Once Upon A Time

24 Jul 2015

Tomorrow, 25th July 2015, marks 50 years since Bob Dylan ‘went electric’ at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

Dylan made history when he plugged in his Fender Stratocaster and launched into an electrified version of ‘Maggie’s Farm’. The boos from the audience were so loud they drowned out the next two songs – his now-iconic single, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ and ‘Phantom Engineer’, which was later released as ‘It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Take a Train to Cry’. Whether this reaction was due to a sense of betrayal or the poor quality of the festival's amplification is debatable, but there’s no doubt this appearance rocked the music world.

‘I thought Dylan going electric was a natural progression; I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. I actually thought that it was about time that he was heard!’ – Ronnie Wood in HOW CAN IT BE? A ROCK & ROLL DIARY

Pictured left: Dylan at Newport Folk Festival on 26th July 1963. This photograph by Jim Marshall is one of only three remaining in Dylan’s signed BEHIND THE PICTURE FRAME series. To view the collection of fine art prints and order yours today, click here.