Bob Dylan – Cleveland 1996 Review

Soundboard recordings are cool and all, but when you come across an audience recording, that is when you know you are in for a treat. A word of advice to those with neighbours on either side of them, reduce the bass if you are listening through a powerful speaker. New build homes are notoriously flimsy as is, let alone when the bass of Drifter’s Escape, already loud through Bose headphones, is blasted through at full volume. It’ll shake the house into place that much quicker; that’s for sure. Cleveland 1996 is a staggering performance. Bob Dylan here is right on the cusp of new material. He would offer as much with Time Out of Mind a year later. The route from Oh Mercy to Time Out of Mind is littered with hardship and hope, the latter appearing after Dylan’s MTV Unplugged appearance. Cleveland 1996 is a confident showcase of the hits because of the audience’s renewed interest in the former folk hero.  

For those who love a loud gig, Cleveland 1996 is perfect. Drifter’s Escape will rattle your brain, and Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) will put it back in place, relaxing as it is. Whoever shouted during the instrumental section at the end, incredible lungs on you. Fantastic. Every moment of Cleveland 1996 is a fascinating experience for both audience and artist. Dylan sounds as though he is revelling in the chance to engage his classic songs while the crowd are not only delighted to hear it, but to spend time with revised versions. Thunderous drumming opens one of the very best All Along the Watchtower performances you will hear. A flurry of mesmerising performances is what Cleveland 1996 offers. Much like the shows in the lead up to Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan uses this time on stage to figure out the direction of his studio work. There’s a firm hold on the instrumentals and yet they play with a looser form, a breezier style which gives the show an at times friendly appeal.  

I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) offers that easiness, something which would not feature as much on Time Out of Mind. It’s an instrumental reinvention frequent of this time, but the quality of this show is above the rest. Dylan sounds clear, the instrumentals are a fine mixture of inventive and intense, and the crowd are clearly up for it. It makes the likes of Tangled Up in Blue and Seeing the Real You at Last a real treat. This is a crowd which would have taken Wiggle Wiggle by storm. Songs from Dylan’s discography with a faster tempo would have worked perfectly here. It’s a golden opportunity to hear songs like She Belongs to Me and My Back Pages (this rendition featuring Roger McGuinn) in an amped up, well-received format.  

What a thrill Cleveland 1996 remains. A very high bar for bootlegs from this year is set, not just because of the incredible Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35 show closer, but because the crowd becomes part of the atmosphere. The hidden instrument should a performer know how to use it. Dylan does. That is clear from his performances of Silvio and Maggie’s Farm. Wondering where to start with Dylan’s 1990s live stage output? Here. It has a little bit of everything, from Grateful Dead covers to special guests. Both were frequent occurrences in the ‘90s, as were the rocked-out adaptations Dylan and the Bucky Baxter and Tony Garnier-featuring lineup makes here. It does not get much better than this, and it’s hard not to feel like you’re right in the mix of the audience with this recording.