New York, NY (30-Apr-05)

I'd like to first send out my kindest regards and thanks to georgejackson who so kindly passed this along to me. I was lucky enough to attend this show,..so a few live recollections are included too.

I wound up at the venue ten minutes before the show,...Sold out! ..of course. I did get a ticket though. There was a catch,...the ticket was for the 27th,....same venue,..but it was Bob's night off. The ticket said Joe Jackson/Todd Rundgren,.........seems this scalper, and the ticket taker at the door had a little deal worked out. New York did have the worst scalpers,...I watched several let great tickets go to waste and saw them leave upset, because they didn't get what they wanted,...and they wouldn't take my $50 ....so I went with the Joe Jackson ticket,...which the guy at the door gladly accepted and told me to go upstairs,.....which I didn't. I b-lined it for the floor, and managed to get pretty close,...one time behind Bill Walton,...with his fingers extending and grabbing into space after many and most songs,...like he was stretching and saying thanks at the same time. Anyways,...it's always better to have a seat,..but I was glad to get the dvd and sit back and enjoy it more,....no seat,...can keep you on the run,...but hey,..I am never rude,..and would never block someone's view knowingly, and I've even given up a few nice seats of my own that noone was using to someone else at times.


Sorry for all the rambling,..but on to the review. Like I mentioned not the most memorable of the shows I did see,..but hey it was the last night,...I'm sure bob was burnt and he had give some great shows,...and many to come. The overall presentation of the dvd is real nice. Picture quality is pretty sharp and most of the time steady,....a little grainy,...but with excellent sound on this upgraded version. The encores are missing (Po' Boy and All Along The Watchtower), but all songs are chaptered. Shot from the upper left balcony,...you can seel lyric sheets quite visibly in many shots, as well as bob's lone guitar in front,...which just sits there the whole show. Camera focuses mostly on Bob,..though explores the rest of the band when they go off on a solo from time to time.


Maggies Farm is a nice strong opener and George plays the drums effortlessly, and smooth,.....I saw some of his first shows,...and he wasn't always this let-loose at first......but hey, I'm sure playing with bob,..could be plenty nerve racking sometimes.

To Ramona,..bob slows things down to almost a grinding halt on this one,...not my favorite version. All eyes appear to be on Bob,...like the bands' looking for the signal for, " when can we take off? " ,...but it never comes .....bob ambles out center stage at the end for a harp solo,....ever the showman,..dramatic,..great moves too!

Donnie plays a nice banjo on " Cry A While " and super-sweet fiddle on the intro to " Bye and Bye "...and throughout the rest of the song. Nice!

A little upsinging on " If You See Her, Say Hello " ..but moves along like the seasoned song it is.

Lenny Bruce,....I freaked when he played this in Boston the week before,...and here again,....he sings the lines so passionately,...with some tender conviction. DVD cuts out for a second,...rough stop start,..but appeared to not lose any verses.

Honest With Me ....rockin'! I know when this tour was going on ,..people complained about hearing this and TDTD,..but when I heard these songs played live and on the Dvd,.....they rock! They seemed to really energize the crowd and George's drum style fits these songs and he gets to " go to town " a little more...which is nice to hear too!

The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll is nicely performed by Bob and band. Tenderly delivered and you can hear quite a bit of piano on this one too.

HighWater carries a deep groove and the band fills it well. Stu rips some nice honky tonk licks and donnie plays some nice banjo here. Last line in the refrain I kept hearing what sounded a lot like the live renditions of " Shot of Love " from the gospel period playing,...substitue the words and you'll see what I mean.

I Shall Be Released had the whole place swaying and quieted down,..just in time for Highway 61 to blow the roof off the joint after that. Again,..Stu and Donnie on Pedal Steel add some very tasty and enjoyable parts to this final song on the disc. Overall,....nice show! Glad I could make it