Playing at the recent Newport Folk Festival, Courtney Barnett, Hozier, Dawes‘ Taylor Goldsmith and J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jnr have all been lined up and offered a chance to play the guitar which Bob Dylan played when he appeared at the festival in 1965.
A pivotal performance in his career, and a seminal moment in music in general, it was at this show that Dylan first plugged in and went electric, a move that was to draw derision and hatred from a lot of his hardcore folk enthusiast fans. Pete Seger is said to have cried when he heard it.
Invited by the festival to sit-down and talk Dylan, Barnett and co. are surprised with the chance to play the iconic instrument which caused so much pain to the folk fans of 50 years ago. The instrument itself was only recently rediscovered as Dylan had left it on a plane after the festival — to which Barnett responded in classic Aussie fashion with: “He left it on the fuckin’ plane?!”
The return of the mythical instrument was however given more fanfare than just being shared around by a couple of dirty musos — the festival having celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Dylan ‘plugging in’ at Newport.
The show featured a star-studded band all paying homage to the music icon, with Jason Isbell sporting the famous axe through the performance.
So if you’re in the mood to turn yourself green watching these musos gush over the chance to hold a piece of history in their hands you can check out the video below.
If you’re in a bit more of a retrospective mood, you can catch footage from the infamous 1965 performance that broke so many hearts in the world of folk, also below.
Watch: 5 Artists Test Out Bob Dylan’s Guitar from 1965 At Newport Folk Festival 2015
Watch: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival
