A legendary performance between Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones has gone viral after fans spotted the awkwardness on stage.
Mick Jagger, frontman of the iconic rock group The Rolling Stones, was joined on stage by Dylan for a concert in 1998. They shared vocal duties for their rendition of ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ the hit song from Dylan’s album, ‘Highway 61 Revisited’. However, some fans believe there was “obvious tension” between the two performers.
Dylan is known for his tendency to adapt and change his hits live on stage, leading to some outrageous and innovative new takes on his songs, with the results sometimes completely unrecognisable. This performance of ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ proved to be one such occasion where its songwriter wanted to try something new, while The ‘Stones frontman was keen to give it a new energy.
A clip shared to X was captioned: “The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan performing “Like A Rolling Stone” in Argentina 1998. What a legendary performance.”
Following the post, people believe they found tension between the two musicians. The Rolling Stones guitarist had his back to the crowd and stood away from Dylan, who spent part of the performance playing alongside Ronnie Wood.
One fan pointed out the palpable tension during the performance, commenting: “The obvious tension between Mick wanting to play it straight and Bob doing his 900th different rendition of the song.” Another viewer suggested that the friction wasn’t due to their musical styles but rather because Dylan was pushed out of his comfort zone by Jagger’s dynamism, saying: “Mick lifting Bob out of his comfort zone, to great effect.”
A different observer noted the struggle to maintain a consistent rhythm, attributing it to Dylan’s penchant for reinventing his songs live, remarking: “Mick clearly always glad each time they get to the chorus as he has no idea what rhythm Dylan is going to sing any given line in before that.”
Meanwhile, a further critic described the event as a “clash of the musical cultures”, lamenting that it was unpleasant for everyone except those performing. They vented: “Yeesh. That’s a ridiculous performance. They seem to be enjoying themselves, but the clash of musical cultures is just no fun at all to watch and hear.” In a lighter vein, one user quipped: “Mick Jagger sounds more like Dylan than Dylan does.”
Despite some labelling Dylan’s act “awful,” it’s worth noting that the iconic songwriter had previously secured a Grammy win for “Album of the Year” with ‘Time Out of Mind’ in 1997, and again for “Best Contemporary Folk Album” with ‘Love and Theft’ in 2001.