ORIGINAL BOB DYLAN 1966 NORFOLK VIRGINIA CONCERT HANDBILL WITH THE HAWKS

Description

Bob Dylan 1966 Norfolk, Virginia Concert Handbill w/The Hawks.
An original paper advertising flyer for Dylan, half solo acoustic and half backed by The Hawks (later The Band), performing on Saturday, February 12, 1966 at the Municipal Auditorium in Norfolk, Virginia.
This handbill shows Dylan with just his famous harmonica in its holder (along with cigarette), and simply states all the information necessary for customers to know: Venue, city, day and date, ticket prices and where to buy them. Norfolk, Virginia was the sixth stop on the 1966 leg of Dylan & the Hawks' famous tour.
How significant is this flyer? England's revered
Mojo
magazine once voted this months-long trek the greatest tour in Rock & Roll history. Dylan was single-handedly changing the course of popular music in 1965-66 by retaining his solo-acoustic roots for the first half of each show, but then blowing the audience away with loud, raucous rock & roll in the second half, often greeted with boos by folk purists. His backing band for the electric half consisted of Robbie Robertson on electric guitar, Rick Danko on bass, Richard Manuel on piano, Garth Hudson on organ and the little-known Sandy Konikoff on drums (Levon Helm had left the tour months earlier).
As a stellar footnote, Dylan was also recording his legendary
Blonde on Blonde
album during breaks in this early 1966 tour. So what did he record in the week following this concert? Oh, nothing much... only "Visions of Johanna," "Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat," "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" and "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands." Holy moly.
To promote and advertise this tour in America, "tour blank" posters and handbills were devised consisting mostly of the photo of Dylan and a blank white space down below. The home office would then strip in localized information in red ink for each stop on the tour. We have the larger poster version of this piece in our Saturday sale this auction, from the previous night in Richmond, VA.
It was an interesting choice of Dylan photos used on this handout. They chose to not show The Hawks because that might turn off folkies, and they only appeared in half of the show. But they also chose to not show an acoustic guitar, because
that
was only in half the show as well. So they showed Dylan with his ubiquitous harmonica holder, which was indeed played in both the acoustic and electric halves. And the cigarette? An artistic touch that speaks for itself. Or maybe having no significance at all.
Measures 6" x 9" and grades to Near Mint Minus condition. Professionally framed and matted. Measures 11"W x 14 1/2"H framed. Please see photos as they are of the actual item you will be purchasing. We do not ship to Russia or China.
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