Dubuque, Iowa (12-Nov-96)

The uniqueness of this program and the strong reactions to it lend weight to my opinion that this DVD belongs in the collection of every serious Dylan fan, and is thus a "must-have" if not a "5-star" item. No matter what you think of what one member has humorously termed the "gyrating ninnies," one must admit that their sheer number and persistence is an occurrence the extent of which has never been caught on Dylan stealth video. Had Dylan objected, one might sympathise with anyone who refuses to see it through to the end or be so presumptuous as to question why anyone would bother to re-author the program. Far from objecting, Dylan and the band obviously delighted in having the kids on stage, egging them on as they stage dove, kissed and hugged the band, and even ascended the drum platform to go-go dance as Kemper banged out the beat.

A weakness of the DVDylan rating system is that "must-have" and "5-star" are not necessarily co-extensive. I feel that the two converge here, but there are many cases of items in the catalog where they do not. Some of the more recent programs shot and produced in high definition with stellar sound upgrading are clear "5-Stars," but come up short on the performance side. Likewise, there are older items, for example from the great 1995 run, that are deficient in terms of the DASH-5 criteria, but which are "must-haves" due to impassioned performances from Dylan.

Here's one final consideration that reviewers should keep in mind. All of these stealth videos, the good, the bad, the ugly, and even the ugly-ugly are "must haves" in that we're better off with them in the catalog than without them. We're dealing with a significant artist whose work deserves to be preserved and disseminated. To this end, a network of of filmers, audio recorders, editor/authors, viners and uploaders have been collaborating in an admirable spirit of sharing. If a better quality tape of an existing item is found and shared, it's important that it be edited and authored and offered as an upgrade of previous versions. That's certainly the case for D045.su2, as it is for many other items in the catalog, and those that are in the pipeline.