Bob Dylan – Laguna Seca Raceway Review

We are in no short supply of quality touring experiences from Bob Dylan. His work in that pre-Time Out of Mind, post-MTV Unplugged career revival is a golden patch for those wanting to hear invigorated, truly inspired renditions of his hit tracks. Classics like Mr. Tambourine Man and Simple Twist of Fate are performed with a genuine interest from Dylan and his touring selection. Laguan Seca Raceway, a show performed on May 27, 1995, is another of those great examples of how Dylan would carry the band through a distinctive shift in his tone and style, one which lasts today. Or, at least, at time of writing. The Rough and Rowdy Ways tour dates continue, the quality of Dylan as an artist hoping to subvert the obvious and twist the arm of those passing listeners is always an experience worth having. Laguna Seca Raceway is a treat of a listen for those who may not be aware of the quality Dylan was working with in the mid-1990s.  

Opening track Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood) is a fantastic mood setter. That build on the guitar, the calm before the storm of what is an exceptional setlist from Dylan and the band, is great fun. Relaxed instrumental work which staves off the easy-listening experience. Dylan’s vocal work sounds solid, too, a little patchy in the early moments as he warms to the stage, but he sounds as though he’s in excellent form. What may sound sluggish to some is stylish to others, and that slower drawl for It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry, for instance, is where the stylishness perseveres. Frankly cool instrumental work is crucial here and that’s license for Dylan to play around with some new vocal stylings. It works well on All Along the Watchtower, a song that was defined more by the Jimi Hendrix cover than the Dylan original. Even Dylan sounds as though he’s covering Hendrix, rather than performing his own work.  

But that’s all part of the charm in these early moments. You can hear the influence of heavier forms of rock and roll, and how much of a comfort that was to the likes of Neil Young, affect Dylan here. He has defined the times but has moved with them too, and you can hear that on Laguna Seca Raceway. Just incredible instrumentals, that’s the main pitch from Laguna Seca Raceway. At a time when Young was using Pearl Jam as a backing band and the tides of influence had shifted back to the veterans who defined the times in the 1960s, hearing Dylan marry the older style with a fresh rock and roll perspective is incredible. Songs like Masters of War and Seeing the Real You at Last are exceptional examples of this new balance. 

What this show, like many of the others on this tour prove, is Dylan at the top of his game is a free-flowing experience. Instrumental bliss and a vocal style that has clear differences to how he would sound in the studio just two years later, let alone what he recorded in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Laguna Seca Raceway is a phenomenal show, one of the many great instances of Dylan’s ongoing live thrills between 1995 and 2003. A near ten-year experience of some phenomenal covers, deep cuts, and flowing instrumentals. The performance of Simple Twist of Fate, for instance, features an instrumental style that’ll be familiar to those who listened to live renditions of Rough and Rowdy Ways material. It has that flow, that sentimentality backed by expressive, improvised instrumentals. It’s a fantastic blur of work, and that makes Laguna Seca Raceway quite the experience.