Newport Folk Festival

[kbot]

This weekend the Newport Folk Festival is in full swing with a variety of acts performing at the historic musical event at Fort Adams in Newport RI.

This is also the 50th anniversary of the 1965 show when Bob Dylan first brought out an electric guitar on to the stage and was booed roundly for the violation, changing the fabric of folk music for decades to follow.

Snippet:

Dylan Goes Electric

Bob Dylan’s 1963 and 1964 performances had made him popular with the Newport crowd, but on July 25, 1965 Dylan was booed by some fans when he played with backing from Mike Bloomfield on Guitar and others from an electric blues/rock and roll band known as The Paul Butterfield Blues Band while headlining the festival. It is usually said that the reason for the crowd’s hostile reception was Dylan’s ‘abandoning’ of the folk orthodoxy, or poor sound quality on the night (or a combination of the two). This incident, Dylan’s first live ‘plugged-in’ set of his professional career, marked the shift in his artistic direction from folk to rock, and had wider implications for both styles of music.

http://www.newportfolk.org/lineup

The Newport Folk Festival has seen its share of fine musical talent over the decades and is still going strong. If anyone ever gets the chance to come by, its worth the trip. Also, many local facilities in RI and nearby SE Mass have concerts with world-class musicians with very small audiences (<100 spectators) which the musicians love because it gets them out of playing to the mega crowds and gives the fans a chance to see quality acts up close and personal.