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.
Continue reading October 19: Bob Dylan Concert @ Radio City Music Hall 1988 (audio) →
I’m walking through streets that are dead
Walking, walking with you in my head
My feet are so tired, my brain is so wired
And the clouds are weeping
Did I hear someone tell a lie?
Did I hear someone’s distant cry?
I spoke like a child; you destroyed me with a smile
While I was sleeping
Radio City Music Hall
New York City, New York
25 February 1998
40th Annual Grammy Awards.
If you could ignore this overly commercial setting, Dylan’s performance itself was splendid, in spite of a rather bizarre distraction. In the middle of Bob’s set, shirtless, self-styled ‘almost-vegetarian-multi-genre mastermind-artist’ Michael Portnoy jumped on stage with the words “SOY BOMB” written in block letters on his body. Dylan and the band just kept playing, though the expression on Dylan’s face spoke volumes. Still, at least Portnoy’s complaint injected some spontaneity into the Grammies . “Soy is protein and life and energy, and bomb is explosive and propulsive,” the stage invader explained to the press. “All art should be soy -bombs.”
~Andrew Muir (One More Night: Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour
)
Continue reading Feb 25: Bob Dylan performing “Love Sick” @ Radio City Music Hall NYC – 1998 (Video) →
To see and hear how the band looked and sounded in February 1991, you just need to view television footage of the Grammy awards ceremony from New York on the 20th , when Dylan was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Dylan’s appearance caused a media stir par excellence on two counts. Talking point one was his performance; number two was his acceptance speech.
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Dylan performed his damning anti-war3 indictment, “Masters Of War” – a striking choice given that the Gulf War was still going on and hawkish jingoism was rife. However, since he chose to sing it without a pause for breath, and backed by this hapless/hamstrung band, no-one who did not already know the song would have got the message. In fact, many who were familiar with the song did not even recognise it. Not only did Dylan’s nasal passages sound blocked (he later revealed he’d had a cold) but it seemed he had swallowed a burst of helium before starting to sing. Some observers thought he was singing in Hebrew. The tuxedoed crowd looked on in utter bewilderment. The next day’s newspapers marvelled how only Dylan had performed a song with any meaning and purpose, but then, being Dylan, he had made it completely incomprehensible.
~Andrew Muir (One More Night: Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour)
Bob Dylan receives his Lifetime Achievement Award. The award is presented by Jack Nicholson.
Continue reading Feb 20: Bob Dylan Grammy Award Ceremony 1991 →
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