both on an between the lines, effective changes between singing and reciting. Both sax and guitar solos underlines the desperation and conflicted feelings in the song and performance. Great stuff!

“All Along The Watchtower” starts, and Dylan shouts to the audience: “Hey – what’s the name of this?”, before the Hendrix-inspired arrangement moves on. David Mansfield’s violin is superb throughout, bringing gypsy soul into the night. Mansfield obvious a genius in his own right, but it would be strange if he not also was inspired by Scarlett Rivera’s playing at the Rolling Thunder Revue, where David played mostly mandolin and pedal-steel. Afther the song is over, Dylan speaks again: “Thank you! (pause) Thank you, thank you, you’re very kind (laughs), you’re a sweet audience, you really are!” Someone in the audience calls for “John Wesley Harding”, Dylan repeats it, and then concludes: “I really wish we could stay here all year and play,” before he starts singing the wonderful version of “I Want You”, very close to the AB version (actually so close that I at first thought it was the AB version that was released as a single, but it wasn’t.) The thunderous applause after the song makes Dylan advice the audience: “Don’t get to wild!” before he breaks into the staccato version of “All I Really Wanna Do”, maybe a more uneven version than the AB version, but with some really fine phrasings during the performance. Dylan speaks again: “Thank you – I recorded that in 1963.” (sic), followed by: “I think I recorded this one the day after” (sic), then he is singing my second favorite from the rehearsals (actually I then was just overwhelmed to hear him bring the old gem out in the light again), a beautiful rendition of “Tomorrow Is A Long time”. Of course “All I Really Wanna Do” was recorded, in one take, on that all-in-one recording session for “Another Side of Bob Dylan”, June 9th of 1964 (I guess Dylan knew that…he might wanna have some fun…), and “Tomorrow Is A Long Time” was first recorded as one of the Witmark Demos in December 1962, the first released version was the Town Hall Live recording, April 1963, released at “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits, Vol, II” (1971) – Dylan was never too bothered about whether a “greatest hit” had been released before. Of course, Elvis had released it in 1966, inspired by listening to Odetta’s version from the year before – the first officially version, though, was Ian & Sylvia in 1963. Dylan really is making it his own once again when singing a soulful version this night. If he wrote it to Suze Rotolo back in 1962, of course no one knows for sure who he is singing to this night. A highlight of the evening.

“Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” is the reggae version from AB, quite a contrast to the tender version of the previous song. After this one Dylan introduces the band, one by one, over a long intro to the next song, at last he introduces “the three ladies” who he first met “on a disc jockey convention” – “my fiancee, Helena Springs”, “my ex-wife Debi Dye”, “in the middle, a young woman who will get very far in this business, Jo-Ann Harris, you will be hearing more from her”.

The great version of “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” is the one from AB (followed by the comment: “Thank you – Well, it’s the time of the hour, and we got to run”), as also the two last songs of AB come from this show, “Forever Young” and the encore “The Times They Are A-Changin'”, after Dylan’s comment: “Thank you, you’re so kind, you really are, we will play you this song, I wrote this also about fifteen years ago, it still means a lot to me, I know it means a lot to you, too.”

1st of March.

After the instrumental intro, Bob Dylan warms up with a cool version of Tampa Red’s “Love Her With A Feeling”, mildly pointing to what’s happening two songs from now.

“Mr Tambourine Man” is very close to the AB version from the night before.

Then comes a very intense and in a way, darker version of “I Threw It All Away” than the previous night, makes it all even more bitter and desperate. Like the night before, he starts the bridge the second time, but this time just like he wasn’t satisfied with his own work the first time, and then delivers it once more using all six carburetors, like he is singing to himself, giving it his all – like he becomes the I in the song:

“Love is all there is and it makes the world going ’round
Love – and it can’t be denied
No matter what you think about it
You just won’t be able to do without it
Take a trip from one who’s thraaahaahaaaaied
So if you find yourself one who gives you all of her love
Take it to your heart, don’t let it stray
Now take this advice
If you don’t wanna pay the price
For throwing it all away“

Quite a moment of the set, I must say. You believe the singer. He threw it all away.

“Love minus zero” – different from the AB version – more playful – a little more tenderness – a bit more quiet – some beautiful phrasing – it’s beautiful – all in all more dylanesque than the released version, I think. I love it.

“Shelter From The Storm” is pretty close to the AB version, maybe a bit less inspired, fumbling some words. Fine version, but a bit staccato delivery (both nights) makes me miss some of the poetic nuances in the delivery we know from so many other performances.

Then another heartbreaking version of “Girl From The North Country”, a bit difficult to understand that it wasn’t released the first time. For me one of the highlights both nights. Beautiful sax. A little resemblance to the versions from 2014, like in Gothenburg.

The next seven songs are the AB versions that we know so well – “Ballad of a Thin Man”, “Maggie’s Farm”, “One More Cup of Coffee”, “Like A Rolling Stone”, “I Shall Be Released”, “Is Your Love In Vain” and “Going, Going, Gone”. I commented a bit on the comparisons above.

“One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)” starts with some heavy drumming from Ian Wallace, the audience joins to the rhythm – some really fine singing in a rendition close to the previous night’s version.

Three songs from “At Budokan” follows, my favorite “Blowing In The Wind” of all time, the beautiful “Just Like A Woman” and another great, mysterious and deep “Oh, Sister”.

