As with much of the late 80’s, Dylan’s vocals are intense and powerful. The three piece band led by GE Smith is raw and energetic. .. The performance is marvelous. Dylan takes a huge bite out of the Big Apple from Radio City. Coincidentally, Warner Brothers released the incredible ‘Traveling Wilburys Vol.1″ while Dylan was playing in this ‘showplace of the nation’. This might have lent a hand to a little extra sparkle and drive to be found in this tour de force.
–bobsboots.com
Great concert from part 3 of the Interstate 88 tour.
Bob Dylan first performed Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ on July 8, 1988 at the Forum de
Montréal in Canada. Montréal is Cohen’s home town and it is possible that he attended the show.
Dylan’s second and final performance, on his “Interstate 88” tour, was on August 4, 1988, at the
final night of a three show residency at the Greek Theatre, Hollywood.
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Dylan and Leonard Cohen first met sometime in the late ’60s and have remained friends ever
since, meeting whenever the opportunity arises. One such occasion was after a concert in Paris,
probably Dylan’s October 7, 1987 show at P.O.P.B. Bercy. The two songwriters spent some
considerable time talking shop, over coffee, in a café somewhere in the 14th Arrondissment of
Paris. Dylan told Cohen that he especially liked the ending to his then new song ‘Hallelujah’.
“And even though it all went wrong / I’ll stand before the Lord of Song with nothing on
my tongue but hallelujah!”
~Derek Barker (The Songs He didn’t write)
Baby I have been here before
I know this room, I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you.
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
The tape of the benefit performance shows that Dylan’s voice had recovered significantly during his six weeks off; unfortunately, it also suggests again that the two-guitar acoustic set format was not very stimulating for Dylan as a performer in 1988. These are again lackluster, uninspired performances, interesting solely because this was only the third time in his career that Dylan is known to have performed “Pretty Boy Floyd” on stage and because, as he had at the October shows, Dylan added Lo “With God on Our Side” a verse about the Vietnam War that he didn’t write – the Neville Brothers had added it when they recorded the song on an album produced by Daniel Lanois earlier that autumn.
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan: Performing Artist Volume 3: Mind Out Of Time 1986 And Beyond)
Oakland Coliseum Oakland, California 4 December 1988 An all acoustic evening of music to benefit The Bridge School.
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