Bob tells some very interesting stories before some of the songs: they are quite enjoyable and they really do add to the performance of the song. Songs with stories include: Ballad Of A Thin Man, Maggie's Farm, Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power), and One More Cup Of Coffee. The highlights for me are: Am I Your Stepchild?, One More Cup Of Coffee (very interesting, with great drums), Girl From The North Country (with beautiful piano playing), and the powerful It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding). Changing Of The Guards, despite Bob's 'raspy' voice by this point in the show, is absolutely stunning!
10/31/78 St. Paul, Minnesota : B (B-/B+)
Unfortunately, this bootleg is missing the instrumental My Back Pages before She's Love Crazy. The show opens very strongly with the first couple of songs, it regains this level at the start of the second set, and then ends the second set strongly. Usually, the solo acoustic song of the '78 tour sounds out of place to me and as though Dylan's saying, "all right, here ya go"...however, at this show, it's unbelievable! This might be the only live performance of Coming From The Heart (The Road Is Long). Billy Cross plays a very unusual guitar solo during Masters Of War which I find interesting and weird. Starting with All Along The Watchtower, a clicking sound in the background comes up every so often, getting worse as the concert progresses.
Disc 1:
1. She's Love Crazy - written by Sam Cooke
2. Mr. Tambourine Man
3. Shelter From The Storm
4. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob on harp)
5. Tangled Up In Blue
6. Ballad Of A Thin Man
7. Maggie's Farm
8. I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met) - part of opening instrumental verse is cut out
9. Like A Rolling Stone
10. I Shall Be Released
11. Coming From The Heart (The Road Is Long) (live debut of this song?)
second set:
12. The Times They Are A-Changin' - small gap at 1:59
13. It Ain't Me, Babe (solo acoustic) (Bob on harp)
14. Am I Your Stepchild? (Bob on harp) - volume decreases at 0:34
Disc 2:
1. One More Cup Of Coffee
2. Blowin' In The Wind
3. Girl From The North Country
4. Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)
5. Masters Of War - sound is in right speaker until 0:04 - dropout in sound from 2:08-2:09
6. Just Like A Woman (Bob on harp)
7. To Ramona
8. All Along The Watchtower - static glitches at 2:59, 3:01 - clicking starts in the background and comes up every so often, getting worse from here on
9. All I Really Want To Do
10. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) - small skip at 6:40
11. Forever Young - sound drops out of right speaker from 4:08-4:09
encore:
12. Changing Of The Guards
13. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob on harp) - small gap at 1:10
11/10/78 Seattle, Washington ("Live At The Pitstop '78 - Gaza Strip") : B+ (B/B+)
I like the two opening songs, then the next song I like is I Don't Believe You. Unbelievably, I like It Ain't Me Babe (the solo acoustic song). This is unbelievable because for most '78 shows I think that the show would've been better without the solo acoustic part. One More Cup Of Coffee is very well done. Dylan's voice starts getting rough (as though he needs to clear his throat) at the start of the second set. It's Alright Ma delivers quite a punch, and Forever Young is nice. I'd probably like Changing Of The Guards if it weren't for Bob's raspy and tiring voice...though at the end of each second verse when he belts out the last line (he only really does it for the first two times), he REALLY belts it out! In my opinion, it's quite powerful.
Disc 1:
1. My Back Pages (instrumental)
2. She's Love Crazy - written by Sam Cooke
3. Mr. Tambourine Man
4. Shelter From The Storm
5. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob on harp) - small skip at 2:58
6. Tangled Up In Blue
7. Ballad Of A Thin Man
8. Maggie's Farm
9. I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met)
10. Like A Rolling Stone
11. I Shall Be Released
12. Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
second set:
13. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (sung by the backup singers) - starts off real quiet
Disc 2:
1. It Ain't Me, Babe (solo acoustic) (Bob on harp)
2. One More Cup Of Coffee
3. Blowin' In The Wind - skip at 3:34
4. Girl From The North Country
5. Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)
6. Masters Of War
7. Just Like A Woman (Bob on harp)
8. To Ramona
9. All Along The Watchtower
10. All I Really Want To Do
11. Band intro
12. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
13. Forever Young - clapping fades-out at start
encore:
14. Changing Of The Guards
11/15/78 Los Angeles, California : B (B/B)
There is, unfortunately, a slight dropout between some of the tracks. Also, the sound levels move around quite a bit. Nonetheless, this is a fairly good show from '78. The opening set is pretty strong. It Ain't Me, Babe is also very well done.
Disc 1:
1. My Back Pages (instrumental) - volume is quiet until 0:20
2. She's Love Crazy - written by Sam Cooke
3. Mr. Tambourine Man
4. Shelter From The Storm
5. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob on harp)
6. Tangled Up In Blue
7. Ballad Of A Thin Man - sound moves almost entirely to right speaker from 2:30-2:36 and 2:47-2:50 - gap at end
8. Maggie's Farm
9. I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met)
10. Like A Rolling Stone - small gap at 0:08
11. I Shall Be Released
12. Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
second set:
13. The Times They Are A-Changin' - volume is quiet for start
14. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (sung by the backup singers)
15. It Ain't Me, Babe (solo acoustic) (Bob on harp)
16. Am I Your Stepchild? (Bob on harp)
Disc 2:
1. One More Cup Of Coffee - small dropout at 1:50
2. Blowin' In The Wind - some distortion halfways or so through
3. Girl From The North Country
4. We Better Talk This Over
5. Masters Of War
6. Just Like A Woman
7. To Ramona
8. All Along The Watchtower
9. All I Really Want To Do
10. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
11. Forever Young
encore:
12. Changing Of The Guards
12/10/78 Charlotte, North Carolina ("Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte") : B+ (B/B+)
This show has been considered by many to be the best show from '78: Olof, DEEP, some on rmd. However, I don't find it nearly as inspired as the July 06th show in Paris, France. Some of the arrangements are different from the Paris show, and they don't necessarily sound like improvements to me. Bob's voice also sounds a bit tired, though he did give it his all at this show. So I'm saying that this show does have energy and passion but something's just not there, something didn't quite click for me. The sound quality also isn't very high. Nonetheless this show is, as I said before, considered one of the best if not the best of '78 by many, so you'd probably be best to decide for yourself. However, compared to the tracklisting on Monica's Dude's site, my copy is missing a filler song (All Along The Watchtower).
Disc 1:
1. My Back Pages (instrumental)
2. She's Love Crazy - written by Sam Cooke - dropout from 0:22-0:23 (this is on original)
3. Mr. Tambourine Man (Bob on harp) - line cut out at 0:37 (smooth edit) (this is on original)
4. Shelter From The Storm
5. Love Minus Zero/No Limit (Bob on harp)
6. Tangled Up In Blue
7. Ballad Of A Thin Man
8. Maggie's Farm
9. I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Met)
10. Like A Rolling Stone
11. I Shall Be Released
12. Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
second set:
13. The Times They Are A-Changin'
14. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (sung by the backup singers) - gap at end
15. It Ain't Me, Babe (solo acoustic) (Bob on harp)
Disc 2:
1. Am I Your Stepchild? (Bob on harp)
2. One More Cup Of Coffee
3. Blowin' In The Wind
4. Girl From The North Country
5. We Better Talk This Over
6. Masters Of War
7. Just Like A Woman (Bob on harp)
8. All Along The Watchtower
9. To Ramona
10. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
11. Forever Young
encore?:
12. Changing Of The Guards
filler:
13. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob on harp)
14. Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)
- Track 13 is from 12/02/78 Nashville, Tennessee
- Track 14 is from 12/09/78 Columbia, South Carolina