Mick Ronson was in Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue band. Part of their 1975-76 tour was two benefits shows for Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the boxer wrongly convicted and imprisoned for murder. The first was at Madison Square Garden in December 1975.
Mick Ronson, “Night of the Hurricane II”, January 25, 1976.
There aren’t many pictures of the second benefit, at the Houston Astrodome. Most reports say it did not go well.
I read an account that at some point during the Rolling Thunder tour Dylan sent the whole band to Nudie’s to be outfitted, and they wore the spoils at the Astrodome. I think one place I saw that story was in the ebay listing for this shirt and pant, saying Rick Danko wore them on stage that night.
Danko was a guest on at least one of the Rolling Thunder shows but he’s not in any of the Houston lineups I’ve seen, nor are there any photos. (Living in Malibu at the time, he could still have been part of the Nudie’s shopping spree) In the top photo behind Ronson, in Nudie gear, are David Mansfield on pedal steel and Steven Soles on rhythm guitar. Below is T-Bone Burnett, who was also part of the Rolling Thunder Revue band.
Dylan had an embroidered Nudie over his polka-dot shirt for at least part of the evening, and Kinky Friedman was also in The Rodeo Tailor. It doesn’t seem that the band wore their Nudie suits on the tour after that night, which was the last time Dylan performed the song “Hurricane” live.
Above, Ronson in 1981.
