His gorgeously craggy work in Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues will put a lump in your throat. Of course, no guitarist at the Garden could have upstaged Neil Young. Smith and Steve Cropper perform small miracles throughout, including heavenly additions to I Shall Be Released to support an uplifting vocal from Chrissie Hynde (the one woman here with an electric guitar). Ron Wood performs an equal feat with the harrowing riff of Seven Days, while in Foot of Pride Lou Reed makes the guitarists snarl off each other like a pack of rabid wolves. Which explains why Johnny Winter can do a terrific cover of Highway 61 (as he originally did in '69) even while rendering its lyrics beside the point. the band took inspiration from Dylans work and sang When the ship comes in. And that emphasizes an interesting point: Not only does Dylan have an amazing talent for poetry and melody but also for killer riffs. The story of how The Clancy Brothers Irish ballads inspired a young Bob. And Willie Nelson's underanimated vocals prove ideal for the dazed and remote lyrics to What Was It You Wanted.įor all the acoustic-based takes, the evening's high points arrive with the electric guitar gods. Johnny Cash matches his towering voice to June Carter's vibrant one on It Ain't Me, Babe. Better yet, they're arranged in smart groupings. Luckily, every other number shoots through the roof. Meanwhile, Stevie Wonder turns Blowin' in the Wind into a blast of hot air, first through a gutless introductory speech (in which Wonder pretends to take a stand on the upcoming presidential election but refuses to name the candidate he's for), then through a bout of oversinging. We still have to wince through John Mellencamp's Like a Rolling Stone, a song way over his head. Hawkins do not appear on either the video or audio versions.) Too bad the same fate did not befall the evening's weakest performances. (Numbers from George Thorogood and Sophie B.

Lost on audio is Nancy Griffith's Boots of Spanish Leather, Booker T.'s Serve Somebody and a second Clapton contribution, Love Minus Zero.

But if axing Sinead in the audio version loses a key element of the show, the trio of ditched musical numbers takes less away, however worthy they may be.

Clancy brothers when the ship comes in