Special Thanks -- Don Ienner, Michele Anthony, Mary Ellen Cataneo, Jay Krugman, Paul Rappaport, Mason Munoz, Ron Wilcox, John Ingrassia, Mark Schwartz, J David Waldman, Mo Ostin, Elliot Groffman, Ruth Richards, Joanna Ifrah, Bobby Brooks, William and Yetta Kramer, Scott Muni, Michael Borofsky, Kathi & Shelly, Sam, Charley, Matthew & Catherine, Madison Square Garden Corporation Crew [Ntsc Engineering Crew] – Al Vasquez, Anthony Defonzo, Barry Lialk, Drory Yellin, Greg Gerner, James Lytle, John Huntigton, Joseph Annecharico, Kelly Britt, Kurt Heitmann, Lee Griffin, Mark Miller (51), Neida Martinez, Pat Breen, Patt Hitt, Steve Kaufman, Victor Smith

Columbia Records & Legacy Recordings Release Bob Dylan – The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration – Deluxe Edition for First Time on DVD and Blu-ray Disc John Mellencamp, who's been covering "Like A Rolling Stone" in concert for years, bravely took on the Dylan classic early in the show and delivered a fairly faithful and altogether convincing cover featuring strong vocal help from Pat Peterson and Sue Medley. Joining Mellencamp and his excellent band for the event on organ was Al Kooper, reprising his prominent part from Dylan's 1965 original, which was voted the best single of the last 25 years by "Rolling Stone" in 1988. Mellencamp -- whose been instrumental in the activities of Farm Aid, which Dylan helped inspire with his onstage comments at Live Aid, and who directed Dylan's "Political World" music video in 1989 -- was also in fine form for a rousing, bluesy "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" from 1966's "Blonde On Blonde". Apart from two extra CD cuts, such content is the only bonus feature per se, but The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration doesn’t really need anything further because the performances do speak for themselves, even if, as with Stevie Wonder’s pontificating take on “Blowin’ In the Wind,” some tend to be ponderous rather than uplifting. But then that’s in keeping with the songs themselves, which in the case of that anthem (to name just one), Dylan was wise enough to move beyond rather than merely replicate. The former Motown prodigy is no more or less rabble-rousing than John Mellencamp playing “Like A Rolling Stone,” but when the latter claps at song’s finish, it’s clearly for the composition and the composer. The traditionally show-stopping Eric Clapton, who performed a duet with Dylan on "Sing Language" from his "No Reason To Cry" album in 1976, came through with a startling and moving performance at the celebration. The highlight of his set -- which also included a luminous "Love Minus Zero, No Limit" -- was a truly revelatory rendition of "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," from "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," that Clapton and Booker T. Jones rearranged into a seductive new bluesy masterpiece, complete with some incendiary soloing from the guitar master himself. Rosanne Cash, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, and Shawn Colvin -- a trio of the most gifted singer-songwriters around and major Bob Dylan fans all -- teamed up to trade verse for a gorgeous, harmony-drenched cover of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," a "Basement Tapes" gem that was rerecorded by Dylan with Happy Traum for 1972's "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II" set, as well as being a standout cut on The Byrd's 1968 classic "Sweethearts Of The Rodeo" album.

Credits (54)

The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration is a live double-album release in recognition of Bob Dylan's 30 years as a recording artist. Recorded on October 16, 1992, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, it captures most of the concert, which featured many artists performing classic Dylan songs, before ending with three songs from Dylan himself. Harrison would have preferred that the event had been more like previous charity concerts, like his 1971 Concert for Bangladesh. George Harrison wasn’t the only one upset at Bob Dylan after the concert Harrison was a longtime fan of Dylan. He eventually had the opportunity to work with him in the Traveling Wilburys. The supergroup also had Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne as members. According to Petty, Harrison and Dylan were fans of each other’s work.

One day George was hiding in the hedge at the house where we were recording,” Petty explained. “As everybody flew off, George would rise up out of the bushes with his video going. And he did that with Bob. I think George frightened Bob. When the Wilburys started, George was so reverent of Bob.” The former Beatle was not happy about the 30th-anniversary concert Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. A full complement of musicians accompany those names, and while it’s not immediately apparent how tight is the band, their unity becomes more impressive as the show proceeds. Led by guitarist G.E. Smith, the man who fulfilled a similar role for Dylan when the latter began his ‘Never-ending Tour,’ the band sounds continuously sympathetic, and not just in contrast to those sequences such as Vedder and Mike McReady for “Masters of War,” accompanied only by Smith on mandolin or Tracy Chapman’s solo rendition of “The Times They Are A Changin’.” The shifting arrangements reaffirm not only how skillfully Bob Dylan has written in a variety of styles over the years, but how this concert, here running over four hours, included, by and large, all those tunes of his a devoted fan or the casual listener would want to hear. Pre-performance footage including snippets of interviews with artists including members of Pearl Jam and Lou Reed offers a keen perspective beyond the usual homage to the subject of the show. Eddie Vedder wisely observes the best tribute is playing Dylan’s songs, while the former lynchpin of the Velvet Underground muses on just some of the musicians in the house band for the event which including members of Booker T & the MG’s as well as Dylan’s own old crony Al Kooper. Authenticity could have been a buzzword of the evening, particularly for the folk artists such as Richie Havens or Dylan’s own heroes The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Lou Reed, too, is almost disarmingly real with his epic reading of the densely-written yet utterly enigmatic blues/cautionary tale “Foot of Pride.” The Infidels outtake mashes up religious allusions and all-too-real evocations of the worst humanity has to offer, and Reed brought his trademark no-nonsense, street-level grit to its evocative lyrics.

