Dylan & The Dead is underrated

do you remember a show from I think frost amphitheater 1989? Dylan sat in for the set and didn't do anything until Weir got to "jump right in" on stuck inside a mobile with Memphis blues again.

That is my favorite Dylan/Dead moment. it caught Dylan by surprise, took him a second to get it and then he storms in and the crowd erupts. I played the hell out of that tape back in the day.

 

Sure that's 2-12-89, from the LA Forum (or whatever corporate name it bore at that point). "Dylan and The Dead" was released about a week before that show, so I figured Dylan's appearance at the Dead show was his way of doing "promotion".

 

According to one Dylan book, Dylan wanted to join the Dead and this 89 show was a sort of audition. The book also states all members of the Dead voted in favor of having him join except Phil Lesh.

 

That must be one hell of a good book. That story is right up there with Lord of the Rings.

 

Interesting. Did not know this, since I walked out as soon as they hit the opening chords of "Joey." The prospect of having to listen to one of his worst songs — after a hour of lackluster Dylan performances, combined with 90-degree heat & a terrible venue (the old JFK Stadium) — simply put me over the edge & out the door. Probably my worst Bob show, even more so than the Name That Tune shows of 1991.

My one positive takeaway from that show:
A new respect for the Dead, who actually sounded pretty good if you could ignore the guy up front.

 

I guess it just goes to show you that you can put two people in the same place, and have them experience the same thing, and for one it was a disaster and for another it is a cherished memory. Yeah, it was hot, and JFK was falling apart and ready for the wrecking ball (the communal "trough" urinals, I suspect, will never come back into style). That show held loads of highlights for me, from "Tangled Up in Blue" (with Jerry clearly on Cloud 9 to actually be singing that song on stage with the man who wrote it) to a rollicking "Watchtower". You walked out, I've been revisiting that tape for 27 years. To each his own.

 

While Dylan always appeared to be at ease with Petty & The Heartbreakers, he never appeared comfortable with The Dead. I'm not sure if it was because of their similar ages, or their enormous stature (their popularity was skyrocketing as his was waning), or that Dylan felt intimidated by Garcia and his encyclopedic knowledge of American music. The guys in the Dead (Weir and Garcia in particular) clearly revere Dylan, and both in rehearsals and on stage allow him to lead while they follow, providing little to no direction in the process. Watching the Philly and Jersey videos (the two I revisit the most often, because I was in the audience), Jerry, Bob W and Brent are all like kids in the candy store while Dylan is on stage. Bob D often looks like he'd rather be getting his teeth drilled. Why would he want to do that on a full time basis?

 

I was at that show. Definitely a huge surprise to have an unannounced Bob appearance (or anyone) at a Dead show. Best part was that it resulted in one of the more random setlists I had seen, but honestly I think it would have been better without Bob, excitement level notwithstanding.

 

I remember the first time I listened to that tape - I kept saying "Come on Bob, sing already!" And then, as Dennis described, Weir finally nudges him to takeover "Stuck Inside of Mobile" and the crowd erupts. I remember "Monkey and the Engineer" being in the set, but with no recognizable contribution from Dylan.

 

Yep, absolutely. This show left me with such a sour impression that I swore off Dylan concerts — which lasted all of one year, when someone offered me a freebie to one of the early Never Ending Tour shows. And I was hooked again!

 

as previously mentioned this is a terrific canidate for an expanded bootleg sereies, would love to see a complete show come out. would also be nice to have some of the 86 shows were dylan came ou and played with the boys especially the akron show with don't think twice its alright

 

The three Dylan albums immediately preceding this time were Empire Burlesque, Knocked Out Loaded and Down in the Groove. Ouch. Many folks would probably say it is one of Bob's weaker/weakest stretches. He was clearly stuck in the weeds, trying to navigate the MTV decade and, as someone mentioned above, apparently ready to close up shop entirely. I would guess he was looking at the Dead doing their thing for over 20 years at that point, ignoring trends for the most part, staying true to themselves while hitting the road year in and year out. I gotta think that there was something appealing to Bob in that.

