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Bob Dylan 2011 Never Ending Tour

Touring band
Bob Dylan: vocal, electric keyboard (organ & piano), electric guitar, harmonica
Stu Kimball: electric and acoustic rhythm guitar
Charlie Sexton: lead guitar
Donnie Herron: violin, viola, mandolin, MandoCaster (electric mandolin), banjo, pedal steel guitar, trumpet
Tony Garnier: double bass and bass guitar
George Recile: drums & percussion

The year kicks of with two short legs (Far East & Down Under combined, 17 shows and European Summer, 11). What follows is the US Summer (28) and Europe Fall (33). The sets are unchanged: 12-14 main set plus 2-3 encores.
New countries to play for Dylan: Taiwan (Taipai), China (Shanghai), Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City).

Bob Dylan turns 70, but is still going strong. The year opens with controversy about his first concerts ever in China. According to some media his shows are censored by Chinese government. According to Maureen Dowd from the New York Times, The Times and Blowing in the Wind were forbidden by Chinese authorities and for the same reason Dylan decides not to play Hurricane. Well, the last time Dylan played Hurricane was in 1976; the other two song were seldom or not on the set list previous years.
Remarkably, Dylan publishes an official statement denying the rumours ‘which has been going on for over a year’ that he had been subjected to censorship. ‘As far as censorship goes, the Chinese government had asked for the names of the songs that I would be playing. There’s no logical answer to that, so we sent them the set lists from the previous 3 months. If there were any songs, verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play’.
Dylan opens in Beijing and Shanghai with the totally rewritten blues gospel, Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking.

The second tour in Europe opens with a set of Mark Knopfler. Knopfler plays guitar with Dylan in several shows and sings together with Dylan on the last song of the tour, Forever Young. Dylan plays no encores during this double bill tour.

Releases
The long circulating bootleg Studs Terkel’s Wax Museum, containing the radio interview/performance from 26 April 1963 is released in the UK.
The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams is released, a collection of songs made out of lyrics and song ideas, found in notebooks of Williams after he died. 13 artists contributed to the disc.

Recommended bootleg
Milan 2011 (Crystal Cat Records 981-82). Milan, Alcatraz. June 22.

2011 * * * * * * * * * * 89 shows, 64 different songs played. No live debuts or covers.
DateVenueTitleNo of DisksLabel/SourceSoundArt/setlist/info
2011-04-06BeijingChina Workers Gymnasium2CDr-A-First Bob Dylan concert in China.
2011-04-28SydneyLive at Sydney Entertainment Centre Second & Final Show2CDrGodfather Records GR 657-58A-
2011-06-22Milan, Alcatraz ClubMilan 20112CDrCrystal Cat Records 981-82AGreat Can't Wait & Forgetful Heart.
2011-06-24SurseeSummer Sound Zirkusplatz2CDrSchubert raw versionA--
2011-06-26Hamburg, StadtparkHamburg 20112CDrCrystal Cat Records 983-84A+-
2011-06-27Odense, Funen VillageOdense 20112CDrCrystal Cat Records 985-86A-
2011-10-09Glasgow, Braehead ArenaAutumn In Glasgow2CDrCrystal Cat Records 988-89A-
2011-10-11NottinghamCapital FM Arena1CDr/90m-A--
2011-10-14Bournemouth, International CenterDown in Every Street2CDrGodfather Records 693-694A-
2011-10-16LilleLe Zénith2CDrRomeo + Zimmy21 recordingA--
2011-10-20Rotterdam, Ahoy20Ten20Eleven1CDr/90mRattle Snake 249A-
2011-10-20RotterdamAhoy1CDr/90mSchubert + Zimmy21 recordingA--
2011-10-23OberhausenKonig Pilsener Arena1CDr/90mZimmy21 recordingAw/Mark Knopfler
2011-11-19London, HammersmithThe Hammersmith Box 20112CDrCrystal Cat Records 993-94Aw/Mark Knopfler
2011-11-20London, HammersmithThe Hammersmith Box 20112CDrCrystal Cat Records 995-96Aw/Mark Knopfler
2011-11-21London, HammersmithThe Hammersmith Box 20112CDrCrystal Cat Records 997-98Aw/Mark Knopfler shared vocals on closer Forever Young