West Sussex Gazette

‘I’ve always been a massive Bob Dylan fan’

- Phil Hewitt Group Arts Editor

Bob Dylan fans are invited on a trip down memory lane in Bognor Regis.

The Bob Dylan Story is at the Regis Centre on March 26 (alexandrat­heatre.co.uk or 01243 861010).

“Bob” and “The Band” capture classics including Like A Rolling Stone, Blowin’ In The Wind, Knocking On Heaven’s Door and Subterrane­an Homesick Blues in an affectiona­te trawl through the best of Bob’s impressive back catalogue.

The Bob Dylan Story is fronted and produced by Dylan fan Bill Lennon.

As Bill says: “I have spent many years as a profession­al musician and I’ve done several tributes over the years.

“I was Keith Richards in The Counterfei­t Stones for many years from 2005 when the previous Keith left through until about 2016 and I just had such a great time but I got offered the chance to play the role of James Taylor in a show called You’ve Got A Friend and I just thought that I couldn’t turn down that opportunit­y. I’m a big fan of James Taylor but also I was just wanting to spread my wings a little bit more and just to be a bit more challenged generally.

“My natural inclinatio­n is towards acoustic and I suppose really it was just a no-brainer.

“So I moved from The Counterfei­t Stones and did You’ve Got A Friend for a while but already I was thinking to myself that I’d like to try my hand doing my own show and the name Bob Dylan just really leapt out at me. I’ve always been a massive fan.

“One of the earliest records I remember listening to was The Freewheeli­n’ Bob Dylan which came out in 1963. I was listening to it a lot later on in the late 70s when I was a youngster, early 80s, and I just absolutely loved it. It just had the most amazing charm for me.

“It felt almost like it was coming from a different planet.

“A lot of what I was listening to on the radio at the time was great. The late 70s, early 80s are my favourite. Bands like The Police and Blondie and so on, stuff that I just love listening to but really Bob Dylan was just like something else.

“There was just this idea of an indefinabl­e longing in his voice and his harmonica playing.

“And with some of the songs it was just like I was almost in them and I just got them even though sometimes his lyrics weren’t that easy to understand.”

Ɍ Tickets available on alexandrat­heatre.co.uk.

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 ?? ?? The Bob Dylan Story will be at the Regis Centre next Saturday
The Bob Dylan Story will be at the Regis Centre next Saturday

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