DENVER, COLORADO
The Dylan and Haggard tour heads out of LA for Denver, Colorado. The bus and the truckDenver show at the Fillmore took on more
a honky tonk concert feeling in the Fillmore, a big
general admission facility. Couple
of thousand or more were watching all three perfor-
mances by Dylan, Haggard and Lee standing
on the floor. Friday night you got the feeling
that there were people even hanging from
the rafters. The stage was much smaller and put
both Dylan and Haggard in a tighter space
to do their magic. Merle did a sting of
beer drinking songs that got the folks a jumpin'.
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Merle Haggard and Scott Joss
MERLE INTRODUCES THE OLDEST BEER JOINT BAND IN THE WORLD... Merle would do this fun intro of the Strangers at most shows. He would ask the folks for a little of their time to introduce the Strangers. Then the strangers would all turn around and shake hands, wave, say HI to each other as if they were first meeting...So below let us introduce you to the Strangers... |
The Haggard camp all stay back at the hotel
for the night, then by Wednesday morning the
buses are pulling out of the hotel in
Denver and headed East. We drive miles and miles of
high plains with a gradual decent from
the mile high city. Down the road we pull the three
Haggard buses into truck stop to refuel.
Take some pictures of old railroad caboose.
Merle is on his bus and they are cooking
up some food so they don't have to eat the road
food. The truck stops and road restaurants
are so often the only place to eat when traveling
down the highways from gig to gig.
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Buffalo Benford is on the road filming for the soon to be released DVD...HAGGARD HOPS THE DYLAN TRAN |
There must be some kind of way out of here,In 1968, Jimmie Hendrix recorded Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" on his Elect-
Said the joker to the thief.
There's too much confusion,
I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine,
Plowmen dig my earth.
None of them along the line
Know what any of it is worth.
No reason to get excited,”
The thief he kindly spoke.
There are many here among us
Who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that,
And this is not our fate.
So let us not talk falsely now,
The hour is getting late.
All along the watchtower,
Princes kept the view,
While all the women came and went —
Barefoot servants too.
Outside in the cold distance,
A wildcat did growl.
Two riders were approaching, and
The wind began to howl.
Rocky Mountain News writer John Lehndorff
said that "Merle haggard has been on the road
with his band, The Strangers, since
Lyndon Johnson ran the White House. That's 40 years
worth of shows that "kind of mush together
in my memory," he says." Merle looks back on
another night in Denver. It was
at the Grizzly Rose on Sept 12, 2001, the day after the
terrorist attack on the Twin Towers.
He walked on stage that night and played "Fighting Side
of Me."
Dylan and company will take a private jet
to Chicago. Right after the show the Haggard troupe
head on out of Denver for Chicago.
There is a travel day in between the opening night in the
windy city. Merle likes to stay
in hotels that are little out of the city, so not as much problem to
find places to park the 3 buses.
Oh my name it is nothin' |
After Merle's set on the closing night
of a 5 day run at the very beautiful Auditorium Theater
a group of friends and his band had a
surprise birthday party for him in the backstage band
room. During the party the door
opened and quietly Bob Dylan appeared. He came in
carrying a crinkled up Whole Foods grocery
sack. He walked up and handed it to Merle and
mumbled something to Merle, then turned
around and walked out the door and went on stage
where the band was waiting to start the
show. Merle stood there holding the sack and said to
the group of friends, "Talkative
fellow isn't he...left me here holding the bag." Merle had said
few days back on his bus that he respects
Dylan's ability to remain so mysterious.
Merle's next CD is to be titled "Chicago
Wind." Just click and take a visit to:
MerleHaggard.com
and check out his music.
Dylan continues to defy expectations
Again Merle goes into his "Thirty Again"
and the audience who most run the same age track
that Dylan and the Hag ride for sure identifies...
"They say life begins at 50, we've been lied to
my friend. I wish I was thirty again."
Hag says, "I don't know how old Dylan is...but I am as old
as the hills." One journalism said,
"Haggard is a hoot."
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Down every road there's
always one more city
I'm on the run the highway is my home I raised a lot of cane back in my younger days While my mama used to pray my crops would fall Why I'm a hunted fugitive
with just two ways
I'm lonely but I can't afford
the luxury
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8 and 9th of April the locomotion heads into Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Eagles Ballroom.
Merle has been putting on one incredible
show after the other. The standing ovations go for the entire
set...he takes off his hat and glasses
and looks at the audience and they give him a standing ovation.
He seems to be performing with such a
country crooner style...cowboy with some Bing Crosby
and Frank Sinatra pizzazz. Great
response when Merle brings his wife Theresa up to do the great
Johnny Cash song "Jackson."
