(Columbia Records)
The crowd was now on its collective feet. Unannounced, Dylan was center stage, dressed just like I had read about (from what I could see) : White hat, white face, vest, jeans, some sort of scarf. He started playing "When I Paint My Masterpiece." It had a loose, funky vibe, with Dylan sharing lead vocals with longtime friend Bob Neuwirth. Although it was Dylan's opening song for the entire 1975 leg of the tour, a live version has never been officially released. However, you can listen to the December 8 version here:
Next was "It Ain't Me, Babe," one of the few songs that had also been part of the 1974 repertoire. This take was completely reworked, with an almost Calypso feel. A dizzying, electric waltz version of "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" followed. At the time, it was thought that Dylan dug this song up because the line, "high office relations in the politics of Maryland," may have been a sly comment on former Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.
Yet another new arrangement was next, this time for a souped-up version of "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here." The lyrics were slightly altered, including a reference to "Rolling Thunder."
Then it was time for a surprise guest, The Band's Robbie Robertson, taking the lead on a rocking take on "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry." Even from our distant seats, we could see Robertson wailing on guitar, with a riff similar to the Before The Flood version of "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35." Here's Dylan's introduction, with a reference to Muhammad Ali's speech from earlier in the evening:
Thank you. We’re gonna bring out an old friend who plays in The Band. Mr. Robbie Robertson. We’re gonna do this song now for Mr. Albert Grossman. Hello Albert! Who won’t be the next president, don’t even want to be president!
Then it was time for a preview of Dylan's next album, Desire. The crowd was completely into it, cheering the new material, well aware that Dylan was in the middle of his most prolific and popular period since the mid-1960s. Dylan seemed very animated, like he could barely contain the excitement of springing his great new songs on an unsuspecting audience.
First up was "Romance in Durango." Like much of the Desire material previewed on this tour, the live performances had much more energy than the studio versions released the following year.
"Isis" was next. This was amazing, and one of the true highlights of the evening.
Here’s another new song. This is about the marriage ceremony between man and woman, it’s what happens when you get married, called "Isis."
Dylan stood center stage, without a guitar, almost like a caged animal, shifting his weight from leg to leg, spitting out the lyrics, harmonica in hand. We were hanging onto every word. We knew we were listening to a new masterpiece.
The song ended, and it was time for intermission. The concert was already two hours (or one-and-a-half cassettes) long.
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four
Keep up with Bob Dylan Examiner news. Just click on Subscribe above. Thanks for your support.
Comments
I enjoy your posts on this whole experience even if drawing them out over this many days is definitely not necessary. But anyway the only thing I'd say though is that even though this concert clearly has a lot of personal meaning to you since you were there I would say that as far as Rolling Thunder concerts go this one is not that great. It's decent but it seems like Bob had even a little more coke that night backstage than normal. Isis has no subtleties to it as it did earlier on the tour. Hes sang it so much that he now starts every stanza with the exact same notes and scream/growl to punctuate the same part everytime. I think earlier in the tour when he was still discovering the song more he gave so much more nuance to each line in how they were delivered. He also completely throws out his blues slide voice that he uses so well on the album version of Isis and better earlier in the tour. Here he is just in a coke induced scream fest. Sorry but not as good as it was
I agree with the above. Whatever interest I had in the first article was certainly lost by the time we got to article 4, without the show even being reported on yet. Very nicely written, but really, we have now read 5 seperate parts of this article, and are only at intermission of the show. Sigh. I'm punching out. You lost me on this.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!