Bob Dylan St James Park Newcastle 1984
Support from Santana and Lindisfarne
Dylan was back in the UK in 1984 for a couple of concerts, one at Wembley Stadium and this time he also visited the North East for a massive gig at St James Park, with support from Santana and local heroes Lindisfarne. I went along with a group of friends. I remember Lindisfarne going down well with the crowd (well they would, wouldn’t they!). I can’t remember a lot about Santana, to be honest. Dylan played a set of classics and got a good reception from the Toon crowd. He was sporting a strong band with Mick Taylor on guitar, and Ian McLagen on keyboards. I think Carlos Santana also joined the band on guitar. 
Looking back on those shows, we didn’t know how lucky we were at the time. Dylan was singing well, and performing long sets which covered his entire back catalogue.
Setlist: Highway 62 Revisited; Jokerman;;All Along The Watchtower; Just Like A Woman; Maggie’s Farm; I And I; License To Kill; A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall; Tangled Up In Blue; It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding); Simple Twist Of Fate; Masters Of War; Ballad Of A Thin Man; Enough Is Enough; Every Grain Of Sand; Like A Rolling Stone; Mr. Tambourine Man; Girl From The North Country; It Ain’t Me, Babe; Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat; Tombstone Blues; Blowin’ In The Wind; Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door; The Times They Are A-Changin’
12 Oct
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by Steve White on November 16, 2012 at 9:27 pm
Great day, HOT, Very hot. Best gig, good 1980’s gear, kipped in empty train carriage in Newcastle station. Cold?! Glazed over.
Posted by Ann J on October 12, 2013 at 10:44 pm
Fabulous gig, never forget it.
Posted by Boo Long on August 6, 2015 at 1:06 am
I remember Santana were doing samba Pa Ti as the sun was setting, and people dancing on the roof of some tall building to the west of the ground.
Posted by vintagerock on August 6, 2015 at 6:21 am
Happy days Boo Many thanks Peter
Posted by Yeah Right on December 19, 2015 at 10:52 pm
Those were the days…speed, hash, more speed, more hash, then off down the pub, see Bob Dylan, then back to Big John’s while we tripped! How I wish we could still do it now.
Thanks to you, Big John.
Posted by james gray on December 20, 2015 at 3:50 pm
I was about 5 back from the front. chester Thompson (genesis) played drums for Santana. good gig. from a sunderland supporter.
Posted by Bob Dylan Snapshots – 6 – NSF on April 22, 2016 at 2:02 pm
[…] Bob Dylan St James Park Newcastle 1984 […]
Posted by John Lord on October 8, 2017 at 10:30 am
Great day. Travelled up from Sheffield. Red hot day. Took a wrong turn out of Newcastle after gig and arrived in Scotland before we realised we were going the wrong way.
Posted by Graeme Linklater on July 31, 2018 at 6:09 pm
Smashin gig. Carlos santana definitely did at least on one number with Bob Dylan, can’t remember what though (old and forgetful now!!). Folk dancing on the roofs of nearby buildings. “camped” out at the bus station overnight. Feckin freezing!!
Posted by Bruce on October 5, 2018 at 7:28 am
Highway 62 Revisited!? Highway 61’s less famous sequel?
It was a great day, what little I remember of it, being too young and foolish to appreciate the value of what I was hearing.
Posted by Walter Robinson on April 2, 2021 at 7:36 am
Interesting reading your recollections Peter, I missed Lindisfarne, I was never a fan of Santana so wouldn’t have been bothered re seeing them, but yes I was late getting off work and recall getting to St James’ being a nightmare, but got into the ground just as Bob was taking the stage, I hadn’t seen him since the Odeon in 1966 with the Band (then the Hawks!), which was a few days after the infamous ‘Albert Hall’ bootleg show (actually Manchester Free Trade), me and my mates were interviewed about the show afterwards because arguments were breaking out left and right about him going electric, we were pro electric and I recall making some comment about people being really uptight man (it was the 60’s!) and we should let Bob move on, some of that footage later got used in the Scorsese documentary but alas we didn’t make the cut! I honesty don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, hah. But anyway, this was a terrific show, I thought Dylan was excellent, and yes I remember Mick Taylor being on guitar, no idea Ian Mac from the Small Faces was on keys. Terrific memories Peter.
Posted by vintagerock on April 2, 2021 at 11:25 am
Hi Walter. Seeing Dylan in 1966 must have been great! Respect. Happy days Peter
Posted by Walter Robinson on April 2, 2021 at 3:11 pm
Remember it well Peter, first half was just Bob acoustic, me and my mates were only 16 and we found it really funny how absolutely bombed out of his head he clearly was, slurring and barely keeping any time on his guitar but it was at the same time weirdly riveting, second half he came on with the Band and honestly we’d never heard anything like the volume, at the time it sounded deafening and I’m not kidding, tame compared with what was to come around the corner but still. People were booing, shouting tell the band to f**k off etc, it was just bonkers, so hostile, at the end after Rolling Stone he walked to the lip of the stage and stuck his two fingers up and walked off…bare in mind acts were still bowing solemnly at the end of performances back then! In retrospect it was punk before it had a name.
Posted by vintagerock on April 2, 2021 at 4:12 pm
Sounds amazing Walter. Treasure those memories. Happy days Peter