Bob Dylan Band pay tribute with Fife gig

Tribute act The Bob Dylan Band hit Fife as part of a short tour of Scotland celebrating 50 years of His Bobness, the man whose music defined a generation.

As well as the classic Dylan tracks, the band includes versions of songs performed with greats such as Springsteen, Clapton and the Grateful Dead, as well as some solo acoustic numbers too.

John Blacklock, the man at the helm of the band is a lifelong fan, and the show came out of his own one-man tribute to the great man.

‘’It was great fun doing my own show,’’ he said. ‘’But I really wanted to do with a band.’’

A trip to Ireland led to a meeting with the musicians who now make up the tribute act.

‘’I was visiting and saw these guys playing in a pub near Dublin. They were fantastic musicians at the absolute top of their game, so I asked to sit in with them.

‘’I joined them on stage and we got on great!’’

With his roots in music, John has created tribute acts to the Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond and, latterly, The Bee Gees with a show called Nights on Broadway, from where his bassman, John (The Cap) signed up.

The line-up also includes drummer Jason Duffy who has toured with The Corrs, Jeff Beck and legendary Irish band, The Saw Doctors, plus Jimmy Smyth on guitar who has a CV which includes playing with everyone from Bonnie Tyler to Van Morrison, not to mention being offered a place in Thin Lizzy, which he turned down to focus on his band, The Bogey Boys

‘’We’ve been working on the show in the studio for the past year, and have just done seven gigs in nine nights in Ireland.

‘’It was fantastic - audience reaction was really good.’’

‘’I must admit I wanted to do some obscure Dylan songs but the guys in the band said we had to do the classics - the songs everyone knows and are great to play – but we also do stuff which is perhaps a bit different; versions of songs performed by people like Eric Clapton and Bruce Springsteen.’’

The formula seems to be a hit with fans and Dylan die hards a like.

In Ireland, one man was moved to tears.

‘’He turned up in the green room – still don’t know how he got there!’’ added John.

‘’To get that emotion like that is brilliant.

‘’It gives you the feeling that you are doing something worthwhile.’’

The Bob Dylan Band are at the Lochgelly Theatre on Saturday March 3, and the Adam Smith Theatre on Saturday, July 14

Ticket details from here. OnFife