 

HATE! There's a lot of passion in Youtube comments too: WHY ALL THE HATERZ? Surely this mighty passion will drown us all with its awesome force!

 

Well he certainly adopted aspects of the Dead "model" right after the 1987 affiliation. The set lists for the '87 tour with the Heartbreakers had far greater variety than anything Dylan had ever attempted before, and he was thereafter on the road to stay.

 

Yes, I guess it's likely he saw them touring arenas year after year and envied it at that point, and for their part the Dead were perverse enough I could imagine 5 out of the 6 voting to add him even though he would have had nothing to contribute musically on most of Garcia or Weir's songs.

 

Bob said this following the Petty True Confessions tour, so 'new audience' can also be factored into why Bob might have wanted to get "on the bus"...

"I definitely needed a new audience because my audience at that time had more or less grown up on my records and was past the point of accepting me as a new artist and this was understandable. In many ways, this audience was past its prime and its reflexes were shot. They came to stare and not participate. That was okay, but the kind of crowd that would have to find me would be the kind of crowd who didn’t know what yesterday was. My fame was immense, could fill a football stadium, but it was like having some weird diploma that won’t get you into any college. Promoters didn’t want to touch me, either. They’d been burned often in the past and the anger hadn’t gone out of them. “I’m all for you,” they might say, “but I can’t do it.” In reality I was just above a club act. Could hardly fill small theaters. There weren’t any alchemic shortcuts—critics could dismiss me easily, too, so I wouldn’t be able to depend on them to tell my tale. Most music journalists had become nothing more than a public relations staff anyway. I would have to rely on word of mouth. I’d rely on that like my life depended on it. Word of mouth spreads like wildfire, doesn’t take “no” for an answer. I wished I was at least twenty years younger, wished that I had just dropped on the scene all over again. But what could you do?" [Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One]

 

I was at that show also... It ranks among the least inspired Ive seen, honestly. Certainly among the Dylan/Dead shows

 

I have always said this! Dylan's voice is not the greatest it has ever been but the musicianship is great and the album has an awesome live aura to it

 

Yeah that Akron show was one of the peak moments at a dead show from a crowd perspective I've seen, along with the box of rain breakout earlier the same year at Hampton...I saw that whole summer '86 tour with dylan/petty....the best shows were the non-stadium ones without dylan, besides buffalo 7-4-86

 

I am playing this now guys! I wanted to add that the remaster in my opinion is light years ahead of the original CD so if you do not have it and love this album, go pick it up!

 

I'll check out the remaster, as I have it and the early one. As I'd mentioned, I reach for the vinyl of this one generally.

 

Awful album.

Bob's bottom.

 

Interesting how this divides fans so radically. I quite like it, but much prefer the Heartbreakers tour (at least until he got bored of it - a 1986 full show would be a nice release). There's a bit of a pattern if you look at the live albums Dylan released prior to the Bootleg Series: We got 1976 (Hard Rain) when 1975 would have been preferable; we got 1978 (Budokan) when a gospel show from 79-80 would have been better; he should have released something from 1981 rather than 1984; should have gone for 1986 with the Heartbreakers instead of 1987 with the Dead. YMMV naturally.

 

Whatever problems they had with the concerts or the production of this album, the issue in my opinion is that the two sounds and styles Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead go together like cookies and milk. His folk and rock and roll background and style, and his songs, and their live playing experience and knowledge of the roots of American music. Stuff like Marty Robbins "EL Paso" they covered years ago is certainly the right dues being paid. It was just timing of them joining up was not quite right.

Dylan was given the role of choosing the songs. Maybe someone should have argued a little with Bob over the album song choices, he might have caved easily.

 

Yeah, this is a good observation. The 1986 Westwood One recordings are my favorite live Dylan. This backing was the first time since 1966 that he had a real rock & roll band behind him. At least a first rate top class R & R band. Bob himself has said that they were the best band he ever had. Yet he felt so insecure, over the hill, and old playing with them. That's too bad.

But anyway, the Petty and Dead eras did do what he hoped them would do, and that is introduce him to a younger audience. The up'd his profile with a brand new generation of fans. I've talked to some of these kids up front at Dylan shows. At least when I was still going to his show.