Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan Concerts

Jan 12: Bob Dylan @ Toad’s Place, New Haven, Connecticut 1990 (audio)

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bob dylan toads place 1990

On January 12, as a warm-up for two stadium shows in Brazil and ten further dates in Paris and London, he played his first club gig in over twenty-five years, at Toad’s Place in New Haven. The seven hundred lucky witnesses saw this forty-eightyear-old man play for a total of four and a half hours.
Starting at a quarter to nine, with a cover of Joe South’s ‘Walk a Mile in My Shoes’ (‘before you accuse, criticize, or abuse I walk a mile in my shoes’), Dylan finally left the Toad’s stage at twenty minutes past two in the morning, after four sets, interspersed by three breaks of just twentyfive minutes each, having played fifty songs in total, only eight of which derived from his supposed halcyon days of 1963-66.
~Clinton Heylin (Behind The Shades)

Toad’s Place
New Haven, Connecticut
12 January 1990

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
  • G. E. Smith (guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • Christopher Parker (drums

The show had 4 sets:

Set songs  time
I 1-11 55
II 12-20 40
III 21-34 65
IV 35-50 80

1, 4-7, 14, 21, 30, 40  are all live debuts.

  1. Walk A Mile In My Shoes (Joe South)
  2. One More Cup Of Coffee (Valley Below)
  3. Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
  4. Trouble No More (McKinley Morganfield)
  5. I’ve Been All Around This World (trad.)
  6. Political World
  7. Where Teardrops Fall
  8. Tears Of Rage (Bob Dylan & Richard Manuel)
  9. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
  10. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
  11. Everybody’s Movin’ (Glen Trout)

    –



    —
  12. Watching The River Flow
  13. What Was It You Wanted
  14. Oh Baby It Ain’t No Lie (Elizabeth Cotten)
  15. Lenny Bruce
  16. I Believe In You
  17. Man Of Peace
  18. Across The Borderline (Ry Cooder/John Hiatt/Jim Dickinson)
  19. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
  20. All Along The Watchtower
    —
  21. Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)
  22. Political World
  23. What Good Am I?
  24. Wiggle Wiggle
  25. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
  26. Pay The Price (Moon Martin)
  27. Help Me Make It Through The Night (Kris Kristofferson)
  28. Man In The Long Black Coat
  29. Congratulations
  30. Dancing In The Dark (Bruce Springsteen)
  31. Lonesome Whistle Blues (Hank Williams-Jimmy Davies)
  32. Confidential (Dolinda Morgan)
  33. In The Garden
  34. Everything Is Broken
    —
  35. So Long, Good Luck And Goodbye (Weldon Rogers)
  36. Where Teardrops Fall
  37. Political World
  38. Pretty Peggy-O (trad. arr. Bob Dylan)
  39. I’ll Remember You
  40. Key To The Highway (Charles Segar/Willie Broonzy)
  41. Joey (Bob Dylan & Jacques Levy)
  42. Lay Lady Lay
  43. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
  44. When Did You Leave Heaven? (W. Bullock/R. Whiting)
  45. Maggie’s Farm
  46. I’ve Been All Around This World (trad.)
  47. In The Pines (Huddie “Leadbelly” Leadbetter)
  48. Highway 61 Revisited
  49. Precious Memories (arr. by Bob Dylan)
  50. Like A Rolling Stone

1990-01-12 New Haven 2

After almost four hours of singing, Dylan launched into a stinging Highway 61 Revisited and the wistful Precious Memories, from Knocked Out Loaded.
Finally, after a few false starts, Dylan swung into Like A Rolling Stone, requisite even on such an unprecedented night.
hough his voice was starting to show signs of fatigue from its arduous workout, and the audience was exhausted,
it was a final, exultant moment, releasing everyone for home at 2:30 am.

Dylan is only one year away from his 50th birthday and his 30th year as a recording artist.  Yet here he was, in close contact with his fans once again, still experimenting with new songs,  still working on numbers he has been playing for decades. It was an awe-inspiring performance,  as close to a comprehensive retrospective as Dylan is ever likely to offer onstage.
–Rolling Stone, 8 March 1990




The single weirdest show in Dylan’s career. This four-and-a-half-hour marathon set was a warm-up before the 1990 leg of the NET kicked off. Extreme rarities like “Man Of Peace” and “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine” are mixed with shocking covers like “Dancing In The Dark.” By the end he’s taking requests, and playing whatever the crowd yells for. You have to hear it to believe it.
-Andy Greene (rollingstone.com – May 10, 2011)

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-Egil

4 thoughts on “Jan 12: Bob Dylan @ Toad’s Place, New Haven, Connecticut 1990 (audio)”

  2. Well this would have been priceless to
    have attended! I’m glad he is still playing for crowds, God Bless Bob.

  4. This is a show of Bob’s reverie he goes through before heading off to a tour ; but never to this expanse of time and number of songs practiced .One I ‘d sure like to have been present at .

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