Bob Dylan - The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration

iTunes Review

On October 16th, 1992, a host of associates and admirers gathered at Madison Square Garden to pay tribute to Bob Dylan on the occasion of his 30th year as a recording artist. Different performers appear to represent different aspects of Dylan’s career. Richie Havens, Tracy Chapman, and The Clancy Brothers represent the early Greenwich Village folk years; Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, and Mary Chapin Carpenter represent Dylan’s longstanding interest in country music; Eric Clapton and Johnny Winter do the same for blues. While it’s great to hear some artists take on the Dylan classics to which they are most naturally suited (George Harrison and “Absolutely Sweet Marie,” Neil Young and “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues”), the concert’s most engaging moments are the unexpected choices and atypical interpretations. Lou Reed turns in a stomping version of “Foot of Pride” (from Infidels), while Willie Nelson conjures the swampy atmospherics of “What Was It You Wanted” (from Oh, Mercy). Above all is a mighty performance by the O’Jays, whose powerful reading of “Emotionally Yours” (from Empire Burlesque) emphasizes the concert’s primary goal: to manifest the magnitude of Dylan’s influence, even in his catalog’s darkest corners.