Bob Dylan Was Always ‘so Terrified’ of His Fans
Bob Dylan rose to fame in the early 1960s and amassed a large following of dedicated fans. For any musician, fans are necessary to build a career. Dylan understood this and wanted to do well in performances, but he found his fans more than a little intimidating. According to Joan Baez, who dated and performed with Dylan, the “Like a Rolling Stone” singer found his fans terrifying. He often froze up around them when they approached, unsure of how to behave.
Bob Dylan was afraid of interacting with his fans
When Baez and Dylan began performing together, she was more famous than him and helped him get exposure.
“I asked him to appear with me because he was brilliant,” she said, per Rolling Stone. “I loved him, I love his music, I wanted people to hear him. That was it. I mean, I wanted to share him. And he dug it. He’d get drunk and scared but he dug it.”
As he grew more successful, he built his own fan following. Baez said that when they approached him, he seemed horrified.
“I was always afraid for Bobby,” she said, adding, “He didn’t seem to have the stage fright kind of fear. He seemed to submerge that and it came out in paranoia about people afterwards, like coming at him for autographs. He was so terrified.”
She recalled a time he wanted to run away from two fans seeking his autograph.
“One time we got out of a limousine somewhere, when we were doing concerts together, and two girls came screaming, ‘There’s Bobby,'” Baez recalled. “They came screaming at him, and he said, ‘Oh, wow, let’s run,’ and I said, ‘You dumb a**, just stand here,’ and I took his hand, and he was like a little kid and they came up all hysterical and teary and I said, ‘Now stop acting so stupid and he’ll give you his autograph.’ And then he calmed all down. They looked a little embarrassed. It was beautiful. I said, ‘Just talk to them a minute, Bobby,’ so he did. He gets control the minute he sees he can have it, but I think he genuinely was terrified of people like that.”
Bob Dylan’s public persona shows that he is afraid of letting fans know him too well
While many musicians have used social media and meet and greets as a way to let their fans feel close to them, Dylan is not this way. He rarely even addresses his audience during concerts unless it’s to scold them. He might still be afraid of his fans, but he could also be putting up a barrier to protect himself.
Even in his earliest days as a musician, Dylan shirked the idea of celebrity. While he wanted to be successful for his music, he didn’t want to have to reveal too much of himself to strangers. It might have felt like fans crossed a boundary when they approached him. As a result, he now keeps them at an arm’s length.
Despite his concern, Bob Dylan is still actively touring in 2023
Dylan’s fear of his audience has never kept him away from the stage. He took a break from touring at the height of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but he has toured practically without stopping since the 1980s.
His Rough and Rowdy Ways tour began in 2021 and will stretch until 2024. His upcoming 2023 dates are in Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy.