Contributions

Despite the level of reverence Harrison held for Dylan, he wasn’t happy with the “Tangled Up in Blue” singer after his 30th-anniversary concert. The 1992 event took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Artists such as Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson put on a four-hour show to celebrate Dylan’s body of work.

The 2DVD and Blu-ray versions of The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration – Deluxe Edition include 40 minutes of previously unreleased material including behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage, interviews and more. Within the expressions of grand homage such as this, there’s often the danger artists will call more attention to themselves than the subject at hand, but both Neil Young and Eric Clapton avoid that pitfall. Each man personally impassioned by what they chose as the former tears it up vocally on “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” and is no less fervent instrumentally on “All Along the Watchtower (simultaneously offering his affection for Jimi Hendrix and igniting his future with The MG’s). For his part, Slowhand delivers eloquent emotionalism in the form of “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” and “Don’t Think Twice It’s All right,” both of which he might’ve done well to make part of his repertoire over the years. Crew [For House Band] – Anthony Aquilato, Artie Smith, Cesar Diaz*, Jeff Shaw (2), Lisa Sharken, Richard Brister The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, which reached No. 40 (in the US and went gold), was released in August 1993 just before Dylan was about to deliver his second folk studio set inside of a year, World Gone Wrong. The concert was dubbed "Bobfest" by Neil Young at the beginning of his "All Along the Watchtower" cover. Dubbed “Bobfest” on stage by a jubilant Neil Young, the 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration reached a transcendent crescendo with an unforgettable performance and all-star jam featuring the evening’s honoree.Producer [For Nhk Enterprises - Production Assistance] – Aron Sadovsky, Denise Mast, Heidi Santelli, Jessica Hodges, Jonathan Gruber, MK Kimura, Melaine Bloom The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration – Deluxe Edition includes new notes by pop music historian Bill Flanagan. Harrison was so angry, he made T-shirts with dollar signs on them and sent them to me and Bob,” Dylan’s former road manager Victor Maymudes wrote, per Rolling Stone.

Cissy Houston, Katrice Barnes, Gary Houston, Jerry Barnes, Rose Mitcham, Gynnice Coleman, Leotis Clyburn, Curtis King, Brenda White King, Dennis Collins, Christine Ohlman, Sheryl Crow Finally, after the television satellite feed was shut down, Bob Dylan generously returned to the stage for a lovely, understated version of "Girl Of The North Country" that proved one more time what one man can do armed only with his voice, guitar, and extraordinary songs.On October 16th, 1992 a concert was held in Madison Square Gardens to celebrate the work of Bob Dylan and the fact that in March 1962, Columbia Records had released Bob Dylan’s eponymous debut. Some of the greatest musicians and singers of the time attended. Originally released on double CD in 1993, the version I have was reissued in March of this year. For some reason, I had not bothered to get it, but as this version was comparatively cheap, I thought that after 21 years, I ought to give it a listen. Edition makes this historic all-star musical event available for the first time on Blu-ray. Also includes 40 minutes of previously unreleased material including behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage, interviews and more. Bob Dylan and George Harrison were close friends, often performing with each other, including in the Traveling Wilburys. One of their musical collaborations left a bad taste in Harrison’s mouth, however. After Harrison performed in a concert celebrating Dylan’s 30 years in the music industry, he discovered something about the show that he did not like. Harrison lashed out at Dylan in response. George Harrison and Bob Dylan | Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images George Harrison was a huge fan of Bob Dylan The Bob Dylan – The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration – Deluxe Edition is the first Dylan title to follow the historic November 5 release of Bob Dylan Complete Album Collection Vol. One, a colossal library box housing the artist’s official Columbia Records album canon, from 1962’s Bob Dylan through 2012’s Tempest. You can make fun of his voice and scratch your noggin about his seemingly dour demeanor, but the one thing everyone seems to agree on about Bob Dylan is that he’s written some of the greatest songs in history. Look at one of his earliest: “Blowin’ In the Wind” is easy on the ears and asks a series of rhetorical questions, searching for answers, in front of your face, or off in a distance, unreachable, blowing in the wind. It was initially called a protest song (a claim Dylan vehemently denies) and performed in earnest by Peter, Paul & Mary. How the then-21-year-old folk singer stumbled upon such a simple, yet profound sense of the times explains why 30 years later in 1992, some of music’s biggest and brightest came together for The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration to honor the songs and the man who wrote them.