Bob Dylan – Rolling Through Stormy Weather Review

For a short but memorable time, Bob Dylan bootlegs would frequently include his cover of Grateful Dead’s Friend of the Devil. It became a sign of quality. Robert Hunter’s classic pointed to a storming set from Dylan often enough to make a note of the most accessible performances. Rolling Through Stormy Weather, Dylan’s performance in Vienna, Austria, is a brilliant show. We are lucky to have not just the show itself but a few bonus tracks which feature the likes of My Back Pages and Desolation Row. The post-Time Out of Mind tour can be credited as one of the best in Dylan’s years on the road. Rolling Through Stormy Weather is an example of that. Every song a hit, and yet there is still space for some stunning deep cuts, which are brilliant in their own way. An acoustic set, followed by an electric set. It is a throwback to the two-set controversies of the 1990s.  

Was Dylan still affected by the electric turn? He makes note of it here, and would step back in time for his MTV Unplugged performance. A polka dot shirt here, blacked-out sunglasses there, and that was enough to revive his public image. The music which followed stood as some of his best-ever offerings, and those Time Out of Mind tracks are featured throughout Rolling Through Stormy Weather. Cold Iron Bounds, Trying to Get to Heaven, and Not Dark Yet are brilliant additions. If Love Sick were in there, it would be a best-ever set. But are we truly going to knock Rolling Through Stormy Weather down a peg for not including a song Dylan still plays today? No chance. The swap-out of Love Sick can mean many things for this set, but the biggest treat to come from its absence is profiling those other Time Out of Mind classics. They do not receive as much credit as they should.  

Here is the chance to hear them, then. Refreshed by a hits-laden set, and providing the contemporary relevance Dylan had sought in the mid-1990s. Pair that with some wonderful performances of Mr. Tambourine Man, Tangled Up in Blue, and It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue, and you have a tremendous acoustic set. The electric set to follow is of similar, high quality. Highway 61 Revisited and Like a Rolling Stone are a brilliant call back to those glory days while the likes of Make You Feel My Love and It Ain’t Me, Babe are wonderful instrumental revisions. Both Time Out of Mind and Another Side of Bob Dylan are revolutionised here. Part of the charm which comes from these live sets is hearing where the instrumentals will take those all-time greats. Rolling Through Stormy Weather offers that.  

Dylan would find such love for these instrumental stylings it would form the base of his tour for years to come. Each adaptation he makes on the tours to follow, all the way through to Rough and Rowdy Ways, has been influenced in some way by this blur of his folk classics with contemporary soft rock tones. He finds new life in his oldest hits, relevancy in the darkest corners of his discography, and pools it all together into a series of shows which still stand up. Rolling Through Stormy Weather is a magnificent showcase of that longevity. Even the passing listener, those who are not actively seeking out bootlegs from back in the day, can enjoy this one. A tremendous performance, a truly mesmerising concert experience which may turn the heads of those who are looking for that brush with brilliance.