NEW YORK CITY, 4 November 1961
Carnegie Chapter Hall

The Carnegie Chapter Hall was located at the 5th floor of Carnegie Hall in New York.

    53 tickets were sold for the concert, while the hall could have held 200.

    "Billed as Dylan's 'First New York Concert' it was, more accurately, Dylan's first concert anywhere. Prior to this show he'd only played club dates and a few guest spots on multi-artist bills. Dylan arrived in New York on January, 21, 1961 and began playing hoots at clubs like Gerdes Folk City almost immediately. His first 'break' was a two weeks stint opening for blues giant John Lee Hooker at Gerdes in April of that year. On September 26, Dylan began another two week engagement at the club, opening for the much better known Greenbriar Boys. Though Dylan was the opening act, New York Times music critic Robert Shelton focused entirely on Dylan in his review of the opening night. The impact was immediate, and a few days later Dylan was signed to Columbia Records by legendary A&R man John Hammond (who had discovered/signed Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Count Basie, and later Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Ray Vaughan.)
     Five weeks later, Izzy Young presented Dylan 'In His First New York Concert' at Carnegie Chapter Hall, a 200 seat room that was part of the Carnegie Hall complex. Reportedly only 53 people attended, but it was the start of a touring career that continues today. Dylan expert Clinton Heylin notes that he sounded 'extremely nervous and uncertain of himself'.

THE VILLAGE VOICE 2 November 1961, ad for the concert
Thank you to Jürgen Wasser.

   The handbill / program below, an 8 1/2" x 11" (20,5 cm x 27cm) sheet printed on both sides and folded in half, was distributed in advance of the show by Izzy Young in an effort to drum up attendance. It features a ridiculous biographical sketch of Dylan, drawn from an interview he gave to Young. Dylan exaggerates for effect, claiming he got his start playing in carnivals, was raised in Gallup New Mexico, and was given a scholarship to the University of Minnesota "all completely untrue". Information Recordmecca.

Front and back

Inside

     Bob Dylan performed 22 songs at the Chapter Hall concert on 4 November 1961. The first seven songs were already into circulation among collectors when five additional songs appeared in December 2004; a further two (Talking Merchant Marine and Talking New York) turned up in May 2008.
     He Was A Friend Of Mine surfaced in November 2021, sixty years after the concert, when the tape of the performance was purchased by the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa.

Here is the setlist; six songs* are still uncirculating:

 

       Pretty Peggy-O

       In the Pines  

       Gospel Plow  

       1913 Massacre  

       Backwater Blues  

       A Long Time A-Growin'  

       Fixin' to Die  

       San Francisco Bay Blues *

       Riding In My Car  *

       Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues  

       Man On The Street  

       Sally Girl  *

       This Land Is Your Land  

       Talking Merchant Marine (Talking Sailor)  

       Black Cross  

       He Was A Friend Of Mine  

       Pretty Polly *

       House of the Rising Sun  *

       The Cuckoo Is A Pretty Bird *

       Freight Train Blues  

       Song To Woody  

       Talkin' New York