Bob Dylan
Pantages Theatre
Los Angeles, CA
June 15, 2022
Rob S Master via JEMS
1644 Edition

Recording Gear: Nakamichi CM-700 Microphones > Naiant Tinybox > Sony PCM A10

JEMS Transfer: Master 24/96 .wav > Ozone 8 > flac > 16/44

01 Intro
02 Watching The River Flow
03 Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
04 I Contain Multitudes
05 False Prophet
06 When I Paint My Masterpiece
07 Black Rider
08 I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
09 My Own Version of You
10 Crossing The Rubicon
11 To Be Alone With You
12 Key West (Philosopher Pirate)
13 Gotta Serve Somebody
14 I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You
15 Melancholy Mood
16 Mother of Muses
17 Goodbye Jimmy Reed
18 Friend Of The Devil

Dylan coming to town provided an occasion to pull out the old gear, some new gear, and start taping again. Not me mind you, but Rob S. He has the bug to keep the fine art of audience recording going, as well as the fortitude to beat security which he did two nights at Pantages.

For this, the second of three nights there, Rob was about two-thirds of the way back on the main floor (row QQ) and makes an excellent pull with a relatively cooperative audience around him. We dusted off Jared's old Nak 700s and they still sound as good as they did during his taping heyday. Not sure how it compares to other recordings of this tour, but I would think it is right up there.

As for Dylan's performance, to call it an acquired taste would be generous. Is he challenging the audience or just not capable of musicality any longer? I saw the show the next night (where "Every Grain of Sand" returned to the set in place of "Friend of the Devil") and acknowledge Bob's voice being stronger than at some of the mid 2000s NET shows I saw.

However, I asked myself the following question, which sits at the heart of why we record and collect live recordings in the first place: Was there a song performance that you can't wait to hear again through the magic of bootlegging? For me (and if we're all being honest with ourselves, surely many other Dylan fans) that answer is unequivocally no.

If only to see the master on stage again one more time is a reason to see the show. The art, not so much.

Rob S also recorded the third night, though it is not a complete recording. If nothing superior surfaces we'll get that up too at some point.

Thanks to Rob S for sneaking in the gear and recording. I love to see parts of the old JEMS rig getting used again. Your passion to keep doing this warms my heart. Also to slipkid68 for prepping the show on short notice.

BK for JEMS