Some one in the audience yells out, "Swinging
Doors"...Merle pretends that he looks down at a set
list on the floor, which by the way their
never is one...Merle like Dylan and Jerry Garcia, just goes out
on the edge and plays what comes to him
next...leaving The Strangers listening for that first note so
they can join in...anyway, Merle says,
"Sure, that is on the list," and goes into the song to huge applause.
Though many might not be sure what songs
and hits Merle recorded, but when he goes into one of his
40 plus number one hits...they remember
and go..."yea, I have heard that..."
DYLAN SET LIST FOR THE TWO MILWAUKEE SHOWS
1. To Be Alone With You
2. To Ramona 3. Cat's In The Well 4. Make You Feel My Love 5. Highway 61 Revisited 6. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight 7. Love Sick 8. Absolutely Sweet Marie 9. Tough Mama 10. Floater (Too Much To Ask) 11. Standing In The Doorway 12. Down Along The Cove — 13. Mississippi 14. All Along The Watchtower |
1. Maggie's Farm 2. The Man In Me 3. Lonesome Day Blues 4. I Don't Believe You 5. Ballad Of Hollis Brown 6. Stuck Inside Mobile w/ Memphis Blues Again 7. Girl From The North Country 8. Honest With Me 9. Ballad Of A Thin Man 10. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum 11. I Believe In You 12. Highway 61 Revisited — 13. Like A Rolling Stone 14. All Along The Watchtower |
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The boys and girls of UPSTAGING
continue to pull off their part of the production with perfect execution... the load-in and out is such a huge part of this and any tour...stay tuned for more on our HAGGARD HOPS THE DYLAN TRAIN DVD, where we plan on telling more of the roadie story... |
Detroit, MichiganDYLAN DETROIT SET LIST
1. Tombstone Blues
2. I'll Remember You
3. Lonesome Day Blues
4. This Wheel's On Fire (Bob Dylan/Rick Danko)
5. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
6. Watching The River Flow
7. John Brown
8. Under The Red Sky
9. Highway 61 Revisited
10. Bye And Bye
11. Absolutely Sweet Marie
12. Masters Of War
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13. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
14. All Along The Watchtower
The road...truckstops...hotels...airports...busses...trucks...stages "On the road again...makin' music with my friends."
Willie Nelson |
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Buffalo, New York
"Truckin' Back to Buffalo..."
13th day of April we pull into Buffalo,
New York to the Shea's Performing Arts Center.
It's a beautiful newly renovated theatre
with great acoustics, which it perfect for the sets
the boys are about to play. The
Buffalo crowd holds true to their lively music roots that
so many great artists have sung about in
the past.
Haggard took the stage for a ride the a
foot stompin', bull ridin' , cowboy way that only Merle
can do. Dressed in full rodeo going
gear, he treated the East Coast to something they
don't see everyday... pure country soul.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any
rowdier, Mr. Dylan once again, to no avail,
continues to astound his die-hard fans
by putting together a show that got the fans to leave
their seats so they could find a spot to dance. The set list mirrored the mood of the night
(see below). Even Bob, the ultimate road warrior, touring since 1988 straight, seemed to
have more luster than usual.
"Being true to yourself
that was the thing. I was more of a cowpuncher than a Pied Piper."
Mr. Bob Dylan
It just so happens that the boys met up
with me there and I hopped on the Haggard/Dylan
freight train barreling East.
(Michelle DiFrank)
Frank Mull, long time friend of the Hag's and wears many hats for him over the years |
Merle is on the road again... |
Too many highways Too many bi ways Too many canyons Too many turns Too many bright lights Too many long nights And she is one bridge I don't want to burn
I hate to leave her, with tears in her eyes The longer I have her, the harder she cries Drivin' beats workin', but drivin's a chore... THE HAG |
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JJ | |||||
DYLAN BUFFALO SET LIST
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She's got everything she
needs, she's an artist, she don't look back.
You will start out standing,
proud to steal her anything she sees.
She never stumbles, she's
got no place to fall.
Bow down to her on Sunday,
salute her when her birthday comes.
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Gas em up boys...we got white lines to ride |
Big wheels rollin', big
wheels rollin' movin on
The white man is the life
line to a nation
Jamin' gears got to be a
fever
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Boston, Massachusetts
On April 15, 16 and 17 the Dylan Haggard
Train rolls into Boston, Massachusetts at the very
unique Orpheum Theater. Peter Wolf
comes to the show and he and Merle spend time
together talking on Merle's bus before
the show...Peter is good friend of Bob Dylan's and
becomes a huge Merle Haggard fan and friend.
