WARFIELD THEATER - SAN FRANCISCO, CA

The band again performs nicely, tightly. Dylan seems to struggle with lyrics through much of the early set, and delivers more sedate performances of "Serve Somebody" and "I Believe In You" than on earlier nights. Things pick up with "When You Gonna Wake Up" and Dylan delivers a gorgeous "When He Returns," an exceptional performance of a song he performs beautifully every night.

The concert remains quite good, but really hits its stride with "Solid Rock," "Saving Grace," "Saved" and "What Can I Do For You," which form the spiritual homestretch of these concerts. This is the first night Dylan repositions "Saved" before "What Can I Do For You" and the results are stunning. Were this simply a matter of arranging an established setlist, it would hardly be worth remarking upon. However, these four songs were, at the time, unreleased and likely completely new to the vast majority of the audience. Dylan leads into these songs with a defiant rap, commenting upon the "rabble" who consider the Gospel as mere "foolishness," and evoking the apparent wrath of some within the audience.

Having provoked the audience, Dylan then simply overwhelms them. In these four songs, Dylan alternately puts the band through quintessential rock-n-roll rave ups and astonishingly intimate confessions, with the former stirring them to a lather, silencing them on a whisper with the latter. Here Dylan exhibits his mastery of the live performance, tearing through "Solid Rock" and, in a matter of seconds, undermining raucous applause and drawing the entire theater in to the gentle prayer: "If you find it in your heart, can I be forgiven?" He then reaccelerates, ripping through the double-barrelled gospel stomp, Saved, then draws them all back in for the plaintive "What Can I Do For You." Each time, first moving their bodies, then hanging them on each note of his circuitous guitar and harp solos. The sheer audacity, or simple brazen faith, he has in his music and his message during these concerts is a monument to the man's artistry and his determination to bring his art to bear on the full scope of his experience. The audience, believer and non-believer alike, are left dumbstruck and cheering for more.

Oddly, Dylan seems to lose focus during the final three songs of the night, "In The Garden," and the two encores, "Blessed Is The Name" and "Pressing On." These performances are by no means unsatisfactory, but they simply do not match the razor sharpness of the four song quadrivium which precedes them.

MONOLOGUE (Regina Havis)

• "Good evening. I'd like to share a story with you. . . . "
• Audience member near taper groans at the first mention of Jesus
• CROWD: "Hurry Up." (Midway through monologue.)

• 1,2/3,4/2,guitar,5,keyboards,6,outro
• (2) "drugs at your command, women in a cage. You may be rich er . . . . you may be blind or lame. You may be living in another country under another name."
• Somewhat sedate guitar solo here -- overall sound
• (6) "You may sleep on the floor(?), you might like to eat bread, you may be sleeping on the floor, may be sleepin in a king-sized bed."

• Dylan begins with several chords, a lot of inaudible shouting from audience, then Dylan begins singing without organ backing, momentary pause in yelling then applause from audience.
• Audience shouting things on and off throughout.
• (Last Stanza) "Don't let me drift too far, keep me where you are, from all the plans they do pursue. And I don't mind the pain . . . ."

#EDIT - during applause, clips first drum beats of next song

• 1,2,3,5,organ/guitar,6,8,7, organ/guitar,9

• elongated "reduce me to teeeeeaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrssssssss."
• "he'll replace wrrrrrooooooonnnnnngggggg with right."
• "wilderneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssssss"
• "take off your maaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssk."
• Really a very fine performance on a song which is always well done.
• No blues digression to end.

• A bit rough dropping to silence for the snake's hiss at the end.

• Begins with Dylan strumming and foot bass drum pumping in
• "under the sun" in first verse phrased interestingly
• flat phrasing on "died a criminal's death" as with "delight"/"night"

SLOW TRAIN COMING 

• nice third solo by Fred Tackett
• Dylan sings on last refrain "There's a slow, slow train coming, there's a slow train coming."

• (1^st chorus) "and to you always so grateful I willll be."
• (2^nd chorus) "and to you so grateful Ihiiiihiiiiiiii will be."
• "intimate little girl, who sees the invisible things of Him that are hidden from the world."
• (3^rd chorus) "and to you so grateful I will forever be."

#EDIT - during applause

• 1,2,3,guitar/keyboards,4
• (2) recommended/defended/abused/used
• (3) prayed with/played with/already accused/misused
• quick phrasing on chorus following third stanza "I'll dorighttoyoutoo"
• (4) ? /be betrayed/be missed/scientist

SOLID ROCK 

• nice riff by Tackett leading into first verse
• tightest performance to date -- timing down, interlude into guitar solo measured -- except where Dylan throws them off coming in on offbeat after guitar solo,
• Empty solo space leading into outro, nice bass run, nice tight ending

• Very nice phrasing by Dylan, and nice guitar leads, nice bass placement in mix
• Someone heckling/encouraging throughout - nice response from crowd

• First time placed forward of "what can I do for you"
• Nasty sounding (inaudible) shout from an audience member as Dylan begins first verse
• (2) by his truth I can be upright, by his faith I do endure, by his peace I am (inaudible), by his will I am secure"
• extended piano solo waiting for Dylan to begin thrid stanza
• last chorus, Dylan begins "thank you lord, then switches to "so glad."
• Pretty nice performance

• "you . . . have . . . given everything to me" Dylan comes in half way through second measure.
• Opened up a door/filled up a hunger
• Tentative band as Dylan alters phrasing -- but very confident phrasing and harp
• "I don't deserve it but I have made it through."

• CROWD: "He did it on purpose!" (In response to first stanza - did they know ?)
• Bass hits great groove, high in mix during "did they dare" stanza

#EDIT - during applause

• Dylan comes in too early on first riff, band has to recalibrate, then repeats a third time as they're going into chorus.
• Band really kicks in by third chorus and finishes very strong
• Extended applause - a lot of yelling at other end of hall, but largely inaudible

• Dylan begins with awkward piano accompaniment, and singers come in on third "pressing on", again earlier than early shows.
• Not the sharpest ending.

 SOURCES:

Two known reference tapes circulating:

The first (101179WCPC) is a dual mono audience recording which includes the seven opening songs by the band and the eighth song, "What Are You Doing With Your Heart" by the band and sung by Helena Springs following "Covenant Woman."

The second (101179SCMC) is a dual mono audience recording which lacks all eight songs performed by the band and the ninth, "What Are You Doing With Your Heart" by the band and sung by Helena Springs following "Covenant Woman."

ANNOTATION KEY:

BLACK TEXT = Confirmed Performance/Comments/Observations

RED TEXT = Flaw or Missing/Unconfirmed Portion of Recording

BLUE TEXT = Dylan's Comments or Statements Transcribed

GREEN TEXT = Notable Performance in my opinion

The purpose of these annotations is to assist listeners in identifying recordings. All annotations reflect any cross-referencing between source recordings, thus edits and omissions which occur on one source tape, but not another, are not reported. The "Sources" section is modeled after Simon's notes in the Unofficial Bob Dylan Free Tape Library.