1999 was a great year for Bob Dylan’s “Never Ending Tour”.
For all the splendours of earlier in the year [1999], this last leg was the most consistently triumphant. By the time Dylan brought the year’s touring to an end, with an extended set on November the 20th, he had played 121 shows – the most in a single year of his entire career. It had been a very good year, the best since 1995.
~Andrew Muir (One More Night: Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour
A lot of concerts from this tour is in circulation (both video & audio) and this concert is (…again) a great example from that last leg.
Centrum Arena
Worcester, Massachusetts
14 November 1999
- Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
- Charlie Sexton (guitar)
- Larry Campbell (guitar, mandolin, pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
- Tony Garnier (bass)
- David Kemper (drums & percussion)
–
- Somebody Touched Me (trad.)
- To Ramona
- Mama, You Been On My Mind
- A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
– - All Along The Watchtower
- Highlands
- Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
- Not Dark Yet
- Everything Is Broken
— - Love Sick
- Like A Rolling Stone
- Girl From The North Country
- Not Fade Away (Norman Petty/Charles Hardin)
-Egil
This would be a great release for us…The 99 shows were nice, with Dylan still able to play the guitar, and Larry Campbell’s magic behind him.
I wish they’d set up a download service similar to Springsteen and others….
This was the 2nd Dylan show I had ever seen. I was just shy of 20 years old, with my college girlfriend. This Was probably also my favorite show out of the 15 or so I attended since…mostly because I was about three “rows” from the front (general admission).
Why seeing Dylan is/can be great is being up close. He always does a great show…but if you are an arena away with no visibility and questionable acoustics, it makes sense that some people don’t get it. Watch his face during Highlands–brilliant. And yes, he doesn’t play the same old songs the same way like a nostalgia act.
The opener, Phil Lesh and Friends, was skillful but very jam band…they played Not Fade Away by Buddy Holly. But I was never into huge instrumental breaks; a little can go a long way. Dylan and co. Played it again as their closer and it was great. I remember their faces and at least the band, if not Dylan as well, knew that they were playing the same song that their opener had played already. I like to think I saw a competitive look in their eyes…it made it edgier and more rock n’ roll and it was a high energy moment. But of course Dylan shows are ebbs and flows.
Thanks to whomever posted this video and of course who ever had a camera there to film it. No camera phones in ’99 so not sure where you garaged that on the way in.
I was at this concert in 99. Bob was great as usual but the opening band was terrible in my opinion. They did a lot of Dead stuff so the crowd has heavy with Dead heads and they just sucked, Jumped a lot of seats, noisy, rude. They ruined it for many people. Only the other hand I believe this was the last time I saw Bob play guitar, Didn’t know it at the time but that was coming to an end.