WARFIELD THEATER - SAN FRANCISCO, CA

4 November finds the band in fine form, sounding confident and together. Beginning with a solid Serve Somebody, Dylan moves smoothly into a finely nuanced and plaintive I Believe In You, a hopping Wake Up and a performance of When He Returns which keeps the audience rapt throughout and cheering loudly at its conclusion.

The crowd seems to grow more vocal after Man Gave Names calling for older songs - requests Dylan attempts to silence with a response which, unfortunately, is indecipherable on this recording. But the performance seems to wander a bit from here on. Covenant Woman begins to drift and is brought to an abrupt end. The band ends Change My Way Of Thinking with Fred Tackett still midnote. Tackett then carries the last four measures of Do Right To Me on acoustic guitar as the rest of the band has melted away. The crowd seems largely unfazed by these miscues and a strong Solid Rock restores the authority of the performances.

As would be the pattern on most strong nights, the band and Dylan really hit their stride with the "Saved" songs, following a rollicking Solid Rock with a nice Saving Grace and beautiful What Can I Do For You, chugging into an ecstatic Saved and a gorgeous, slowly mounting In The Garden - a song, which, once accustomed to it, gives the impression of a procession ascending to a point where the song has no real end.

The encores are actually something of a let down after these five songs. Pressing On is a very nice performance, but Dylan muffles lyrics on a song which generally receives careful attention, adding an entirely new stanza beginning "the adversary never sleeps." Most nights this song reaches a climactic tension which exceeds what Dylan has ever achieved in live performances prior to this tour. This night, strangely, it never quite tops out, but remains highly satisfying nonetheless.

• 1,2,4,guitar solo,3,keyboards,6
• brief feedback in chorus after stanza 2
• presence of stanza 3 is rare and out of place
• (2)"drugs at your command"
• (4) "you may own guns, you may own tanks"

• "and I walk out in the night alone, a thousand miles from home, but I don't feel alone"
• slower, gentler version which builds nicely

• 1,2,3,6,organ/guitar,5,8,7,organ/guitar,9,organ,outro refrain
• "henry kissinger's got you wrapped up into knots"

• very minor audience mumbling throughout
• loud applause to the line" how long can you hate yourself for the weakness you conceal" and loud applause to the song itself

• saw an animallllll . . . that liked to growl" (muddy trail miscue?)

• Dylan second chorus "shine your light/shine your light/on me"

#EDIT -- during applause

Dylan: "I won't play that masquerade"?????

SLOW TRAIN COMING 

• "got a groovy thing going baby" guitar line preceding "my baby's gone to illinois" and again during final chorus
• syncopated end w/ three backing singers on final "coming"

#EDIT - during applause (end tape side A)

• ambling version - tighter than previous nights, but not yet polished
• nice keyboard interplay until final refrain where organ goes off and song is wound up somewhat abruptly

#EDIT - clips "God Uses Ordinary People" after first bars of piano intro

• bass-heavy, but sound improves/clarifies on lines "There's a kingdom called heaven where there is no pain of birth."
• Abrupt end to song with guitar straining note at end

• lyrics appear a bit haphazard with a stumble in first stanza and later, but haven't verified - waylaid line twice, stanzas don't always rhyme internally.
• band wanders during first solo with keyboards only engaging towards latter half of solo
• song kind of trails off with Fred Tackett maintaining cadence at end

SOLID ROCK 

• tentative guitar beginning by Fred Tackett waiting for Dylan, then kicks in
• strong performance which leads right into "Saving Grace"

#EDIT - clips first notes of organ lead-in to next song

• "wide/denied" stanza reversed
• crowd applause at harp solos - first solo is quite nice as is second.
• "I don't deserve but I've come through."
• More straightforwad, less extended harp solo ending

• Nice bass-driven rave-up beginning
• "stone cold dead as I stepped forth from the womb."
• No piano solo at first break, but second comes on with a vengeance and is extended "
• "No body released me, nobody dared." Receives sudden cheering from crowd.
• Sharp ending

• drawn out first organ solo
• deliberate and very clean performance. Dylan remains until the very last chorus and the crowd applause mostly drowns out the ending.

• first guitar solo fills extended break
• straight-forward performance - something of a let down after last four songs
• Dylan leaves stage at last chorus - big applause - a cappella final chorus with full band on the last note.

• Dylan starts with piano, low first refrain, then much higher on second refrain.
• Crowd yelling amongst themselves - some encoraging words
• "Many try to shake up my, put doubt into my mind."
• Crowd applauds strongly as Dylan walks to front of stage
• muffles first half of "given the devil reign." -- otherwise exemplary performance
• "you know the adversary never sleeps - he is a roaring beast; he always comes at the time that you expect him least; and you know that he's responsible for death and pain and loss; but we know we'll overcome him by the victory at the cross."
• Never quite builds to the ripping end found most nights

 SOURCES:

One known reference tape circulating:

The first (41179JMM) is a mono audience recording missing the seven opening songs by the band and the eighth song, "God Uses Ordinary People" by the band and sung by Mona Lisa Young following "Covenant Woman."

ANNOTATION KEY:

BLACK TEXT = Confirmed Performance/Comments/Observations

RED TEXT = Flaw or Missing/Unconfirmed Portion of Recording

BLUE TEXT = Dylan's Comments or Statements Transcribed

GREEN TEXT = Notable Performance in my opinion

The purpose of these annotations is to assist listeners in identifying recordings. All annotations reflect any cross-referencing between source recordings, thus edits and omissions which occur on one source tape, but not another, are not reported. The "Sources" section is modeled after Simon's notes in the Unofficial Bob Dylan Free Tape Library.