Rome, Italy (03-Oct-87)

Like Mary, I am also a big fan of the Temples of Flames tour. There were some absolutely powerhouse performance on that tour and quite a few of them in Italy.

Personally, my favourite performance of the tour is Torino, followed by the spectacular performance at Wembley stadium captured on the mighty fine bootleg, Final Night and More (see www.bobsboots.com for more information).

But on to the DVD in question, there are some truly stellar performances here.
My personal favourites on this vid are Tomorrow is a Long Time (kind of goes without saying doesn't it?), Man of Peace (a great song from Infidels which is not performed that often live by Mr. D.), I and I (which has a great dylanesque reggae groove to it) and a beautiful new reworking of Shelter from the Storm.

Although I absolutely loved Bob's 1978 album Street Legal and most of the 1978 concerts, one song I found myself skipping, when I listened to those concerts played on the cruelly labelled 'Alimony Tour', was the 1978 version of Shelter of the Storm (especially the one on At Budokan) which just ruined the song totally for me but now to hear this different take on it, it seems to me that Bob managed to breathe new life into the song here in 1987.

One thing that struck me also about the 1987 tour in general is how well Bob is singing. This is before his voice got gravelly in the Oh Mercy period and beyond and the power and force and sustain in his voice adds further evidence against all those anti-Dylan hecklers and detractors who claim Dylan can't sing - well those people should take a listen to his 1975 RTR concerts, 1978 concerts, these 1987 concerts and especially his vocal performance at The Isle of Wight in 1969 - and think again.

The only thing that lets this video down is the camerawork. It is shakey in parts (in some parts very shakey) and there is some of the usual interference with the rest of the audience getting in the way of our otherwise very nice, visual document.

If you are a fan of the Temples of Flames Tour like I am, then do yourself a favour and go and get this one. You won't regret it.
Incidentally, for anyone interested, GODFATHER has just released a box set of recordings from the Italian side of this tour called Flames on the Italian Streets with 6CDs of music in total - looks like soundboard recordings too.

Many thx to Baggy for lining me up with a copy of this one!
Recommended.

I've always been fond of the Temple In Flames shows, the audio bootlegs of these 1987 shows are full of inspired and inspiring performances. I received 9 audio bootlegs as a special gift set from a special Dylan collector friend in Canada and they arrived the old-fashioned way... wrapped in brown paper, stamped by Customs and delivered by the postman...so it was a special treat at a later time to add the video from some of these Temples in Flames shows.
No matter... if only for this five star performance of "Tomorrow is a Long Time", I recommend adding at least one permutation of the #D605 series ... simple, and thanks to my favorite song and dance man for the memorable rendition.

Special thanks to the filmers and the audio tapers for nearly always being there!