This a great little Docu movie that Interviews Mickey Jones of The Band. He played Drums for Bob Dylan on the American Folk singers 1966 world tour. Mickey also had a keenness for filming and managed to catch a lot of rare footage from that tour on his 8,mm Camera.
The documentary features an in depth interview with Jones. It features some rare Footage of Bob Dylan playing live on his famous 1966 tour where he went electric.
Bob Dylan 1966 World Tour
The Bob Dylan World Tour of 1966
In 1965, Mickey Jones was a young drummer with a keen interest in filming. Armed with his Drum kit and an 8mm Camera, he set out in 1966 with Bob Dylan on the singers World Tour of that Year. Having had worked in a Foundry for a short stint in San Diego, Mickey soon knew he was in the wrong Vocation. So he headed over to Los Angeles. This is where he soon got regular work as a musician at P.Js club in L.A. with session group, The hawks.
This where he met manager “Bullets” Dervin who Invited him to join the Tour. So he soon found himself on a plane to Holland to play as a full time session drummer for many big names of the time including, The Beatles. This is where he developed his keenness for filming the shows. He also played in Vietnam playing to the U.S Army and captured some rare footage of the troops being entertained.
It was when he returned from Vietnam that he met Bob Dylan who sought him out. Dylan explained that Mickey was his Favourite Rock n Roll Drummer and asked him to play for him. The reason for Dylan’s demand for a drummer was because he was about to go Electric. This was a move that caused some controversy with his fans. Taking his trusty 8mm camera with him, Jones captures some rare footage of that tour.
Touring the World
Jones chronicles his experience of the 1966 world tour. The documentary shows Footage from Hawaii, Australia, Ireland, England, Scotland and Denmark as the group ,make their way around the Globe. Sound man Richard Alderson recorded every gig that Bob Dylan and the Band played on this tour. However, Jones shows us some previously unseen footage that he’s had in the cupboard all these years.
Hawaii
The group started the tour off by First heading Westwards, over to Hawaii. They stopped over in Honolulu at the Princess Kai Lani Hotel. Mickey explains how they became tourists when they got there as it felt so amazing to be out here. So they took the days off to go out around the sites, taking a boat cruise around Pearl Harbour. You can see footage of this in the documentary as well as some shots from the airplane window on their way from Honolulu to Sydney, Australia.
Australia
As the group land in Sydney for the Australian leg of the tour, we see footage of them at their hotel, The Town house in Kings Cross, Sydney. Bob Dylan was set to play Sydney Stadium boxing Arena. It shows some footage from here where the concert sold out Two nights in a row. However, Jones explains how the place had a revolving stage. It would do Three turns clockwise and then Three turns Anti-Clockwise on a cycle.
He tells of the hilarities they had in Brisbane where he thought it seemed a good response from the Audience. Yet instead, they were Booed by the audience. But Dylan wasn’t about to let this get to him and neither were The Band. So they just laughed. However, this made the crowd Boo harder, but Dylan and the rest of the guys just laughed even harder. Mickey recalls it being great fun.
Heading South again to Melbourne, the group stayed at The Sheraton Hotel, just across from John F. Kennedy Park. Whilst in town, they took part in a TV Documentary. This featured Dylan’s One and Only Live Televised Gig at The Festival Hall in Melbourne.
At about Seven in the morning, the group were turned over in Melbourne. It was the police on a Dawn raid looking for drugs. But, they never found any. He manages to catch some rare footage of Dylan in Australia.. This was the only footage of Bob Dylan playing Australia on that tour.
Sweden
After a brief Pit-Stop in Beirut in Lebanon, they landed in Stockholm, Sweden where they stayed at The Flamingo Hotel. Jones tells us of their time here and how they really enjoyed it. He makes a point to emphasis how Sweden has some of the world’s most beautiful women.
On Friday the 29th of April, Bob Dylan and The Band played Concert Yusef in Stockholm. In the film, you can see the streets teaming with Kids all desperate to see Bob.
Bob Dylan seems to have went down really well in Sweden. Mickey tells how one of these kids on a motorcycle persuaded him to have a go which he said was fun.
He also tells of how he had a close shave with fate after being talked into going to a party with some kids he’d met at a party. He tells how they drove about 50 miles out of Stockholm when the kids pulled over and started shooting up. Of course Jones freaked. So he managed to get the keys off them and make his way back to the hotel.
Copenhagen
After Sweden, the group crossed over the water to Denmark. Jones tells us how much he loves Denmark and how they really enjoyed their time in Copenhagen. We see some of the footage he gets of Tivoli Gardens and The Tuborg Brewery.
They also took a trip to Kronberg Castle which was Immortalised as Elsinore in Shakespeare’s Tragedy Hamlet. We see many of the Tours crew including Dylan himself, Albert Grossman, Richard Alderson among others. Here they all had a good look around an had great fun here. We see Mickey do a spoof Tourist documentary on the bus back into Copenhagen to play the concert there.
