30th Anniversary Concert – an eye-witness report

Thanks to a 30^th Anniversary Concert eye-witness who wishes to remain anonymous:  

“It’s funny just how divergent different views of the same event can be sometimes.  I attended the 30 Year Tribute and I found Sophie B Hawkins one of the low points in the evening’s proceedings – all that weaving around added nothing to the song.  

“The event was more to celebrate Dylan’s music than Dylan and she had no obvious relevance to his music.  I’m no expert on Hawkins but had she recorded any Dylan songs before the event and has she recorded any since?  I suspect not.  Maybe she was just put there because it was a high profile event. 

“Sinead O’Connor had a touch more relevance, at least, but I must say that a place the size of Madison Square Garden could hardly be filled solely with music biz types, even in New York and even with execs coming in from the coast.  There were a lot of ordinary folk present, like me.  

“As for the booing, it was certainly nowhere near the whole audience who did this; if that had happened, the roof would have lifted off.  Some booed, some supported her and some just waited for her to get on with the song.  

“What annoyed me about her appearance was that, on more than one occasion, her band struck up the intended song (‘I Believe In You’) only to have her gesture to them, with her right arm, to stop.  “Had she allowed them to continue and had she started to sing the song (especially with that early line about intolerance), she could have faced down the booers, made her point forcefully and probably got a cheer from her supporters into the bargain.  

“Worse than letting the booing carry on first, when she did start to sing, it was a non-Dylan song, which went against the whole point of the evening.”

Bob v Neil and 30th Anniversary Concert

Thanks to Martin Cowan: 

“Further to the recent discussion about Bob versus Neil, readers may be interested in following this link:  

www.thrasherswheat.org/jammin/dylan.htm

“And further to comments about the Dylan audience booing Sinead O’Connor, I seem to remember from John Bauldie’s coverage of the event at the time that the audience was made up of record company suits, showbiz types and corporate guests – I believe it likely there were very few ‘real’ Dylan fans present … “

Sinead O’Connor – missing from 30th Anniversary Concert

Thanks to Wilson Smith:

“Of course ‘Sinead O’Connor’s searing rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘War’ is also missing from this track list.’

“After enduring booing from the audience, she finally relented and sang nothing.  I always thought this was disgraceful; an audience full of fans of Bob Dylan — an artist that always spoke his mind — effectively “censoring” another artist because she had a week earlier torn up a picture of the Pope at a Saturday Night Live rehearsal.”
 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

EARLIER RELATED ARTICLE:

New – 30^th Anniversary Concert on DVD: encore

Thanks to Martin Cowan: 

“And of course the 29 song list omits Dylan’s opener, ‘Song To Woody’, due to “technical problems”, although there didn’t seem to be too much wrong with it when it was broadcast on national television in the UK. 

“And Sinead O’Connor’s searing rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘War’ is also missing from this track list. 

“Would agree with you that Neil Young was compelling, but also the Pearl Jam boys’ ‘Masters of War’, Richie Havens’ ‘Just Like A Woman’ and Willie Nelson’s ‘What was it you wanted’ are worthy of mention.”