Considering the admiration The Beatles expressed for Bob Dylan, it is rather wild the two members overshadowed by the John Lennon and Paul McCartney writing partnership would go on to make the best partnership with their influence from over the seas. Ringo Starr pairing with Dylan for a date in France is quite the high bar. But it is the post-low feel of Dylan in the studio and his indifference to touring at the time which makes this so special. He may have come out of his shell a bit when collaborating with George Harrison and Roy Orbison, to name a few of The Traveling Wilburys, but at the turn of the 1980s, Dylan was finding his footing and had written solo material which mattered. On the back of Oh Mercy comes a performance where Starr is keen to provide steadiness in percussion for his part to a musician convinced to return where he remains at his best.
Stage shows from Dylan often have an unexplainable magic to them, and this Live in France show is no different. Opening with You’re a Big Girl Now, letting the line of “I’m back in the game,” hang for just a little longer than usual, is a brilliant way to announce a return to form. Croaky vocal appeals are the core of this one. Not too brutal on the ears but still searching for a next step – something Dylan could rely on for years to come. He gets close here, with the extremities of his voice punching on all the right notes of ambition, of proving to himself he still had what it takes. A period of doubt would appear soon after these performances, a shame too, as Dylan hits the ground running and continues with a wild strength not seen in the contemporary releases he had at the time.
But this is not just a profile of Dylan as a musician grasping at a return to form. This is a capable montage of Starr at his post-Beatles best. He adds a wild and feverish layer to this Live in France performance no other drummer could. Sincerely, the best part of Live in France aside from Dylan feeling his way through songs with confident flourishes is the percussion Starr provides to those slick guitar solos in Highway 61 Revisited and Like a Rolling Stone. Starr and Dylan may not feel like the right pairing but they prove, for this show at least, they have much more in common musically than first expected. Look at the context of where Starr and Dylan were in their careers at this time. Dylan was rebounding from some of his worst work while Starr, never at a level of Harrison or McCartney in his solo efforts, was coming to a point of sobriety.
Flush with guitar solos and a reinvigorated Starr, seemingly getting his solo career and collaborative efforts off the ground once more, comes an instrumentally sound showcase from Dylan. The man is in exceptional form as he leaps from elongated pieces of Just Like a Woman to the roaring embrace of a Starr-featuring Highway 61 Revisited. Outstanding moments where Starr plays up the finest part of his career, but also its downfall. He is an elusive figure when the time comes for him to display some of those unique flickers. He bleeds into the background all too well, a man set on backing the frontman to the hilt. Rightly so. It works to Starr’s favour here as Dylan dominates the latter stages of a set featuring Peace in the Valley and Boots of Spanish Leather. An all-around great performance from two legends.
