Terminal 5, 2010 Pt. 1 (Highway HW 047/48)
Terminal 5, New York, NY – November 22nd, 2010
Disc 1 (60:13): Gonna Change My Way of Thinking, Shooting Star, Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues, Tangled Up in Blue, Beyond Here Lies Nothin’, Spirit On The Water, Cold Irons Bound, Desolation Row, Summer Days, Forgetful Heart
Disc 2 (44:31): Highway 61 Revisited, Ain’t Talkin’, Thunder On The Mountain, Ballad Of A Thin Man, encore break, Jolene, Like a Rolling Stone
Highway’s Terminal 5, 2010 Pt. 1 documents the first of three Bob Dylan shows in New York last November. Pressed onto professional grade CDR, the label utilizes a sharp, clear, and highly defined audience recording of the entire show. It is a highly enjoyable recording of a very good show despite the horrible acoustics of the venue.
Rob Havilla, reviews the show for The Village Voice. Unlike the upstate writers, he doesn’t dwell upon Dylan’s croak of a singing voice. Rather, he comments: “You want to know what he sounds like, but again, you internalized it long ago: Call it Forlorn Cookie Monster, an amelodic rasp that, unlike the comedic horror-movie snarl of, say, Tom Waits, improbably still radiates warmth, can still deliver a ballad that sounds like a ballad.
“‘You think I’m over the hill?’ Bob Dylan croons (‘croons’), to raucous crowd whoops and applause. ‘You think I’m past my prime?/Let me see what you got/We could have a whompin’ good time.’ Gets a little garbled there so I can’t say for sure it’s whompin’, but I always wanted it to be whompin’.”
Havilla rightly points out that the setlist is becoming quite predictable. Sixteen songs and two encores. The first New York show starts off as the Amherst show did two nights previously, with the gospel era tune “Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking” followed by a beautiful “Shooting Star.”
The review continues by pointing out: “The old stuff is a reliable thrill — more whoops when ‘Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues’ climaxes with ‘I’m going back to New York City/I do believe I’ve had enough,’ a few smiles at the goofy TSA-patdown falsetto whoop he gives the chorus of ‘Tangled Up in Bluuuue,’ involuntary winces at the still-lethal slither of ‘Ballad of a Thin Man,’ the first real adrenaline surge when ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ comes to an uncharacteristically loud and surly conclusion.
“But though we get a few too many longish meanders from 2006’s Modern Times (including the ‘I was thinkin’ ’bout Alicia Keys’ one [‘Thunder On The Mountain’ – ed.]), his newer material undoubtedly fits him better: Your pick to click tonight is ‘Forgetful Heart,’ from last year’s Together Through Life, far better onstage than on record, a slow noir ballad, bowed upright bass and weepy violin backing Bob’s harmonica and vocals, both at their most mournful: ‘The door has closed forevermore/If indeed there ever was a door.’ A different kind of ruins, the grandeur entirely present this time.”
Highway package Terminal 5 2010 Pt. 1 is a slimline jewel case. The inserts contain several photos from the tour in very good quality. Overall, the sound and performance are extremely good making this worth having.
