Video of the Day: Bob Dylan no. 10

The tenth entry in the site's Video of the Day Bob Dylan series reaches the Never Ending Tour period, which began in 1988 and continued through the 2010s. Dylan's approach to live performance in this era has been the subject of continuous discussion.

The Never Ending Tour Dylan performs in ways that are deliberately unpredictable. The arrangements of the songs shift from night to night. The vocal approach changes. The same song can be tender in one performance and aggressive in another. The relationship to the catalog is not archival.

The clip

The performance clip noted in this entry is from the 2000s, the period when the tour was settled into its current form: a relatively small band, club and theater venues on occasion but also amphitheaters and arenas, arrangements that sound like they have been worked out by musicians who have played together for years rather than arranged in advance.

The specific quality that distinguishes the Never Ending Tour performances at their best is a quality of immediacy. The songs are happening now, not being reproduced from a canonical recording. The choices made in each performance reflect what the musicians are doing in that room on that night.

The video series

This is the tenth entry in the Dylan video series. The first series documented concerts from the 1960s and 1970s, the period of most intensive documented change in Dylan's approach. The later series has moved into the contemporary touring period.

Fourth entry: Bob Dylan no. 4. Goes Twang series: Mixtapes index. Full Field Notes index.