London Weeks - The Troubadour!
The venue that shaped the early careers of Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix!
London Weeks
In our London Weeks-series we want to dive deep into Bob Dylan’s first trip outside of North America. This often overlooked trip was more important for his career than most fans might imagine.
We will deliver bite-sized pieces of a puzzle, bring together the whole story of Bob’s first trip abroad.
So far from the London Weeks series:
Philip Saville's Madhouse | Madhouse On Castle Street Pt. 2 | Pauline Boty
Where Did Bob Stay? | Bob Dylan's FIRST EVER London Gig!
For a longer while, The Troubadour was one of at least three locations that claimed to be the location of Bob Dylan’s first ever London gig. Thanks to the memory of Martin Carthy and authors / researchers like Jackie Lees, KG Miles and Clinton Heylin, we can be pretty certain these days that the King and Queen is the right one.
This does (by far) not mean, that the importance of the Troubadour’s role in Dylan’s first London visit is a small one. It was shaping not only the course of Dylan’s first ever London visit, but maybe also of his whole career! The gigs he played there, the neighborhood mansion house he sometimes stayed at, and, most importantly, the connections he made and the people he met there.
According to their homepage, “The Troubadour was founded in 1954 by Michael and Sheila van Bloemen as part of the second wave of coffee houses and is now one of London's oldest independent music venues.”
The list of acts who played at the Troubadour early on in their careers contains names such as Jimi Hendrix, Paul Simon, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Florence And The Machine, and Judy Collins.
Before Bob went to London, the only advice Pete Seeger gave him was to look for “Anthea at the Troubadour”. It was 1962 and the café in Chelsea was already a legend in the music and countercultural scene. The twenty-one-year-old singer stepped through the ornate door and found Anthea Joseph, the young local event organizer - and he would play on Christmas under the name of Blind Boy Grunt.
In the book “Bob Dylan in London - Troubadour Tales” from Jackie Lees and KG Miles, we read something different:
“His first appearance on the Troubadour’s stage was on 29 December 1962, when he sang “Death of Emmett Till”, “Ballad of Hollis Brown” and - to the surprise of Martin Carthy - a song that was based on the folk standard Lord Randall.”
On New Years Eve, as Dylan and Carthy were singing “Auld Lang Syne” at the King and Queen, Richard Farina and Eric Von Schmidt also flew over to London to record an album. We will tell the story of that record more in depth in a future post. For now, it is just good to know that Dylan’s two American friends also came to London town, without Bob knowing about it.
Early in January 1963, Anthea Joseph, the manager of the Troubadour, told them that Bob was in town, also. Through a note that Farina left at the Troubadour for Dylan, they finally found each other a few days later. They stayed at an old Chelsea mansion house at 9 Tregunter Road which had become a creative hub on the folk circuit. Many more details you can find in the book mentioned above (Bob Dylan in London), from which is also the following excerpt:
On 12 January 1963, after an aborted attempt to infiltrate a college party with two college students, Dylan, Richard Farina and Eric Von Schmidt headed back to the Troubadour.
Judy Silvers, an Israeli singer, was plying when they arrived. "Now there’s something you don’t see every day”, said Dylan, “a Jewish Folksinger.” After listening for a while, Dylan and his friends decided to get up and play. Silvers was reluctant to let go of the stage; after all, she was the paid act for the evening, but eventually she conceded that they could have seven minutes during her break. She didn’t make it back on.
Dylan, Farina and Von Schmidt were joined on the tiny stage by Martin Carthy and Ethan Signer, an American fiddle player.
Dylan played a couple of songs alone. The first was the as yet unrecorded “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”, with a rather drug-befuddled Dylan staring at his guitar-picking fingers, exclaiming: “My fingers are moving sooooo slooooow” and then looking up and saying: “Where are we… underwater? Are we in a submarine?”
Someone shouted: “This is no submarine, this is Mayfair!” (although The Troubadour lies within the geographical borders of Earls Court)
”Are you a fish?” asked Dylan, who then went on to give a perfect rendition of the song, followed by a stunning “Blowin’ In The Wind”.
(Excerpt from the book “Bob Dylan in London - Troubadour Tales”)
Above: Ethan Signer, Martin Carthy, Richard Farina, Bob Dylan and Eric von Schmidt at the Troubadour in Earls Court - Photo by Alison Chapman McLean
Now knowing about the history and Dylan-connection of the Troubadour, it makes it a perfect place for Dylan fans to meet up, especially when Dylan plays in London. They also have a “Dylan room” there (see pictures below), showing the history of Bob Dylan in London.
So, since Dylan will be playing the fantastic Royal Albert Hall this November, we organize preshow meet ups there on the 13th and the 14th of November, so before the second and third show, both days starting at 2 pm until people are leaving for the show. Drop by and say hi!
