Bob Dylan – Standing By God’s River – 2002 US Fall Tour

Bob Dylan
Standing By God’s River
2002 US Fall Tour Compilation

Bob Dylan
Larry Campbell
Tony Garnier
George Recile
Charlie Sexton

01. Seeing The Real You At Last
02. I’ll Remember You
03. Carrying A Torch
04. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
05. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread
06. Mutineer
07. In The Summertime
08. High Water (For Charley Patton)
09. Ring Them Bells
10. The End Of Innocence
11. Accidentally Like A Martyr
12. Summer Days
13. Something

Tracks 01 & 10
2002-10-30, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, Tracks from LB-8435

Tracks 02 & 12
2002-11-22, Fairfax, Virginia, USA, Tracks from LB-5555

Track 03
2002-10-19, San Diego, California, USA, Track from LB-8396

Tracks 04 & 08
2002-10-07, Red Bluff, California, USA, Tracks from CC-657/58

Track 05
2002-11-11, New York City, New York, USA, Track from LB-5692

Track 06
2002-10-28, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, Track from CC-680/81

Track 07
2002-11-02, Dayton, Ohio, USA, Track from LB-5565

Track 09
2002-10-29, Ames, Iowa, USA, Track from LB-748-xref-241

Track 11
2002-10-17, Los Angeles, California, USA, Track from LB-342

Track 13
2002-11-13, New York City, New York, USA, Track from TMR-55/56

The 2002 US Fall Tour generally has lots of hype around it for numerous reasons, namely the high amount of covers of songs by artists contemporary to Dylan, the switch from guitar to a more piano-based sound, and the departure of Charlie (for the first time) at the end of this tour. I was familiar with the Red Bluff show (and the stellar quality of the recording) but much of this tour was new to me and I found it very enjoyable. Definitely the highlight tour of the year.

As far as covers go, Accidentally Like A Martyr and Mutineer are great tributes to Warren Zevon, and both are sung with a tenderness and care. Something, the George Harrison masterpiece, was sung only once in NYC and it’s a terrific and heart-warming performance. Two other covers, Van Morrison’s Carrying A Torch and Don Henley’s The End Of Innocence, were sung with great passion and are lots of fun to hear.

Seeing The Real You At Last worked great as an opener for much of this tour and this performance from St. Paul is electric. High Water continued its trend from last tour of getting ever more amplified and rollicking, and this extended performance at Red Bluff is a hell of a beast. Similarly, this Summer Days performance from Fairfax is over eight minutes of pure electric energy from a band who was almost finished together (this show was the last of Charlie’s first tenure with Bob); Summer Days really takes flight once it gets to the instrumental part, and minute after minute of endless jamming takes place
that showcases how strong this band was.

On the gentler side, Ring Them Bells got its only performance of the year in Ames and its a good one. The new piano sound works wonders for it. I’ll Remember You and In The Summertime are fine throwbacks to the gospel-era songs he played earlier this year (Solid Rock, In The Garden, etc.) and both are performed very well. This performance of Hard Rain is slow and methodical. One of his best performances of the song.

Finally, this tour was not without a novelty song for good measure. Yea! Heavy And A Bottle Of Bread made its surprising debut in New York and would only be played once more the following year before being put back on the shelf permanently.

Thanks for following along on my examination of 2002! Hope you enjoy this compilation
and my previous ones in this collection.

Compiled by Nightingale’s Code