Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration: Deluxe Edition (1992)

Details: By Loron Hays; 09 March 2014

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Bob Dylan: 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration

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God bless the Japanese. Already ahead of the HD game in 1992, the Japanese film crew responsible for recording Bob Dylan’s 30^th Anniversary Concert Celebration used an early form of High-Definition tape cameras while HBO and other Pay-Per-View engineers used Standard Definition cameras. For years, the SD version of this historic concert broadcast has been the only version available to Americans. That is up until now. With its debut on Blu-ray, the Japanese version is made finally available and what a trip it is, visually speaking. No longer do we get VHS quality images with this concert.

The concert could have been Dylan’s capstone. It certainly feels like – with Dylan only performing three numbers – that it was designed to honor a legacy and not designed to revitalize a career (that was running out of steam). Ironically, the concert and its list of rock stars did both and – after a couple of honest folk albums released merely a year apart – Dylan bounced back into the critic’s corner with 1997’s Time Out of Mind and a series of career highs. Today, we celebrate him as the rock icon anomaly that he is – a five decade-long influential figure in music – and still going strong with his “Neverending Tour” tour, his radio program, and the release of 2012’s Tempest album.

In 1992, though, the celebration of Dylan was another matter entirely. His arguably worst album – 1990’s Under a Red Sky – was still getting hammered by the rock press and his live performances, hampered by a change in how he was approaching (and singing) his old material, were getting criticized by longtime fans. The songs; however, lived on and - as the 30th anniversary of his first concert approached - Columbia Records decided to throw one helluva party (as well as make a bunch of money). It was a win-win for them and for Dylan, who would finally bounce back in the live format with his Grammy-winning MTV Unplugged album.

The evening broadcast features performances from John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Johnny Winter, Richie Havens, Pearl Jam, June & Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, The Band (minus Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson), Lou Reed and Sinead O’Conner (in a historically defiant performance where she shuts a booing crowd up by yelling/singing Marley’s “War” back at them before walking to the side of the stage into Kris Kristofferson’s arms). It was a hell of a night for Dylan loyalists but outside of Richie Havens’ soul-stirring take on Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman”, the Sinead meltdown, and Johnny Winter’s slide guitar the performances just aren’t of the classic, can’t-live-without material.

This is a great release due to the addition of the Japanese broadcast. For fans of Dylan, this release is a must-own. Fans also get a nice booklet full of more photos, track listings and liner notes. This one-disc blu-ray release does a nice job of earning its "deluxe edition" title but casual fans need not bother with it.

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MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 204 mins
Director: Gavin Taylor
Cast: Bob Dylan, The Band, Mary Chapin Carpenter
Genre: Music | Documentary
Tagline: Bob Dylan: 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
Distributor: Sony Music Entertainment
Official Site:
Release Date: March 2, 1993
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: March 4, 2014

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Bob Dylan: 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - March 4, 2014
Screen Formats: 1.78:1
Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Audio: Uncompressed 2.0 Stereo
Discs: 2 50GB Blu-ray Discs
Region Encoding: Region-free

The concert opens with the original 1992 SD broadcast – specks and all – and at first I was disappointed. But – as if in a night and day difference – the concert begins and suddenly the Japanese footage takes center stage. Damn! The AVC MPEG-4 encoded master suddenly comes to life. Most cameras on/near the stage are very crisp, clean and gather really nice colors from the stage lighting. There are a couple camera angles shooting mostly straight on, full stage shots that are a little noisier, that's a little not a lot. Black levels are crisp and details are strong. This uncompressed 2.0 Stereo mix sounds fantastic, and whether it's Booker T and the MGs original house band backings, audio interactions (or re-dubs done in post-production), it all sounds crisp with nice depth.

Supplements:

Commentary:

None

Special Features:

Though in SD, there are some nice bonus additions to the blu-ray edition. We have three cut-out live performances. We also have 40 odd minutes of behind the scenes interactions of the week-long rehearsals and some interviews with various performers. It's a nice batch of goodies.