It was a highly controversial move, one which split his fans right down the middle. The first half of the show is solo acoustic Dylan, but he doesn't per- form any of his conscientious protest ballads with which he'd come to be identified. Instead he sings of one-eyed midgets shouting 'now', of amphetamines and pearls, of the leopard skin pillbox hat fashion statements of the Camelot era. Applause is polite but restrained. You can hear the catcalls, the unrest, the cries of turn it DOWN, the electricity in that audience equalling at least that of the stage.
Emotions run high.
There is scattered applause and cries of agreement. I have never heard it delivered with such conviction. It alone is worth the price of the entire collection. It sounds like a riot is about to explode. As though it's right back there, over my shoulder, just inside the city limits of Selma, Alabama that summer day in 1965.