Acclaimed Hollywood director and classic rock fanatic Martin Scorsese will dive back into the world of Bob Dylan‘s career with a forthcoming documentary and concert film scheduled to arrive on Netflix later this year. The film will be titled, Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, and looks to tell the story (and share the performances) from Dylan’s 1975-1976 “Rolling Thunder Revue” concert tour, which included an impressive mix of guest musicians including Joan Baez, T-Bone Burnett, Beatnik icon and poet Allen Ginsberg, Mick Ronson, and many more.
As Netflix notes in a statement about the upcoming film, “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year. Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, Rolling Thunder is a one of a kind experience, from master filmmaker Martin Scorsese.”
Official Trailer
[Video: Netflix UK & Ireland]
“Rolling Thunder Review Tour” was more of a traveling musical caravan than a well-structured concert run. It began back in October 1975 and continued until March 1976, with 57 total shows performed over two legs. Dylan’s Desire LP would also be released in January of 1976 between the two parts of the lengthy tour, which was initially chronicled in a 1978 film titled, Renaldo and Clara. The tour was titled in tribute to a Native American shaman by the same name, although some have claimed the tour name was a reference to the aerial bombardment campaign by the U.S. which took place during the late 1960s a part of the Vietnam War. You can watch footage of the tour’s May 23rd, 1976 performance from Hughes Stadium in Fort Collins, Colorado below.
Bob Dylan & “Rolling Thunder Revue Tour” – Hughes Stadium – 5/23/1976
[Video: Steven Price]
The upcoming film has yet to receive an official release date. Dylan himself even allowed Scorsese’s team to record new interviews (a rarity for Dylan) for the film. Other musicians and participants from the tour also agreed to be interviewed by Dylan’s longtime manager, Jeff Rosen.
More recently, Dylan helped reopen the newly-renovated Met Philly Opera House in Philadelphia last month. Dylan and Neil Young are also scheduled to play a pair of co-headlining shows in Britain and Ireland next summer, although the former event hasn’t been without its fair share of drama courtesy of Mr. Young. It was also announced recently that his 1975 Grammy Award-winning album, Blood On The Tracks, is going to be adapted into a 1970’s-based film.
[H/T Variety]