Keith Richards has spent much of his career insulting his fellow musicians. He rolls his eyes at competing acts and has even turned his scorn on his bandmates in The Rolling Stones. Richards found many things to criticize, including, in one instance, a band sounding too perfect. He shared why he didn’t like Bob Dylan’s backing group, The Band.
“I saw them at the Dylan gig on the Isle of Wight and I was disappointed,” he told Rolling Stone in 1969. “Dylan was beautiful, especially when he did the songs by himself. He has a unique rhythm which only seems to come off when he’s performing solo.”
“The Band were just too strict,” he said. “They’ve been playing together for a long, long time, and what I couldn’t understand was their lack of spontaneity. They sounded note for note like their records. It was like they were just playing the records on stage and at a fairly low volume, with very clear sound. I personally like some distortion, especially if something starts happening on stage. But they just didn’t seem to come alive by themselves. I think that they’re essentially an accompanying band. When they were backing up Dylan, there was a couple of times when they did get off. But they were just a little too perfect for me.”
"I'd work with Bob Dylan in Heaven or in Hell"!
As far as musicians go, you don’t get more enigmatic than Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards.
One of the most legendary figures in music history, Richards has led a life of mythical proportions. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll have forever been the key facets of his life, and duly, he has countless wild tales to tell, ranging from snorting the ashes of his father to nearly dying on stage.
However, before all the hedonism, he is one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Well-versed in the blues, as well as a variety of more traditional techniques such as flamenco, his style of finger-picking is unmistakable and it has carried The Rolling Stones for 60 years, a testament to his quality as a musician.
Although Richards can be somewhat prickly when it comes to discussing other musicians, one thing is certain, when it comes to his friends, all he has is kind words. In 2016, when the band were gearing up for their Desert Trip Festival in California, he saved some rare praise for the man who is perhaps the finest songwriter of Richards’ generation: Bob Dylan.
The festival saw the band perform at the Empire Polo Club in Indio for two weekends in October alongside some of their most prominent peers Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, The Who and Roger Waters. In an interview with Q104.3, both Richards and his partner in crime, Mick Jagger, discussed the upcoming bonanza, and it was here that Richards praised Dylan.
“I thought it was Coachella for old people,” Jagger joked about Desert Trip. He then dived into the logistics of a camping festival, and when asked if he planned for the whole weekend, as the band were playing on both Friday’s, Jagger opined: “Maybe I’ll just get my RV and stay there for a bit longer.” Then, discussing the backstage vibe, Jagger anticipated that it was to be “absolutely chaotic.”
“On the Friday night, it’s going to be us and Bob Dylan, so there will be masses of musicians, actually masses of guests of all the musicians, and it’s a fun time for everyone,” he explained.
In another separate interview afterwards, Keith Richards revealed how excited he was for the festival. “How many trips can you take to the desert, man?” he quipped before adding, “The lineup is just amazing.”
“I can’t believe we’re all going to be stuck in this little town together,” the guitarist then said of the lineup. “I mean, never have we ever all in the same place at the same time.”
Clearly over the moon, Richards labelled the entire lineup his “mates” before weighing in on why he thinks they all have an inter-generational appeal, “It’s the songs. And I guess a genuineness about the feeling, about how people feel about music.”
Richards saved the best praise till last, though. Speaking of the Friday night bill featuring Bob Dylan, he wasted no time admitting just how excited he was to work with his old friend, whom he affectionately referred to as “Bobby” throughout the interview. Just happy to be hanging out with Dylan for both weekends, Richards said, “I’d work with Bob any[where]. I’d work with Bob in hell or heaven. I love him.”
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