Helsinki, Finland (30-May-89)

DISC D071
SOUND So-so. As often with low-fi, acoustic songs fare better than electric. (For better, see D071.su)
IMAGE Decent mid-range right-sided video. Camera angle is such that D & GE are together on screen virtually throughout - a nice pictorial summation of their then close working relationship. Film is steady and reasonably fresh with the odd focus problem (during Mobile especially). Acoustic set is performed in very subdued lighting, otherwise well-lit and pleasing to behold all through.
RUNNING TIME 76 minutes + 12 minutes bonus. Mobile is missing a sizeable chunk from its middle. And prepare yourself for a shock when a jump-cut from Garden to LARS pitches you - Gethsemane to the street - from one song headlong into the other.
PERFORMANCE D (with GE’s connivance) attacks each song with a verve better suited to some than others. Overall, okay but lacking the subtlety that, on his best days, invests his work with that special something that sets it and him apart.
HIGHLIGHTS (1) Hollis Brown (2) a pacy Ramona (3) Aroon
COMMENT In the period June ‘88 to June ‘89, Bob performed the lovely traditional Irish ballad Eileen Aroon eleven times. Only one of these performances appears to circulate on DVD and this, D071, is the place - but is it worth sourcing? Though he makes a brave attempt at the vocal, the accompaniment is too strident and the mood insufficiently mellow. If this take were all we have, we’d surely treasure it. As it is, compared to the wonderful, tender Jones Beach version from the year before, it‘s something of a poor relation. Incidentally, so far as I know, Bob's only ever sung the last four of the song’s seven verses. The whole, exceptionally fine, well rewards seeking out. Confidential, another cover, is performed here live for the first time. More interesting yet, the bonus (which starts with the band’s arrival at the gig, filmed from a tree!) includes 3:20 (then cut) of a Johnny Cash cover Give My Love To Rose. Bob’s only ever performed this three times - I assume this take comes from the Swedish gig three days before Helsinki. Video, though not great, still passes muster. That’s more than can be said of D tonight. Having grown used to the dapper gent of recent times, it’s faintly shocking to see him take to the stage with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up over his head (and his hat!) looking for all the world, bundled up and dishevelled as he is, like a vagrant ready for a night in the park. Check the screenshots. Enigmatic? Hullu, more like. Then again ...



If you thought his '89 dress-sense was strange, check out Frankfurt '87.
Cape of the stage or (note hook by guitar neck) a curtain??

THANKS Black Cat (disc), janalyn (pic).
STARS Three