dat master, Upgrade From Waz From Oz DAT Master, To start things rolling last year the well-known Dylan DIME uploader Deathglider torrented my Dylan 1998-09-03 Sydney recording, albeit from an unknown generation, as my DAT Master was in line to be remastered, to go on DIME sometime in the future, I contacted him informing him this & would he mind deleting his torrent, he kindly did as I asked so Deathglider if you are reading this thanks again., This version will make all previous versions of my recording null & void., In June 1998 it was announced that Bob Dylan would be undertaking another Australian tour in August & September, his 5th Aussie tour since 1966, playing bigger venues than he did on his last Australian, tour back in March / April 1992, in Sydney they were held at the State Theatre that seats 2,000, this time on the 3rd & 4th September hell be at the 12,000 seater Sydney Entertainment Centre., For all Australian shows the support act was Patti Smith one of my favourite females in rock n roll. Patti was/is popular here in Australia, all her albums from Horses to her then current album Peace And Noise, all made the Top 100 album chart albeit at the middle to lower end, though Wave reached No 30, shed also strengthened her popularity here in January of the previous year on a sold-out Australian tour., This Australian tour would be the 2nd time that Bob & Patti had toured together, the first time was December 1995 in the USA, each night Bob & Patti performed a one song duet together, hopefully this was to be, repeated on the upcoming Australian tour., It was a busy 4 gigs in a row for me, the first was on the 2nd September when a solo Patti played an instore song & poem session at HUM records on Oxford Street, I taped this & hopefully sometime in the future, it will make its DIME debut. For both Sydney Entertainment shows my mate & I scored floor section tickets plus the following day's Wollongong show, a city down south roughly just over a 3-hour return trip from Sydney., One of my most loved modern era Dylan albums is Time Out Of Mind which Id brought in Dallas, Texas the year before while on an American sojourn, thanks to Dylan websites posting current set lists I knew that Id, be hearing a handful of songs from Time Out Of Mind in a live setting. I taped all 3 Bob & Patti shows, my understanding is that none of these have recieved a wide circulation., As the 3rd of September approached I wondered what Bob would be like compared to last time I saw three of the seven State Theatre March / April 1992 concerts (taping 1), I personally loved these shows even if during the run, of these shows Bob ran hot & cold, the shows did have a good selection of songs from different Bob eras plus he threw in some covers of old American traditional songs., Patti Smith kicked off the 3rd September show with Waiting Underground one of my faves from Peace & Noise, her set was mostly a mixture of songs from her last two albums along with fan favourites such as Redondo Beach, Ghost Dance, a Memento Mori that morphed into Buddy Hollys Not Fade Away, she closed with Neil Youngs Rocking In The Free World during which near the end she told us to Enjoy Bob Dylan., Patti was a bit subdued, during the show she mentioned she was affected by pollen sickness I think this is the American term for hay fever. Friends standing in front of the stage told me that at one point, they looked around & realized that the smiling older woman boogieing next to them was Patti Smith! Talking with friends during the intermission all of us were geed up thinking that we would be possibly, maybe, perhaps be treated to a Bob / Patti duet as they did back in 1995 on their shared American Tour., On a Dylan fan website, a guy wrote that Patti came on stage to a totally disinterested audience, he heard people say, Is the singer a man or woman? then went on to rubbish her performance. I totally rebuke that Patti, received a negative reaction, on my recording you hear her name plus song requests being called out throughout her set by an audience who definately knew who she was, she garnered good audience applause., Id say a percentage of the audience had brought tickets because she was on the bill., As soon as the lights went off signalling that Bob was about to start came the predictable immediate mad rush with many getting up out of their seats pouring into the aisles leading to the front of the stage, from my seat throughout the show I saw security constantly turning people around & escorting them back to their seats., Bobs first number was the old favourite Maggies Farm followed by another Tonight Ill Be Staying With You, sure enough I got to hear & enjoy tracks from Time On Mind, loved the live versions of Cold Irons Bound, Cant Wait, Love Sick, but my dead set favourite from the album Standing In The Doorway wasnt played, I had to wait till the next Australian tour in 2001 to hear it. Three other highlights for me that night were, "Shelter From The Storm Tangled Up In Blue & Desolation Row. One song I didnt expect to hear was Blind Willie McTell another favourite, maybe not the best version Ive heard but glad I got to hear it in person., On this tour Bob played some covers of older American tunes such as Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie, Friend Of The Devil however the one that featured the most on this tour was Stone Walls And Steel Bars originally, recorded by The Stanley Brothers in 1963, Bob must have enjoyed performing this song as he treated us to it both nights, one airing was enough for me as I found it to be the least interesting song of the night, it would have been nice to hear one of the other covers instead on the 2nd night., After Til I Fell In Love With You Bob leaves the stage but returned for a 5-song encore; the house lights are turned on so it creates another rush to the front, the encore starts with a powerful Love Sick followed by, predictable fan favourites such as Rainy Day Women #12 & #35, Blowin In The Wind (which I never want to hear again, but will many times on later tours) Highway 61 Revisited, the show ends with Forever Young, which Im not a big fan of, I would have preferred the show to end on a much stronger number., Afterwards I met up with some Sydney Dylan fans, where the just finished show was heavily dissected, some thought it was a pedestrian show with a so-so set list, others like me enjoyed what we were given, however we were, all disappointed that Bob didn't pick up the harmonica once that night, also we were looking forward to a possible Bob / Patti duet that might have taken place during Bobs set, but sadly that didnt happen., The show received negative press in the media, especially from the Sydney Morning Herald (included in this torrent) rubbishing Dylans voice, his mumbling of lyrics, not engaging in talking to the audience, however I, did have a laugh at the critic retitling Tangled Up In Blue to Mangled Up In Blue!) he summed up the show as not bad to good. He did say that on leaving the Entertainment Centre complaints were heard about Dylans set, being marred by bad sound, which was backed up by friends seated in other sections who told me the sound they were hearing was boomy & distorted making it hard to hear what song Dylan was singing, yet in my seat two, sections back from the stage the sound was very good, however Dylans vocals were clearer in some songs, not so in others, its well known that the sound at the Sydney Entertainment Centre can be notoriously all over, the place like a mad womans breakfast!, Speaking of sound quaily, well writing that night Patti Smith's sound was much clearer than Bobs was, more about that in my notes for the Patti Smith 1998-09-03 Sydney torrent., If burning to CD-R & to match the artwork CD1 ends with Track 10 Tangled Up In Blue & CD-R 2 starts with Track 11 Don't Think Twice, Its Alright., Thanks to mjk5510 for his remaster & to Mr Lovee for his Dylan Sydney September 1998 photographs used in the artwork., Enjoy, Waz