Bob Dylan Center to Launch ‘Going Electric’ Exhibition on Famous 1965 Newport Performance
There’s a little piece of Newport coming to Tulsa, Oklahoma. A new exhibition titled “Going Electric: Bob Dylan ’65” will debut at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa on July…
HOLLYWOOD, CA – JANUARY 12: Musician Bob Dylan performs onstage during the 17th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards held at The Hollywood Palladium on January 12, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for VH1)
There's a little piece of Newport coming to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A new exhibition titled "Going Electric: Bob Dylan '65" will debut at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa on July 24 and close in the spring of 2026. Presented by the center's founders, Bob and Debbie Russell, the exhibition will deliver a multimedia presentation that focuses on one of the most pivotal years in Dylan's career and the cultural implications that followed that period.
The exhibit examines the prelude to Dylan's infamous “going electric” set that he performed at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Dylan's performance is regarded as one of the most controversial, influential moments in the history of popular music.
According to a Broadway World report, the exhibition will focus on never-before-seen original manuscripts, film footage, and rare artifacts from the Bob Dylan Archive and loans from private collectors.
Highlights of the new exhibition will include the following:
- Never-before-seen manuscripts from “Bringing It All Back Home” and “Highway 61 Revisited”
- A set of recently discovered typescript drafts containing handwritten edits of Dylan's signature song “Mr. Tambourine Man”
- Artifacts, photographs, and other memorabilia from Dylan's final all-acoustic concerts, including his spring 1965 collaborations with Joan Baez and his UK tour, as memorialized in D. A. Pennebaker's documentary “Don't Look Back”
- Mike Bloomfield's 1963 Telecaster, played at the Newport Folk Festival, courtesy of Family Guitars
- Sally Grossman's red jumpsuit from the cover of “Bringing It All Back Home”
The exhibit concludes with a presentation of Dylan's controversial July 25, 1965, performance at the Newport Folk Festival. The Bob Dylan Center's Darby Family Screening Room will become an immersive multimedia experience that will bring guests to the center of the controversy in Newport, when Dylan shocked thousands of folk-music loyalists by switching from acoustic to electric in his performances.
Previously unseen footage will feature interviews with individuals such as Joan Baez, Joe Boyd, John Cohen, Al Kooper, Bruce Langhorne, Maria Muldaur, and Pete Seeger.
Learn more about the exhibition on the Bob Dylan Center's website.
