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
Fantastic material. … The sound quality of the recording is as true and clean as any ever made along the Rolling Thunder tour. The vocals are crisp, powerful, and on top of the mix. All instruments are well balanced and represented in the overall sound.
The 11th recording made along the tour, this show was recorded on the 11th day of the 11th month …. and what a magical mystery tour it is. The complex, though loose weaving and interacting of the instruments and vocals create a beautiful tapestry that will not be matched on any tour before or since. With the ‘Desire’ album to be released in a few weeks, Bob relies heavily on it for the show material. The cryptic songs of desire and despair add another layer to the thick blanket of mythography that is, was, and will forever be ‘Rolling Thunder’. …. The obscure title comes from Dylan’s introduction of the song ‘Sara’. “We want to do this one for Larry, our favorite reporter, who’s out there somewhere. He tells it like it is.”
~bobsboots.com
The Dylan/Baez set 1s extended to five songs. Tonight’s set includes the version of “The Water Is Wide” used as back- ground in the “Renaldo, Clara, and the Woman in White” scene. The concert is filmed for Renaldo and Clara. However, no footage is used, probably because Dylan uses no white face makeup, for the only time on the tour.
-Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
Palace Theater
Waterbury, Connecticut
11 November 1975
Bob Dylan (vocal, guitar)
Bob Neuwirth (guitar)
T-bone J. Henry Burnett (guitar)
Roger McGuinn (guitar)
Steven Soles (guitar)
Mick Ronson (guitar)
David Mansfield (steel guitar, violin, mandolin ,dobro)
)
