CityLife

40 years on - why Judas hasn't sold out

FORTY years ago today, Bob Dylan stepped on stage at Manchesterés Free Trade Hall with an electric guitar.

The purists who had loved Dylanés acoustic folk music bridled, believing he had sold out to rock éné roll. Then came the most infamous heckle in the history of popular music: éJudas!é

éI donét believe youé youére a liar,é Dylan snarled back, instructing the band to play even louder.

It was not until seven years ago that the identity of that heckler was made public.

éI was swept along by the mood, which was chaotic,é Keith Butler explained to me in 1999, by which time the former Keele University student was a 53-year old bank worker in Toronto.

Hotel

The times have-a changed since May 17 1966. The hall, that once echoed to Dylanés music, is now a five-star hotel.

Howés that for selling out? And it seems to me that the relationship between artist and audience has changed too.

These days we know too much about our stars to ever be surprised or offended by what they offer in concert.

Only one artist has the capacity to mangle his own songs beyond recognition, play sublimely one night and ridiculously the next. That person, still, is Bob Dylan.

Were you there? What are your memories?