On this day in 1969, Bob Dylan made a surprise appearance at a small festival in St. Louis, Missouri

The ever-reclusive Dylan had not been on a public outing since January of 1968 when he performed at a memorial concert held for Woody Guthrie at Carnegie Hall, though he did release an album with 1968’s  Nashville Skyline.  

The Band were booked as the headline act for the July 14th edition of the 1969 Mississippi River Festival. The festival itself was a very well organised space that was originally created as a summer residence for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. It was an artistic success from the get-go and quickly evolved, welcoming guests from other genres, such as Arlo Guthrie, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell. 

After a standard tight set, the familiar calls for an encore hit the stage. However, when they returned to the stage they were joined by Dylan, who performed three songs, including an old mountain tune called In the Pines and left the stage. The show was not over though, as The Band returned to the stage to perform their encore Slippin’ and Slidin’,  with Dylan joining them on the chorus, much to the delight of the approximately 3000 person crowd.