![]() ![]() Peter Wolf is known for his time
fronting the J. Geils Band, was born in
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![]() Peter Wolf and Merle Haggard enjoy talking on Merle's bus...more from this night soon...come back ya'll |
2. Hazel 3. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) 4. If Dogs Run Free 5. Tough Mama 6. Shelter From The Storm 7. Cold Irons Bound 8. Tomorrow Is A Long Time 9. Highway 61 Revisited 10. Chimes Of Freedom 11. Summer Days 12. Mr. Tambourine Man — 13. Mississippi 14. All Along The Watchtower |
2. Forever Young 3. Cry A While 4. Bye And Bye 5. Ballad Of Hollis Brown 6. If You See Her, Say Hello 7. Lenny Bruce 8. Honest With Me 9. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll 10. High Water (for Charlie Patton) 11. Every Grain Of Sand 12. Highway 61 Revisited — 13. Blind Willie McTell 14. Like A Rolling Stone |
If Bob Dylan's New Jersey show Tuesday was any indication, his five-night
run at the Beacon next week will
have a country flavor. But it isn't a "Nashville Skyline" kind of country,
that relaxed back-porch picking to which
Dylan returned for a couple of tracks on 2001's splendid "Love and
Theft" CD. No this is more like country
swing, driving sound that's a close cousin to jazz and runs in a direct
line back to Bob Wills and Western -swing
dance music of the 1930s.
Not by accident, Dylan's version at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center
blended perfectly with the hour-long
Merle Haggard set that preceded him. Haggard's music is drenched
in Bob Wills, and he played a rousing version
of Wills' "Ida Red" as well as several long instrumentals straight
out of a 1938 barn dance...While Haggard and
Dylan never shared the stage, Dylan wove his own infectious swing into
tunes as diverse as "Watching the River
Flow," "Shooting Star," "This Wheel's n Fire," the sweet "Bye and Bye"
and the intense "Absolutely Sweet Marie."
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Haggard and the Strangers |
CHANGING TIMES--Star-Ledger
"A protest song, "John Brown," was one of the evening's highlights.
It was absolutely chilling when Dylan
came to the climactic line of this soldier's tale: "The thing
that scared me most was when my enemy came
close, and I saw he looked just like mine." Dylan never performs
a straightforward greatest hits show,
and changes his set list from show to show, mixing obscurities with
classics. This is one of the reasons
why he still tours so often--the music is always fresh for him.
Haggard was in good form during his own 50-minute set. Backed
by his nine-piece band, the Strangers,
he briskly surveyed his long and distinguished career. Playing
everything from '60s hits "Mama Tried" and
"The Bottle Let Me Down" to Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable" (from Haggard's
2004 standards collection,
also titled "Unforgettable") Haggard crooned most of his songs
warmly, ad the Strangers were extremely
versatile, adding some Dixieland flavor, for instance to ""old Fashioned
Love," and swinging gingerly on
"Unforgettable." Haggard seemed eager to play up their honky-tonk
roots, introducing them as "the only
beer-joint band I know of, still at large."
Verona, New York
The two outlaw troubadours pull into the
gig in Native American land... Seems everybody likes the Casino gig thang,
in that you get great rooms in the same
area where the venue is located. Gives the band and crew a place to hang
before and after the crew...
"He played some of his big songs from the 60's and 70's. But he no longer plays them as folk songs, but rollicking
rock numbers with his tight and talented band" That kind of sums up the mood of The Turning Stone. Opting to
leave the guitar on the stand and jammin' on the keys once again, Dylan never ceases
to amaze
with his versatility and making 40 year old songs fresh and "forever
young" again.
(The Oneida Daily Dispatch)
"When he's rolling, the wisdom escapes like handwritten poetry winding around the edges of a page. The message is elusive,
darting here and there, then smacking your brain like a sledgehammer." (M. Bialczak, The Post-Standard)
Speaking of Forever young, Haggard tore up his set getting the audience riled up with solid crowd favorites like "White Line
Fever" and "Mama Tried".
You can tell when he crooned out "love is the reason for music, and music is
the reason for
me" he truly means every word of it. "With a Western dressed country band boasting a fleet-fingered lead
guitar player
and drummer who was so rodeo he actually wore a cowboy kerchief and
leather gloves when he played Haggard blazed
through short, tight arrangements of his music including classics like "Okie from Muskogee" and "That's the Way Love Goes." (The Day)
"They were so cool, it was hard to tell if it was a big country band
or a country big
band" (The Post -Standard)
Mashantucket, Connecticut
22 April Foxwoods Resort Casino
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We pull in the beautiful Fox resort and casino. The Upstaging crew has the stage ready for the big night...
