Bob Dylan – Red Bluff 2002 Review

With an introduction calling Bob Dylan a poet laureate and substance abuser, the fine line between art and narcotics is drawn. Red Bluff 2002 is a fascinating show not least for its introduction but for the collection of songs within, the sheen of a powerhouse album the year before doing little to sway Dylan from his classics. Enter Dylan, on the piano for opening track Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35, preceded by a brief and exceptional roundup of his career. Filled with hits and throwing a few curveballs at an expectant, desperate audience is all well and good. But the show is remembered for more than just its consistencies in performance. Some will praise this lineup as the best Dylan had for the Never Ending Tour. Perhaps they are right. These performances have a slickness, particularly this, which seems truly unique to the California stage.  

Here is a different side to Dylan. A man who is keen to engage the audience, unlike performances of recent memory. He dares not shuffle behind the piano and instead sounds observant, locked into a flow like he has never felt before. There is a tongue-in-cheek style to these numbers. Dylan is happy to play up his image from the previous century. It introduces him to audience members old and new as an artist writing his next chapter. Such a tone is needed. Accidentally Like a Martyr is opened wide because of this attitude. A welcome change of pace which Dylan strives for, covering the Warren Zevon number with a grace heard just a moment before on Tombstone Blues. Red Bluff 2002 is a transcendent experience – borderline perfection from Dylan in another comfortable live slot.  

Move on to It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) and the jazz-like renditions of these instrumentals sound as good as the studio versions. Swinging greats with a suddenness to the bass and guitar work from the band is what makes it so powerful. Impactful drops which give Dylan a shock isolation in his vocal strengths, which grow as the gig goes. By the time Cold Iron Bounds has worked its way into the set the band sounds as though they have found their footing and are now capable of enjoying their time on stage without the fear of failing. Shimmering percussion, an audacious guitar solo to introduce the Time Out of Mind classic and there it is, Dylan at his very best. Intermittent admissions of love for the man on stage fill in the spots where instruments need re-tuning, and it becomes a sobering experience when One Too Many Mornings rolls around. 

An outstanding live set, a lengthy beast of a recording and what a time it is. Wonderful performances of excellent songs. There is no way of getting around the assured quality of 2002 for Dylan. Nothing but the hits in his live performances, and when he did get the chance to lay his hands on a cover it was often the left-field artists he would shine a light on. Their shock influence on him as a performing artist is always a mesmerising listen, Red Bluff 2002 is no exception. Not a bluff in sight for this performance, which is a heavy-hitting experience filled with the best of his work. Like a Rolling Stone is a tremendous experience, though it is unravelled slightly by an off-pace Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. Yet there is beauty in it and the following performance of All Along the Watchtower. Those hits still had something to offer. So too does Dylan.