Ireland
On their way into the United Kingdom, Bob Dylan and The Band travelled to Ireland where they landed in Dublin city. From here they headed North to Belfast. It doesn’t show any concert footage from Ireland. But it shows some footage of the group on the train and having a look around the sites of Dublin. The airports were all buzzing with the press all dying to interview Dylan So they decided to take the train as it’d be more subdued. This also let them see the sights on the way.
However, that plan didn’t work out. There was just as many reporters at the Train Station as there was at the Airport. This was the case in both Dublin and Belfast. But they all had fun on the train. We see some lovely Footage of the East coast of Ireland and many of the crew enjoying themselves on the way up the coast to Ulster.
Mickey confesses that this where he had his First experience with Guinness. He explains how the group arrived in Belfast the day after the IRA had blew up the Statue of Lord Nelson and in it’s place was a statue of a Soldier in a Wheelchair.
England
Mickey explains how Dylan didnt get a very warm response in England. He says it wasn’t a pretty scene at all. The film shows footage from various places of Interest around England Including London’s Parliament buildings and the Famous Big Ben clock. However, he manages to get some prize footage of some of the England gigs such as The Albert Hall, Leicester and Manchester Free Trade Hall.
It shows some footage of the Derbyshire town of Chesterfield and its Cathedral with the Crooked Spire. They stop at Raglan Castle in Cumbria on their way North, where the crew can be seen fooling around the ruins of the ancient dwelling.
The Royal Albert Hall concert had quite a few celebrities in the audience including Mick Jagger, The Beatles and Prince Charles. Mickey explains how this particular gig was probably his greatest experience in all his musical career. We also see some footage of the group as they visit Hampton Court Gardens, the home of the legendary English King Henry the 8th.
Scotland
Heading Northward over the border Into Scotland, Jones explains how they stopped at the border village Gretna Green. This was the traditional destination of young lovers who wished to marry without parents consent back in the old days. They also visit the famous Cave where the legendary Scottish King Robert the Bruce hid out whilst on the run from his enemies before his eventual victory at Bannockburn in 1314.
Mickeys Footage shows a very interesting shot of a building on the way into Scotland’s Capital City, Edinburgh. He describes it as looking like ‘the Psycho House with its turreted outline and Gothic Grandeur. This was in Fact Donaldson’s School for the deaf which was opened in 1851 by Sir James Donaldson, a wealthy Newspaper publisher.
When Queen Victoria saw the building, she instantly fell in love with it. She demanded she have it purchased, but Donaldson’s would not sell. So, for the rest of her life, whenever Queen Victoria arrived in Edinburgh by train, she’d have her Carriage curtains pulled shut so that she couldn’t see it. The One building that the almighty Empress of the British Empire could not have.
France
Between gigs in Scotland, they took a trip over to Paris to play at The Olympia theatre. Here they flew the Stars and Stripes for the One and only time Dylan ever flew the American Flag. This was done to annoy the French as they weren’t very keen on the Americans anyway, especially with what was going on in Vietnam. So Dylan wanted to shove it in their face.
The Tunes They are a Changin
Mickey talks about Dylan goin Electric and the from response Dylan’s critics of the time. The famous Incident when an audience member shouted ‘Judas!’ as he went onstage at the Manchester Free Trade Hall. With his Electric guitar Dylan was ready to deliver a new Era of Dylan. Dylan famously replies “I Don’t beleive You! You’re a Liar!”
Although his shows were all split. He would start with an acoustic set. But the Second half of each show would be electric.
Bob Dylan and The Band
Mickey also speaks about how his band The Hawks suddenly became known as The Band. This is the name that most people know them as since their future releases and shows were billed as Bob Dylan and The Band. But this was actually a name that they adopted by accident.
After being Booed at gigs in England, the critics would refer to the hawks simply as ‘The Band’. This was quite annoying as Mickey Recalls. But being as it wasn’t exactly ‘Good press’, they just let it go. So the name just stuck. From then on, they were called ‘The Band’.
Mickey Jones
Mickey Jones gives a great reminiscence of the 1966 world tour and describes himself as a Fan of Dylan as well as his Drummer. He later backed Country Western Singer Kenny Rogers. However, he decided to get into acting and says that he’s having more fun now than ever.. Over the years, he’s played various TV Ads and a role in The Incredible Hulk. But he, is most famous for his long term role as workman Pete Docker in Tim Allen’s series Home Improvement. He has 17 Gold Platinum Albums on his wall at home.
However, he still keeps his hand in the Music game with his Dylan Tribute band Highway 51. But he still writes his own songs too. Mickey has always been a Fan of Dylan though which is why he has all this old footage of this tour. He just loved to stand at the back and get into watching him as he’d play his acoustic set.
Mickey Jones describes the 1966 World Tour was the Tour that changed the face of American Music. He says it was quite fun to be part of something that was such a major turning point in American Music. He says that Bob Dylan’s work today is just as good today as it was back then. He’s still a fan.
What Do You Think?
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