This far into the tour everything is running like clock work. A great bond and friendships are being made with
all the crew and the Strangers and Dylan's band. We are all getting excited at the thoughts of how the
closing shows in New York will be...
![]() Haggard and the Strangers rehearse and sound check...the bands are scheduled most days to come in around 4 to 5 and do sound or line checks. |
![]() Willie Nelson, who is has been touring with the Dylan show said one time..."I went home to my bus..." |
Atlantic City, New Jersey
24 April New Jersey Borgata Resort Spa & Casino
Dylan's Swag Wagon... |
check out
Please check out our virtual music museum and stay tuned for KUD Radio |
"When '60s hippies approach 60 they turn to 1960s icons in their 60s to find some shelter from
the storm" Pulling into the huge 24 karate Borgata you knew it was going to be one of those
shows. With all the glitz of the $2 billion casino, Merle and Bob pulled of one of the most
personal performances with a venue that only held 2,500 die hard fans. Just imagine
2,500 hipsters in all that jazz getting serenaded to, it wasn't just the Borgata's time to shine.
"To see pencil- mustached, 63-year-old Bob Dylan hunched over his keyboard, looking like a
cowboy-singer version of Snidely Whiplash, is to stand in awe of his mighty body of work.""On Sunday, Haggard 68, was fabulous: his band, the Strangers, displayed a feathery touch on
Dixieland jazz, honkytonks, and Tin Pan Ally tunes, and his soulful upper register and rugged baritone
were sparkling form." (Dan DeLuca)
AND THESE THINGS YOU CALLED
A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED WAR
XX
Bob Dylan "John Brown"
I'm weary as hell The confusion I'm feelin' Ain't no tongue can tell The words fill my head And fall to the floor If God's on our side He'll stop the next war BOD DYLAN |
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that's the news. That's the ever-lovin', blessed, headline news. Politicians do all the talkin': soldiers pay the dues. Suddenly the war is over, that's the news. Merle Haggard |
That's The News
Suddenly it's over, the war is finally done.
Soldiers in the desert sand, still clingin' to a gun.
No-one is the winner an' everyone must lose.
Suddenly the war is over: that's the news.Suddenly celebrity is somethin' back in style.
Back to runnin' tabloid for a while.
Pain's almost everywhere, the whole world's got the blues.
Suddenly the war is over: that's the news.That's the news, that's the news.
That's the ever-lovin', blessed, headline news.
Someone's missin;' in Modesto, an' it's sad about the clues.
Suddenly the war is over: that's the news.Suddenly the cost of war is somethin' out of sight.
Lost a lotta heroes in the fight.
Politicians do all the talkin': soldiers pay the dues.
Suddenly the war is over, that's the news.That's the news, that's the news.
That's the ever-lovin', blessed, headline news.
Politicians do all the talkin': soldiers pay the dues.
Suddenly the war is over, that's the news. by MERLE HAGGARD
Merle got a little political
in his wording of "That's the Way Love Goes" saying "don't worry
about what George
Bush says, just keep your mind on Bob Dylan." He closed the show
with "That's
the News," a new song of his about the Iraq war from his 2003 album
Haggard
Like Never Before. Many
of the Dylan fans came with pre conceived thoughts about who Mr.
Haggard was very surprised to see and hear that he was a rebel of the statute of Dylan himself.
"We've become," Hag
says, "a country that's afraid. And we've got a government
using that
fear to make us
give up the freedoms the country was founded on."
"I see a lot more
government now in places that it's never been and doesn't belong.
We're fighting
a war to bring freedom
to others when we don't have our own freedoms in a first- class manor anymore."
-Haggard-
"We're afraid to
even have fun, our national question is 'how much Valium do you take?'
How can
anyone in their
right mind say we're going in the right direction today?"
Speaking of politics, Haggard
played a new ditty about. "Everything that's bad in the world is
about
marijuana!" he jokingly
warned. Two biggest threats in America are marijuana and Martha Stewart...
I think in a time like today...with disease epidemics, war, nuclear threats, terror, increasing domestic and child abuse,
gas prices on the rise, rumors of more war....Iran, North Korea, China, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, drug wars, full
prisons, epidemics of runaways and adolescent problems in the world, most of the country on some kind of pill be it
legal or illegal, medical costs, feelings that we are on the brink of WWIII...I think that these two men sing messages to
many people down the middle, and on the right and left...their was a magic in the messages that were passed to these
very privileged audiences that caught a Dylan/Haggard show, and the feeling that we need these troubadours more now
than ever...
AND THE SHOW HEADS TO NEW YORK
click and see you in New York with Merle and Les Paul |
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