When Bob Dylan released Highway 61 Revisited in 1965, it was the first time he’d recorded with rock musicians–or really, with anything other than his guitar.
So perhaps it’s fitting that each and every one of the five times Bruce performed the album’s title track was in the company of other notable musicians.
From the very first time (two times, actually), performed in an ironically acoustic arrangement with Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne at the famous Christic shows in 1990…
(here’s a better audio version)
…to the third time, with Dylan himself in 1994, when Bruce and Neil Young backed him on guitar during Dylan’s show at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.
A year later, Bruce performed a particularly hard rocking version in Berlin with Wolfgang Niedecken and his band.
And finally, during the encore of the very last Rising Tour show at Shea Stadium in 2003, Bruce played it with Dylan once again–this time with the E Street Band.
Each performance featured a different arrangement; each outstanding in their own way.
But: none of them had the whistle. IMO, that’s the secret ingredient that made the original so much fun.
Just saying.
Highway 61 Revisited
First performed: November 16, 1990 (Los Angeles, CA)
Last performed: October 4, 2003 (New York City, NY)
