Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Moving Pictures Golden Nugget: Bob Dylan at Municipal Auditorium in 1999
Posted by Adam Gold on Wed, May 27, 2009 at 3:15 PM
In honor of Bob Dylan's 33rd record Together Through Life recently debuting on the Billboard top 200 at No. 1--beating out the Hannah Montana: The Movie OST--I present to you this nugget (via YouTube user Elston1969, whose page contains a shit ton of Dylan vids) capturing Bobby D at our very own Municipal Auditorium in February of 1999 during what I call the "soy bomb era." This clip shows a performance of "Make You Feel My Love," one of the finer cuts off the Daniel Lanois-produced 1997 release Time Out of Mind, which is in my opinion the best latter-day Dylan record. You know, before he started singin' about Alicia Keys and shit.
If any of you were at this show then please feel free to share your memories of it. Dylan has toured non-stop on what fans have dubbed the "Never Ending Tour" since 1988. In that time there have been definite peaks and valleys in the caliber of his performances. 1999, and the whole Time Out of Mind period, is generally regarded by Dylan aficionados to have been a good era, due in part to sidemen such as Larry Campbell (guitar), David Kemper (drums) and Tony Garnier (bass). I've been going to Dylan shows since 1997 and have basically witnessed a slow and steady decline in quality. Things seem to have really jumped the shark when Dylan jettisoned his electric guitar in favor of playing keyboards for the majority (if not all) of the show, playing every single song as a blues and singing in a frog-in-throat voice that can easily be mistaken for that of Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton's character in Sling Blade). Take a look after the jump to re-live the infamous soy bomb Grammy performance.
Comments (7)
Showing 1-7 of 7
I was at this show. Brian Setzer Orchestra opened up. I thought it was great, and one of the better ones I had seen. I saw him a bunch in the nineties, and there was always a hit-n-miss quality to the shows, which seemed to me to be in relation to the venue. Same year, college campus in New Jersey (bad), Beacon Theatre in NYC (fantastic). Something about the Municipal brought out the best in him. And I think Time Out of Mind started a resurgence in his vitality.
like
dislike
i was there too.brian setzer blew his ass off the stage.whoever thought that was a good idea is an idiot.you can't have vegas open for a poet.i think i still have a hatch show poster from that show as well.
Saw this tour in Tallahassee of all places. It was by far the best show I've seen out of a half dozen or so performances since '95. He seemed REALLY jazzed so many young folks were going ape shit the whole night. Some good electricity on that one. Setzer seemed to work up the crowd just right. Also... you can't leave out mention of Bucky Baxter on that run. He was on steel, mando, and other stuff, I can't remember.
i was there. me and peter swanson, andrew smithson, rob marlow, and sam ashworth all went. we took my old '69 vw camper bus which i was driving back then.
it was the second time i'd seen old man dylan. the first was in columbus ohio about a year before. that was the best i've ever seen him. this show was a close second. i remember the sound being a bit dodgy out front, but this clip sounds pretty good. the brian setzer thing was wierd...he played way too long. but the crowd really seemed to love it; setzer was huge back then.
i saw dylan three more times after this show, and each one sucked. the last straw was the last time he played municipal...i left early and swore i'd never pay money to see that sack of shit again. skipping whole verses, mumbling...no thanks. i think everyone goes to see dylan so often because they've seen one or two great shows, and they hold out hope that he's still got it in him. but he just can't deliver anymore. and i don't think he really cares, which is sad.
Luke, you bring up an interesting point about him not caring. I've felt this way after watching him turn in a sub-par performance, but when I think about how he still does over 100 dates a year I figure he best be getting some sort of enjoyment out it. I mean, he certainly doesn't need the money.
Vote here for best Band of the Week
Slideshows
Top Commenters
