It was the 1965 festival at which Bob Dylan famously strapped on a Fender Stratocaster and shocked his fanbase with a three-song electric set. Now, 50 years on from this iconic moment in rock history, the Newport folk festival plans to pay tribute with a secret lineup of musicians billed as ’65 Revisited.
According to festival producer Jay Sweet, an “all-star lineup” of nearly a dozen contemporary artists will come together to celebrate the moment when Dylan went electric. Dylan has an open invitation to play each year at Newport – an offer he took up in 2002 – but is not expected to appear this year.
“Having him back would be the least Newport way to celebrate it,” said Sweet. “Trying to recreate that moment is a fool’s errand. We’re about the future, not about reliving the past.”
Dylan’s decision to abandon – or at least build on - his folk roots by enlisting the help of a rock’n’roll backing band was hugely controversial at the time. Many fans thought Dylan was selling out the values of an important movement in search of the current trend. The famous audience cry of “Judas” came less than a year later, when he played at Manchester Free Trade Hall.
The guitar Dylan played at the Newport gig sold for $965,000 (£590,432) at auction in 2013. The Newport folk festival runs from 24-26 July. The festival’s other headliners include Roger Waters and the Decemberists.
