The full recording of one of Bob’s current series of concerts is now available on the internet, so I thought I would add it here, as part of our series reviewing Bob’s concerts across the ages. The full concert is at the end of this post. Other articles in the concert series include
- April 2025, Iowa
- Earls Court 1978
- Bob Dylan, Little Moses and the complete March 1992 concert
- What Dylan played on 7 July 2024, and how it sounded.
- The concert in full on 3 August 2024.
- Dylan and Petty, Australia 1986
- Manchester 1966, the full concert.
- The Carnegie Chapter Hall concert in full: 4 November 1961
- January 1976: the rehearsals
- Erfurt 8th October 2024
- 9 February 2002: Atlanta. Sublime
First, for this recent concert, here is the song list. Throughout Bob is playing piano.
- 1: I’ll be your baby tonight.
- 2. It Ain’t me Babe
- 3: I contain multitudes
- 4: False Prophet
- 5. When I paint my masterpiece
- 6. Black Rider
- 7. My own version of you
- 8. To be alone with you
- 9. Crossing the Rubicon
- 10. Desolation row
- 11. Key West
- 12. Watching the River Flow
- 13. It’s all over now Baby Blue
- 14. I’ve made up my mind to give myself to you
- 15. Mother of Muses
- 16. Goodbye Jimmy Reed
- 17. Every Grain of Sand.
Now I must admit I am not a fan of this show. What puts me off this performance, and indeed where Bob is now, is that in order to accommodate his voice, Bob is slowing down many of the tracks, and removing much of the melody, replacing the singing with a “declaiming” style, which simply isn’t to my taste.
That of course is my problem, but here is the whole concert so you can judge, and enjoy.
And what I thought I would do here, to explain my own viewpoint (but not in any way to try and change your view) is compare that last song with this version of Every Grain of Sand, with that from 2007 which was highlighted in our Never Ending Tour series.
2007 Every grain
And perhaps as I don’t feel very positive about this performance I might re-introduce my own list of “absolute highlights” from the Never Ending Tour, not because I think that somehow my view is superior to anyone else’s but rather, in case there is any song in the list below which you would like to hear again and wonder which version I chose. As you can see I got a bit carried away and did one song twice.
But might I also direct you to the History in Performance series which is currently covering Side B of “Bringing it all back home” in more depth and with more examples than I think has ever been done before (although of course I haven’t checked every nook and cranny of the internet).
The third part of “It’s alright ma” has just been published here with a complete index to the previous articles (packed with recordings) on that song. Gates of Eden is here. And the final part of Tambourine Man is here, again with an index through the series.
The (very personal) Absolute Highlights series, taking from the Never Ending Tour
-
- 1: John Brown 1987
- 2: Desolation Row. 1990.
- 3: She Belongs to Me
- 4: Tangled up in Blue
- 5: I and I – power without meaning
- 6: It ain’t me babe – go lightly.
- 7: Perfection in desolation – Gates of Eden
- 8: Girl from the North Country.
- 9: When He Returns
- 10: It’s alright Ma
- 11: Satisfied Mind
- 12: Visions of Johanna
- 13: Dark Eyes
- 14: Man in the long black coat
- 15: Don’t think twice (2000)
- 16: Silvio (1998)
- 17: Gates of Eden (2000)
- 18: One Too Many Mornings 2001.
- 19: It’s all over now baby blue 1994
- 20: The Wicked Messenger
- 21: Positively 4th Street (1994)
- 22: I and I
- 23: Restless Farewell
- 24: Botony Bay
- 25: Blind Willie McTell
- 26: Desolation Row
- 27: Love Minus Zero – 1992
- 28: Spanish Boots in Prague
- 29: The Levy’s Gonna Break
- 30. Idiot Wind