Screenshots
Distance:
Audio:
Steadiness:
Heads:
Focus/Light:
Position:
Balc. R40°
Avg.Rating:
4.0 (2 votes)
DVDylan ID: D1087
Recording type: Audience
City/Venue: Northampton, MA, USA/Smith College, John M. Greene Hall
Date: Tuesday, 15th April 1997
Concert # 865 of The Never-Ending Tour
Concert # 12 of the 1997 Spring Tour of Canada and USA
1997 concert # 23

Special thanks for the Hi8 tape to TOM P. & RAYGUN.
Additional thanks for the audio to AN UNIDENTIFIED TAPER & OUTSIDETLAW.
Edited, sound upgraded & authored by YASSOU.
  • Disk 1 (1:06:00:09) (Tracks 1-11/Songs 1-9)
    -Opening Titles [fade in to titles over still]
    -Introduction [missing/1 still]
    -Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood) [missing/9 stills]
    -Lay Lady Lay [missing/17 stills]
    -All Along The Watchtower [clipped 3:19:20/8 stills; obstr. end & trans to next song/2 stills]
    -Shelter From The Storm [obstr. start 15:23/1 still]
    -Watching The River Flow [28-frame cut @31:32:21/1 still]
    -Silvio [obstr. start 11:09/1 still]
    -Friend Of The Devil [obstr. start 16:04/1 still]
    -John Brown [obstr. start 34:14/3 stills; obstr. end & trans to next song/1 still]
    -Don't Think Twice, It's All Right [clipped/obstr start 31:22/1 still; end Disk 1 message]
  • Disk 2 (50:48:15) (Tracks 10-19/Songs 10-15)
    -Opening Titles [fade in to titles over 21:12still]
    -Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again [obstr. start 24:02/1 still; obstr. end & trans to band intros/2 stills]
    -Band Introductions [missing/5 stills; CD splits before next song]
    -I'll Remember You [obstr. start 27:21/2 stills]
    -Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat [clipped 23:24/1 still; cut 3:39:12/10 stills; 13:07 black still before encore]
    -Like A Rolling Stone [missing/14:06 still before song then 16 stills; fade out to 22:09 black still and 4:21 still before next song]
    -It Ain't Me, Babe [missing/11 stills; fade to 25:08 black still and 6:04 still before last song]
    -Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 [obstr. start 20:15/1 still; later obstr. parts filled w/4 stills]
    -End Thanks & Credits [thanks/credits/salute/fade out; extracted audio from video soundtrack to fill out end]
» Toggle additional (technical) track info
Number of discs: 2
Running time: 01:56:49
Video standard: NTSC
Authoring: DVDs with menu and chapters are circulating
Disk author's rating: 55-334+ VIDEO SOURCE & LINEAGE:
off master Hi8 tape shared by Tom P. & raygun
Hi8 tape > Sony Digital Video Camera Recorder (DCR-TRV480) > iMovie 6.0.3.

AUDIO SOURCE & LINEAGE:
CDs shared by OutsideTLaw
CDs > flac > xACT 2.20 > aiff > Toast Titanium 11.0.4 > SD II disk images > iMovie 6.0.3.

Audio and video assets edited in iMovie 6.0.3; authored, multiplexed and burned to VIDEO_TS folder in iDVD 7.1.2 (Professional Quality 2-pass variable bit rate encoding)


If you check the 12th screenshot, you'll see the image of Allen Ginsberg projected on the screen behind the band. Ginsberg had died 10 days earlier, so this was obviously Dylan's way of honoring his friend and fellow poet. One cannot be sure if Bob was thinking of Allen when he sang "I'll Remember You," but the sentiment of the song would have fit.

The show itself is quite enjoyable, the sound is excellent, and the video is mostly sharp and colorful, but the lighting at the venue was generally dim. The filmer had a very narrow window from the right balcony rail, but he managed to stay on Dylan and zoomed in on numerous occasions to offer stunning close-ups. We mostly see Bob and David with occasional pans to Larry, Tony and Bucky.

Four songs are missing and two substantially cut, thus necessitating the use of stills to provide a full show. Other shaky and obstructed parts were left mostly untouched unless particularly distracting.

There are many fine moments, but not quite enough of them to reach 5 Stars, so I'll give this DVD a 4+.

Reviewed by yassou on 29th April 2013