BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The new hit movie "A Complete Unknown" tells the story of the early career of singer and Nobel Prize for Literature winner Bob Dylan.
It's largely set in New York City, from when Dylan arrived as a scruffy folk singer in 1961 until he conquered the world of rock 'n' roll in 1965.
There's no indication in the film — or anywhere else, for that matter — that Dylan had any connection to, or had ever visited, the Lehigh Valley at that time.
Starting with a 1981 show at Lehigh University's Stabler Arena, Bob Dylan has played the Lehigh Valley 10 times — some of them significant shows.Online concert listings
In fact, all indications are that the first time Dylan ever played in the Lehigh Valley was in 1981, at Lehigh University's Stabler Arena.
But from that show on, Dylan has played the Lehigh Valley 10 times — some of them very noteworthy performances.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the 6,500-capacity Stabler loomed as the Lehigh Valley's preeminent concert venue. In 1988, the trade magazine Performance ranked it the No. 1 hall of its size in the United States, beating out such venues as Radio City Music Hall.
It was in that era that Dylan set the record for all musical artists for playing the most concerts at Stabler, with seven — more than Aerosmith and James Taylor, who each played five shows there.
Dylan also christened Allentown’s Coca-Cola Park baseball stadium — playing the first-ever concert there in a show with John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson in 2009.
Dylan also has played at Allentown Fairgrounds, though not during the fair.
His most recent area show was at Wind Creek Event Center, then known as Sands Bethlehem Event Center, in 2016.
It could have been more. Musikfest officials have tried to book Dylan to headline the festival but were unsuccessful.
Recounting Dylan's area concerts
Here’s a list of Bob Dylan’s Lehigh Valley concerts:
October 25, 1981, Stabler: Dylan performed, as far as is known, his first concert in the Lehigh Valley as part of his first tour after three years of only playing material from his “born again” Christian albums “Slow Train Coming” and “Saved.”
The show sold out, and the concert website setlist.fm shows that it was a generous show, as far as Dylan is concerned.
He started with two Christian songs — "Gotta Serve Somebody" and "I Believe in You" — then quickly dipped into his impressive hit catalog with "Like a Rolling Stone."
In all, Dylan played 25 songs — including “Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35,” extremely rare in those days — and “Happy Birthday” to his friend, American filmmaker Howard Alk.
July 12, 1989, Allentown Fairgrounds: About 3,000 people watched what, by most accounts, was a collection of unrecognizable and unrewarding arrangements.
Dylan played just 15 songs, though most of his biggest hits, but none off his excellent album "Oh Mercy," which would be released just a month later.
December 13, 1995, Stabler: This was Dylan’s Lehigh Valley masterpiece.
The show came amid arctic temperatures and drew fewer than 2,000 people. But Dylan rewarded the hardy crowd with more than two hours of songs.
He also did acoustic versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Desolation Row," "Mama You Been On My Mind" and an ultrarare performance of the "Empire Burlesque" chestnut “Dark Eyes” — in a duet with opening act Patti Smith, no less.
He also was so animated that he left the stage shooting his fingers like pistols — perhaps feeling like the crowd did, that he was totally on target.
February 18, 1999, Stabler: Dylan had another stellar opener, 10,000 Maniacs singer Natalie Merchant, and again sold out the place.
There were great moments with a performance of “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again,” a four-song acoustic set, and the rare "Positively 4th Street."
But it was inconsistent, with other songs dull and messy.
Nov. 8, 2000, Stabler: Dylan opened the show with a six-song acoustic set, and played 20 songs, again acoustic for the closing "Blowin' in the Wind."
But a review said there was an “absence of surprises. There were no long-mothballed songs, no revolutionary interpretations, no sense of inventing on the spot.”
Nov. 16, 2004, Stabler: Drawing 3,500 people, Dylan again breathed life into his performance, even granting a request for “Girl From the North Country,” and again pulled out "Positively 4th Street" over 16 songs.
A review called it “bizarre and brilliant.”
July 14, 2009, Coca-Cola Park: That concert drew a sold-out audience of more than 10,000 in the fastest sellout in the history of Dylan’s summer tours of minor league baseball parks.
But stories surrounding the performance helped flesh out the Dylan of that era.
Officials at the time said that Dylan stayed at a hotel some distance from the ballpark and, perhaps waiting too long to make his way to the sold-out venue, encountered significant traffic jams that required a police escort to get him to the show on time.
That dovetailed with a tale told by members of opening act The Wiyos, who, when asked how much they interacted with Dylan, said they had not talked to him during the entire tour.
Dylan stepped from his bus onto the stage, and back onto the bus after performing, they said.
As for Dylan's performance — for uneven shows and albums over the years, fans and critics had given Dylan the benefit of the doubt, and his Coca-Cola Park performance showed why.
With a career that has meant so much to so many, even mediocre performances of his songs were meaningful.
Dylan performed 14 songs.
Nov. 12, 2010, Stabler: Playing to a mixed-age crowd of more than 3,000, Dylan was at his playful best.
In a 16-song set, his “Spirit on the Water,” wonderfully voiced in mid-show, Dylan said it best: “You think I’m over the hill/Think I’m past my prime/Let me see what you got/We can have a whoppin’ good time.”
April 18, 2013, Stabler: He again put on a startlingly good show, perhaps even better than his surprising 2010 concert, that highlighted his prowess as a performer.
For most of a 95-minute,16-song show, Dylan was animatedly afire, energetic and singing as well as he had in years.
The set included the ultrarare fan favorite "Blind Willie McTell."
July 9, 2016, Sands Bethlehem Event Center: In what was Dylan's last Lehigh Valley show, he offered anything but a rote performance of the past at Sands Bethlehem Event Center, now Wind Creek Event Center.
He again had a stellar opening act, gospel-rock singer Mavis Staples.
Dylan's 20-song set included seven songs from his then-new "Shadows in the Night" album of covers of traditional pop standards made famous by Frank Sinatra.
Those open to hearing what Dylan offers in concert also have been wonderfully surprised — especially in recent years, when his performances, and especially his singing, have seemingly found new life.
