Hear Bob Dylan’s Shock Cover of Van Morrison’s ‘Into the Mystic’ at Spain Concert

Andy Greene
·2 min read
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Bob Dylan Performa at Hyde Park - London - Credit: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
Bob Dylan Performa at Hyde Park - London - Credit: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

Two months after stunning fans in Japan by working Grateful Dead songs into his otherwise rigid setlist, Bob Dylan has moved onto the catalog of Van Morison. At Alicante, Spain’s Plaza de Toros Alicante on Thursday evening, he broke out a cover of Morrison’s 1970 classic “Into the Mystic” for the first time in his career. Check out this remarkably clean audience recording.

Van Morrison has been playing Dylan songs going all the way back to his days as the frontman of the Sixties garage band Them. They covered “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” on their 1966 LP Them Again, and the song has remained in his live repertoire ever since. Over the years, Morrison has also broken out “Just Like a Woman,” “I Shall Be Released,” and “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.”

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Dylan has returned the favor by covering the Morrison tunes “One Irish Rover,” “Carrying a Torch,” “Real Real Gone,” “And It Stoned Me,” “Crazy Love,” and “Moondance” throughout the course of his Never Ending Tour. The two icons also toured together in 1998, and shared the stage on several other occasions, most notably at Ireland’s Slane Castle in 1984 where they duetted on “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “Tupelo Honey.” Five years later, they sang “Crazy Love” together in Athens for a BBC documentary crew.

They are both on tour in Europe right now, so it’s inside the realm of possibility, though quite unlikely, they’ll once again play together in the coming weeks. Dylan’s tour continues Saturday night in Huesca, Spain, and wraps up July 9 in Rome, Italy. Morrison, meanwhile, is playing tonight in Oslo, Norway. He begins an American leg August 31 in Boston.

If Dylan is going to continue with the Van Morrison catalog, we recommend he try out “Madame George” next time. Let’s hope he keeps up with these surprise covers whenever Dylan comes back to America. We love hearing “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” “Key West (Philosopher Pirate),” and “Every Grain of Sand” every night, but this has added a really fun level of unpredictability.

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