Bob Dylan – Palace Theater Waterbury Review

Rightly looked on as a legendary experience and one of, if not the best-documented tours of all time, The Rolling Thunder Revue has left a fascinating impact. This everyday performance collection, Palace Theater Waterbury, hears Bob Dylan and the likes of Mick Ronson, Bob Neuwirth and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot all in decent form. It is not as moving as other live recordings of the time but it gives a more lived-in, midpoint feeling to the tour. A time when going through the motions is possible. But it does not sound as though either Dylan or Joan Baez is struck with the malaise of touring. They see fit to carry on with solid qualities – not as wild and intimate as the latter likes of live album Hard Rain but certainly enjoyable.  

Competent and often exciting performances from the collection of opening acts are hard not to enjoy. Muleskinner Blues from Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Need a New Sun Rising from Ronee Blakley are well-engaged country strikes before Dylan takes to the stage. A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall and all those classics which defined Dylan find their way through, a slight variation at hand here. Slick guitar riffs and a crunch to them add a new layer, particularly for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan cut. Dedications to Sam Peckinpah and the death of the western genre can be heard on Romance in Durango. It takes the tone of a grieving group reflecting on an incredible experience out there, in the desert with film cameras all around. Palace Theater Waterbury has the benefit of truthful and reflective performances of Dylan’s deep cuts like this Desire piece.  

It leads on wonderfully to Isis, another of the Desire cuts found in this performance. A dark horse of his discography and paid its dues on a tour coinciding with its release. Back to the classics with Blowin’ in the Wind, which benefits from the additions of Baez and the sharper, louder focus on the acoustic guitar. These are all the joys of live performance – an active chance to change what works in a song and replace it with risk, pause and new interpretations. Dylan referring to the audience as his “gang” has never felt so fitting. They are his rabble-rousing collective who, as it turns out over the next decade, would follow him regardless of what he does. But the real reason for listening to this set is Hurricane. A live performance of one of Dylan’s best and most understated releases. Your eyes and ears do not deceive you; this is the live version of the Rubin Carter protest song. It is an exceptional recording. 

Slopper vocally than it should be but what a treat to hear this track on stage. A neat precursor to One More Cup of Coffee, another of the Desire tracks put to the test and amplified by the Rolling Thunder Revue spectacle. The backing band and those extra implementations, namely Scarlet Rivera on violin, are an essential part of why Palace Theater Waterbury is such a wonderful listen. Her impact on Desire is as great as the lawsuits which changed the wording of the edgier tracks, the harsher merits of the Dylan discography’s dark horse can be heard in better form through this live recording. An essential bit of live work and a neat definition of how great an experience the Rolling Thunder Revue is as a listening experience. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, the Baez set, all of it comes through with great aplomb on this recording.