Washington, DC (04-Dec-97)

This is the kind of show you wish Dylan still did - a smallish club, with the audience right up to the stage. There's a good atmosphere, and Dylan and the band respond with their performance - a muscular 'Cold Irons Bound', a soulful 'One Too Many Mornings', and a rocking 'Silvio' with some great fluid lead lines from Larry. Tony is in shot most of the time and you can tell he’s well into it.
Shame it’s only half a show, but well worth seeing nonetheless. There’s a bit of interference on the picture, but that doesn’t detract. I was thinking four and a half stars, but what the hell, call it five.

Bob Dylan played two dates at the 9:30 Club on December 4 and December 5, 1997 when he was in Washington, D.C. to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. This is the first of those concerts, and we are fortunate to have at least an incomplete video record of that riveting performance. As anyone familiar with music venues in the Washington, DC area will tell you, the 9:30 Club (See the third screen shot.) is one of the very best, and the audiences are among the most knowledgeable and respectful. The club has a capacity of only 1200 people and is a no reservations, standing-only venue. The best vantage points are either the lip of the stage or the balcony rail, and I was lucky enough to be at the center balcony rail with my lovely wife. Unbeknownst to me at the time, our intrepid filmer had a perch near the left balcony rail and was able to zoom through the crowd to capture excellent close-ups of Dylan and Tony and occasional close-ups of Larry and Bucky. David Kemper is rarely seen (See the final screenshot).

Dylan is in fiery form, as is the band. If asked to name the highlights, I'd reply: "All of them!" The acoustic set is particularly thrilling as evidenced by the crowd response to Dylan's oft-maligned flat picking technique. A disappointment is the absence of "White Dove," so a slide show was added using the excellent sound captured by the audiographer.

Regarding the quality ratings, the focus and color are consistently excellent/very good, but you'll notice that there is periodic pixillation on the right side of the screen due, perhaps, to the age of the tape.

5 Stars and a million thanks to Tom P. and raygun for sharing this gem.