Then it’s time for one of the “new songs”, not released on AB, “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)”, a steady rhythm from sax and drums, but not more than that Dylan can play a bit with the phrasings. Fine version.

Another great version of “You’re A Big Girl Now”, Dylan starts deep, and the arrangement gives Dylan the space and time to make it a really special performance, this night, too. Talking and singing. Making his points. Billy Cross throws in a weeping guitar just at the right place. Dylan is both jazz man and blues man, not so much a dance man on this one.

“All Along The Watchtower” comes straight from the Mohave desert, and yes, it is the one from AB, but I just keep listening to the great violin by Mansfield, Dylan sings like he is riding a horse through the dark night.

Ah, there comes one of my two favorite versions of “I Want You” (AB), the voice beautiful brimmed with tears and longing. I have to listen to it again. Always.

Another staccato version of “All I Really Wanna Do” (AB), not so much space to improvise from night to night.

The “reggae spot” is filled with “Knockin’ on Heavens Door” this night, as we know also included on AB. Far from the sentiments in Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid, I would say.

And then – the heaven opens – the highlight of this night, of the two nights, of the “Complete Budokan” set – “The Man In Me” – reaching what might be the song’s highest potential just here. I could keep on listening all night just to the way Dylan sings the line: “Lost on the river of no return, I try to make it up to you, but I’m afraid my heart will burn.” It’s a chaotic drama going on – we can close our eyes and watch the movie: “I know you got a husband, a husband of your own, but I can’t turn you loose and you can’t leave me alone, take a woman like you to get through, to the man in me.” It’s a novel right there.

The night’s band introductions follows each and one of them. (Funny to think of Alan Pasqua as a continuum from here to the Nobel Prize Lecture and then to “Murder Most Foul”.) Introducing the ladies: “I met them in the department store”, again racing directly into the fantastic “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”. No wonder that Dylan himself in the “60 Minutes” interview did wonder where the words came from! It’s impressing just to remember them. I love the 1978 arrangement and the wild and intense rapping, the line about the American President still valid. Even he have to stand naked. In the end. This is far from both Vegas, Elvis & Springsteen. The band, the arrangement, the back-up singers, the singer, the song, the lyrics, it all comes together. Drama. Poetry. Music. Art. Earning money? Yes. Selling out? No. It’s an artist at residence at Budokan this night. Everything except compromise. Fabulous!

“I wanna say hello to Don DeVito tonight, he’s coming all the way from Madrid to see us. Stand up. Oh, he doesn’t want to stand up.” As we know now, Don DeVito produced both “Desire” & “Hard Rain”, and also the albums that soon followed, “Street Legal” and “At Budokan”.

Then he says: “I’ll leave you with this song, this message” and starts singing another beautiful version of “Forever Young”. Also close to the AB version, minor difference.

Dylan leaves the stage, but returns after looooooong applause. Douglas starts saxing, Dylan says “Thank You! Arrigato!” and starts singing one more classic, “The Times They Are A-Changin'”. It’s quite telling about this artist that he hasn’t played this one in concert since 2009. The sentiments of the song is still valid, though, ’cause the times they are still a-changin’, and we are still hoping that the slow one now will later be fast, and that the first one now will later be last. Let’s just hope so.

Johnny Borgan

Link to the Spotify Version of the complete “The Complete Budokan 1978”

Setlists.

Below is the setlists for the two dates, in bold the songs used on the original “At Budokan” – both the complete shows included on this release.

	Nippon Budokan Hall, Feb 28th of 1978		Nippon Budokan Hall, March 1st of 1978
1.	A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (Instrumental)	1.	A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (Instrumental)
2.	Repossession Blues (Roland Janes)	2.	Love Her With A Feeling (Tampa Red)
3.	Mr. Tambourine Man	3.	Mr. Tambourine Man
4.	I Threw It All Away	4.	I Threw It All Away
5.	Shelter From The Storm	5.	Love Minus Zero/No Limit
6.	Love Minus Zero/No Limit	6.	Shelter From The Storm
7.	Girl From The North Country	7.	Girl From The North Country
8.	Ballad Of A Thin Man	8.	Ballad Of A Thin Man
9.	Maggie’s Farm	9.	Maggie’s Farm
10.	To Ramona	10.	One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)
11.	Like A Rolling Stone	11.	Like A Rolling Stone
12.	I Shall Be Released	12.	I Shall Be Released
13.	Is Your Love In Vain?	13.	Is Your Love In Vain?
14.	Going, Going, Gone	14.	Going, Going, Gone
15.	One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)	15.	One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)
16.	Blowin’ In The Wind	16.	Blowin’ In The Wind
17.	Just Like A Woman	17.	Just Like A Woman
18.	Oh, Sister (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)	18.	Oh, Sister (Bob Dylan–Jacques Levy/Bob Dylan)
19.	Simple Twist Of Fate	19.	I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
20.	You’re A Big Girl Now	20.	You’re A Big Girl Now
21.	All Along The Watchtower	21.	All Along The Watchtower
22.	I Want You	22.	I Want You
23.	All I Really Want To Do	23.	All I Really Want To Do
24.	Tomorrow Is A Long Time	24.	Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
25.	Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right	25.	The Man In Me
26.	Band Introductions It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)	26.	Band Introductions It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
27.	Forever Young	27.	Forever Young
	—		—
28.	The Times They Are A-Changin’	28.	The Times They Are A-Changin’