Bob Dylan – Live in Tokyo 2014 Review

With a wild white suit and the promise of changing times, Bob Dylan takes to the stage in Tokyo, Japan, for one of his finest performances this century. Live in Tokyo 2014 still hits with a purity and innocence as plain as the suit Dylan wears for this performance over a decade after it took place. A double disc spectacle where the best of his discography is played up for no good reason. It is just time to dig deep, to revisit some of the earliest hits and deep cuts which have delighted for so long. An up-for-it crowd, an in-form instrumental opener and the punchy suddenness of first track Things Have Changed depend on a vocal change from Dylan which may prove controversial. Raspy, throaty and croaking beyond belief, the intensity of it all, overwhelms the senses.  

One of the few live recordings powerful enough to plant you right on the stage floor, Live in Tokyo 2014 is an all-time great performance. As good as it gets for Dylan on tour. The whoops and smattering of cheers for his harmonica playing on She Belongs to Me is understandable. Clarity is the key to this. For all the gruff moments throughout, you can make out the lyrics – a real problem on some tours in recent memory, particularly the Rough and Rowdy Ways experience. Rare rips from Together Through Life are the icing on the already large cake. Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ should be regarded as one of his finest late-stage offerings and here, with the cool instrumentals from long-running collaborator Charlie Sexton and a few piano strokes from Dylan, stands tall and above the hits of his set. But those hits are to die for too, with Tangled Up in Blue and Time Out of Mind rip Love Sick providing real treats in the latter half of the first disc.  

Love and Theft rips open that second disc, with High Water (For Charley Patton) making for a formidable opener. Where the slower drawl of Dylan does not benefit the punchier instrumentals, it still works. Simple Twist of Fate highlights it best of all. Even in those softer spots the instrumental variety, Dylan occasionally hammering away at the piano and pulling back to the front of the stage when his interest in the instrument wanes, is all part of the Live in Tokyo charm. Tempest charmers like Long and Wasted Years can be heard in the calm before a storming All Along the Watchtower and Blowin’ in the Wind double bill.  

Staggering performances of some of his very best songs can be heard in Live in Tokyo 2014. An exceptional Simple Twist of Fate uses both the stripped-back sound of soft percussion and harmonica thrills as well as it applies heavier instrumental tones. There is a wildness to it, a tenacity like no other that presides over much of the set. Early Roman Kings has the instrumental swagger heard a decade later on Rough and Rowdy Ways. That is not to say the seeds are planted here, but it certainly provides an instrumental and vocal style Dylan would return to after a lull in live interest a few years before his late-stage masterclass release. Sharp and stylish work from Dylan and the band here – some of their best stage work in years, ripped with great quality and a swagger which would lend itself to the rest of this fascinating tour of hits and hidden gems.