Manic Monday: Bob Dylan & Rolling Thunder Revue Plays Rabidly Through The Elements – Fort Collins, CO 1976

With Bob Dylan turning 85 in less than a week (5/24), it never gets old revisiting the work of perhaps the greatest songwriter and performer to ever do it. When conversations turn to the most chaotic, emotionally charged chapter of Dylan’s career, they almost always land on Hard Rain — the ferocious live document of the second leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue recorded in Fort Collins on May 23, 1976.

Filmed at Hughes Stadium during a violent thunderstorm, Dylan and his band of conspirators seem completely swallowed by the elements. You can feel the storm in every second of the performance as rain crashes onto the stage and the music takes on an almost apocalyptic intensity. Check out the blistering performances of Idiot Wind and Maggie’s Farm — two definitive moments from one of the wildest eras of Dylan’s career.