“…his fall 1979 concerts. “What Can I Do For You?”, “Solid Rock”, “Saving Grace”, “Covenant Woman” and “In The Garden” as performed at these shows are some of the finest work in Dylan’s oeuvre, but you’d never know that from listening to “Saved”, the 1980 studio album that features these compositions.
…….you’re awareness and appreciation of Dylan’s greatness is incomplete until you hear these songs (and “When He Returns”) as performed live in the fall of 1979..
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, Vol 2: The Middle Years 1974-1986)

“….this gospel show explodes with vocal passion to be found in few other Dylan periods.”
~bobsboots.com

The November shows @ Warfield in 1979 are by many fans (& collectors) considered to be the highlight of the “Gospel Tours”. Nov 6,7,11 & 16 are the shows I’ve been listening to…. and Nov 16 is my personal favorite. It is an amazing concert… … it’s actually one of my absolute fav Dylan concerts, top 10 for sure.

Fox Warfield Theatre
San Francisco, California
16 November 1979

• Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
• Fred Tackett (guitar)
• Spooner Oldham (keyboards)
• Tim Drummond (bass)
• Terry Young (keyboards)
• Jim Keltner (drums)
• Regina Havis , Helena Springs , Mona Lisa Young (background vocals)

Setlist:

1. Gotta Serve Somebody
2. I Believe In You
3. When You Gonna Wake Up
4. When He Returns
   
5. Man Gave Names To All The Animals
6. Precious Angel
   Thank you. You know we read in the newspaper every day, what a horrible situation this world is in. Now God chooses the foolish things in this world to confound the wise. Anyway, we know this world is going to be destroyed, we know that. Christ will set up his kingdom in Jerusalem for a thousand years where the lion will lie down with the lamb. Have you heard that before? [applause] Have you heard that before? [applause] I’m just curious to know, how many believe that? [more applause] All right. This is called “Slow Train Coming”. It’s been coming a long time and it’s picking up speed.
7. Slow Train
8. Covenant Woman
   
9. Ain’t No Man Righteous, No Not One
   –
   We’re gonna do something right here that we haven’t done before. This is a song that nobody knows. Nobody in this band even knows it, that’s how I can tell who really wants to stick with me and who doesn’t. Well, Regina knows it and I’m gonna call her up and have her sing it for you. If I forget the lyrics, I know she won’t. This is called “No Man Righteous, No, Not One”. (plays Ain’t No Man Righteous, No Not One) All right, Yes, I, I’m sure that’s going to be on the next album. Regina, I want you to hear her sing another song. Ah, wait. Mona, Mona Lisa’s gonna come and sing a song for you, I know you’ll wanna hear. Yeah, I know you’ll wanna hear it and it’s good for you to hear it. It’s called, “God Uses Ordinary People.”
   Mona Lisa Young: God Uses Ordinary People ( ? )
   –
10. Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking
11. Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)
    Thank you. You know, I really want to thank all you people for all the letters and all the cards and all the encouragement. It’s very kind. [audience: “God loves you Bobby!”] He loves you too, don’t you forget it. All right, this is called, well this is a song we been working in on. And we hope to record sometime. Maybe it’ll be out uh– they hold my records so long you know . . . You might hear it, in a month from now, maybe a year from now, but remember whenever you do remember you heard it first right here. I tell you San Francisco is a great town. We know that there’re a lot of things wrong with it, but we, there are a lot of people here that we love. And we’re gonna miss it too. Anyway, this is called “Hanging On To A Solid Rock, Made Before The Foundation Of The World”.
12. Solid Rock
    
13. Saving Grace
    That’s right. You know, Satan’s called the God of this world, that’s true, and it’s such a wonderful feeling when you’ve been delivered from that.
14. Saved (Bob Dylan/Tim Drummond)
15. What Can I Do For You?
16. In The Garden
    
    —
    On the keyboards tonight, give him a warm hand, Spooner Oldham. On the other set of keyboards, Terry Young. On the lead guitar, Fred Tackett. On …, playing the drums tonight, Jim Keltner. And on bass guitar, Tim Drummond. Singing on the bottom tonight is Helena Springs. Singing in the middle is Regina McCreary. Singing on top is Mona Lisa Young. I’ll say it again, it’s just like, we’ve been here a while now, it does feel just like the first night however. I wish we could stay longer, but we can’t, we got to go. So we want to give all praise and glory to God tonight. Ain’t nobody down here deserve any. All right.
17. Blessed Be The Name
18. Pressing On

–

Check out:

• Alldylan @ Facebook
• –
• Bob Dylan: Live 1961- 1969 (video & audio)
• Bob Dylan: 5 essential videos from the 60’s
• Bob Dylan live 1970 – 1979 (videos & audio)
• Bob Dylan: 7 essential videos from the 70’s
• –
• Olof’s “Still On The Road“

-Egil