Saturday, February 21, 2009

Bob Dylan Never Ending Tour Diaries



I was checking Expecting Rain , a Bob Dylan fan site, to see if the link to the latest Theme Time Radio hour was posted. I was pleasantly surprised to Bob Dylan New Ending Tour Diaries issued by Highway 61 Entertainment. Since Dylan has been on tour almost continously since 1992, his fans have called it the Never Ending Tour which after a short hiatus, will resume in March in Stockholm, Sweden. Winston Watson, was a drummer on this tour from 1992-97. He performed about 400 shows with Dylan.

Joel Gilbert, the front man for the Dylan tribute band Highway 61 Revisited, interviewed Winston. He discussed how he was recruited for the tour and showed short clips from some of the concerts. For legal reasons Dylan songs were not played here. Dylan did not need a teleprompter with the words of his songs. The songs were his babies and he knew them backwards and forwards. He preferred that the audience hear new versions of his songs rather than hearing the original recording. Tony Garnier, another backup musician, helped Dylan devise the set list for each concert. Winston left the tour after 5 years since the traveling was so tiresome and it kept him away from his family.

This DVD is for the Dylan fanatic, not the casual fan. You will learn quite a bit about Winston Watson. Backup musicians usually don't get the recognition they deserve.

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