Yesterday, music fans across Cornell’s campus began their rabid hunt for tickets to folk-rock legend Bob Dylan’s upcoming performance at Bailey Hall as the highly prized commodities went on sale on the Cornell Concert Commission’s website. What most of these fans probably did not realize, however, is that Dylan has a long history of performance at Cornell that harkens back to a time far before tickets went on sale online — or, indeed, before any of these students were even born. Dylan’s first two tour stops at Cornell took place in the spring and fall of 1965 respectively.
As these two archived Sun reviews reveal, a lot changed between the two performances, both in terms of Dylan’s sound and his public persona. While the first reviewer seems like a condescending outsider, aware of Dylan’s budding talent but nonetheless inclined to paint him as a silly, “Vaudevillian” character, the tone of the second reviewer’s piece mimics the increasing free spirit of the time — and Dylan’s increasingly rock-based sound in the wake of the release of what is perhaps his most well-recognized single, “Like a Rolling Stone.”
The archived reviews can be seen in the images section of this article. Dylan will come to Cornell on April 14.
Original Author: Sam Bromer