When Bob Dylan played a concert to one person as a social experiment
If you’re a musician, the last thing you want is to be playing your live shows to an empty room. Of course, some might argue that having ten engaged fans watching is better than 1,000 people seeming uninterested, but even so, it becomes difficult as a performer to engage with an audience in the same way if there are only a handful of individuals standing or sitting opposite you. If you’re Bob Dylan, however – well, you can do whatever the fuck you want.
Dylan is no stranger to performing to hostile crowds, having dealt with immense backlash after his first electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, and he experienced a long-lasting aftershock following his transition from acoustic folk singer to bonafide rock star. However, he took all of the adverse reactions in his stride, and within a few months, people had begun to warm to his newfound identity. Despite having demonstrated his ability to deal with negative reactions from large crowds in the past, Dylan, who is now in his 80s, probably doesn’t mind playing a much quieter show every once in a while these days.
In 2014, in the middle of a North American leg of the Never Ending Tour (which had been going for 26 years at this point), Dylan performed at perhaps one of the most sparsely-attended shows of his career. However, it wasn’t due to poor ticket sales or a lack of interest that there were so few people in the auditorium – in fact, it was probably the most engaged audience that he’d ever performed to.
Playing at the Philadelphia Academy of Music, the 2,500-seater venue wasn’t just at 10% capacity, nor was it as high as 1%. No, for this performance, Dylan played to a crowd of just one person. This wasn’t a scheduled tour date but instead was part of a social experiment conducted by the Swedish film series Experiment Ensam, which takes individuals to events that would usually have large crowds and has them participate as the sole attendee.
The lucky concert-goer was Fredrik Wikingsson, a Swedish native who describes himself as something of a Bob Dylan superfan. “I’ve seen him like 20 times,” he revealed in the documentary. “You go through phases of what you do and what you enjoy. The only thing that’s been constant in my life for 20 years has been Bob Dylan.” For someone so invested in the artistry and career of Dylan, this would have been a life-changing experience – not to mention a completely surreal one.
After a nervous wait for the show to commence, Wikingsson said, “Totally without warning, after I’d been sitting there for maybe five minutes, someone walked in on stage. I expected the musicians to tune their instruments, but it was Dylan there on stage.” While some superfans might want to hear songs from his vast repertoire, Dylan largely performed a set of covers, with renditions of songs from Buddy Holly, Fats Domino and Eric Clapton making it into Wikingsson’s special set.
When asked about what he thought of the experience of going to a Dylan concert completely alone, his thoughts were mixed despite being overall positive about the one-of-a-kind experience. “I’m both grateful and happy that I was the only one there,” he told the film crew. “But once I stepped out of the theatre, all confused and dizzy, it could have been more intense if I had someone to share it with. In that way, I’m torn about the experience.”
So, next time your band is performing a show in a room where only a handful of people turn up, just think about the fact that you could be performing to a person who might become your biggest fan. If Bob Dylan can perform for just one person and make their dreams come true, so could you.
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