Tangled & Twisted (Thinman-38/39)
Sportpaleis Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands – June 4th, 1984
Disc 1: Highway 61 Revisited, Jokerman, All Along The Watchtower, Just Like A Woman, Maggie’s Farm, I And I, License To Kill, Tangled Up In Blue, It Ain’t Me Babe, It’s All Right Ma (I’m Only Bleeding), It’s All Over Now Baby Blue, Masters Of War, Ballad Of A Thin Man
Disc 2: Man Of Peace, Every Grain Of Sand, Like A Rolling Stone, Girl From The North Country, Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right, Tombstone Blues, Forever Young
There has been renewed interested in Dylan’s 1984 of Europe of late. The cdr label Midnight Dreamer label Copenhagen 1984 and Nantes 1984 recently and Thinman issued Tangled & Twisted soon after. The June 4th show in Rotterdam was the first of two shows at the Sportpaleis Ahoy that summer and parts were featured on a vinyl boot called His Master’s Voice (2349-4DB) along with half of the second Rotterdam show on June 6th. This was copied as Live In Holland (Bijoux Selected), Man Of Peace (Superman) and Rotterdam ’84. This is the first appearance of the almost complete first show. It is an excellent stereo audience recording that is very well balanced between the instruments and very little intrusive audience noise. The only flaw on this release is the label’s decision to omit Greg Sutton singing “Got My Mojo Working”, which appeared after “License To Kill”. The song is present on the vinyl and is a mystery why it isn’t included here.
Infidels had just been released and these were the first live shows in almost three years following his appearance on David Letterman on March 22nd. Guitarist Mick Taylor is the only holdover from the Infidels sessions. Dylan originally wanted to tour South America but it couldn’t be arranged. Santana and Joan Baez opened on some dates and oftentimes jammed on the encores, but not on this night. The first week of concerts were described as sloppy with Taylor serving as the reluctant bandleader, but by this night they hit their stride and become tighter. Only four songs, “Jokerman” (sounding very close to the studio version), “I And I”, “License To Kill”, and “Man Of Peace” are from the new LP with the rest being a more-or-less “greatest hits” show with an acoustic set in the middle of the show. This evening’s begins with the first live performance of “Tangled Up In Blue” since December 16th, 1978 in Hollywood, Florida.
As played on this tour the song usually incorporated additional and amended lyrics with this rendition claiming “I stepped into the blinding light / got myself a drink / I kept looking at her face so white / I didn’t know what to think” and “I lived with them on Montague Street / revolution was in the air / also a lot of deceit / it was everywhere”. “It Ain’t Me Babe” and “It’s All Right Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” continue the set until t he band comes back in for “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”. “Every Grain Of Sand” is played for the first time on the tour and the set ends with “Like A Rolling Stone”. After several minutes of crowd cheers and football chants they play four encores with Taylor giving “Tombstone Blues” a strong Rolling Stones interpretation. “Forever Young” is the final encore and the perfect way to end a strong concert. Thinman were very creative in the graphic by using a photo from the tour on front and with the excellent sound quality makes Tangled & Twisted one of their more enjoyable productions. (GS)
