Best Performances from the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert
On Oct 16, 1992 many diverse and popular artists gathered at MSG in New York City to celebrate the songs and music of Bob Dylan on the 30th anniversary of his first recordings in a four hour show. Dubbed "Bobfest" by Neil Young, it was broadcast around the world. Many notable performers and some of the greatest supporting musicians made great contributions. Available on CD and video.The list concept isn't just about the better song or favorite performers; it's a combo of the delivery, the song, the person, and I decided not to consider weighing in sentiment or song or importance of Dylan's own solo lead performances for the top ten, although some quite strong he wasn't at his best vocally and so many of the others were fantastic in salute and tribute.
I need to give G.E. Smith credit for a phenomenal job as musical director of the entire show, as well as for his guitar and mandolin work. He really arranged things well and kept things flowing. Booker T and the M.G.s were magnificent as the house band, supporting many diverse artists and styles!
If only Roy Orbison could have been there for a Traveling Wilburys reunion.
What an incredible group of musicians.
Great, creative gospel-like rendition with strong vocals.
George's first U.S. performance in 20 years at the time. Of course, he and Dylan had many strong connections and interactions. Dylan was featured at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh, which was Dylan's return to the stage after a motorcycle accident and time off.
Clapton is one of many who cover Dylan well.
Winter did a nice, fun job with this one.
Not Hendrix, of course, but Neil was more than up to the task. I had a little trouble deciding which of his two song efforts to put here, but this song's status and popularity swung the ranking.
A beautiful, subdued, and expressive rendition. Willie hit the mark on the delivery of this one.
I've long been an admirer of Richie Havens's voice and acoustic playing. He covered many Dylan songs, and this is one of my favorites of Bob's, which I love to sing. Richie performs it so well.
I'm a huge fan of Chrissie and the Pretenders, and she really seemed to be enjoying herself here. She had a great introduction by George Harrison a bit later in the show.
Solid performance, but it got the number ten spot over other worthy candidates as it opened the show and got things off to a terrific start.
Highlight of the show, in my opinion. Love Minus Zero was a solid cover, but he blew the roof off with Don't Think Twice, It's Alright. An electrifying performance.
Booker T, Steve Cropper, Don "Duck" Dunn, Anton Fig, and Jim Keltner provided solid work as the house band backing most performances.
A lesser-known song that Ron Wood performed well, sounding somewhat like Dylan.