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Live At Tacoma Dome 1986
source: Raw Soundboard Tape
Tracks: 
Disc one
Intro.
So Long Good Luck And Goodbye
All Along The Watchtower
Clean-Cut Kid
I’ll Remember You
Shot Of Love
We Had It All (Donny Fritts-Troy Seals)
Masters Of War
Straight Into Darkness {Tom Petty}
Think About Me {Tom Petty}
Breakdown {Tom Petty}
Disc two
It Ain’t Me Babe (Bs)
One Too Many Mornings (Bs)
Mr. Tambourine Man (Bs)
I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know (BT)
Band Of The Hand
When The Night Comes Falling
Lonesome Town
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Listen To Her Heart {Tom Petty}
Spike {Tom Petty}
Tonight Will Be My Night {Tom Petty}
Refugee {Tom Petty}
Disc three
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
Seeing The Real You At Last
Across The Borderline
Band introduction
Like A Rolling Stone
In The Garden
encore:
Blowin’ In The Wind (BT)
Bye Bye Johnny {Tom Petty}
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (BT)
Review:
This is a beautiful new three disc package from Scorpio that contains nearly the complete soundboard recording of the Dylan Petty show from Washington State. The photos are blow-you-away gorgeous, and the fonts and lay-out are perfect with crisp, clean lines that scream quality and elegance. Sounds like it should be a shoe-in for the bobsboots.com must have section! Well, not so fast. There are some mixed reviews for this one. First off, all said and done, there is around 157 minutes on the three discs. This could have been a two disc set release... especially when one takes into account the many combined minutes of in-between song down time. Normally on a live recording, the audience would fill the down time, but this is a raw tape, and there is precious little audience recorded. A raw tape is just that. It's taken directly from (in this case) the multi track outputs of the main mixing console. The audience is also recorded separately. The raw tapes are then taken to the studio where they are mixed and cleaned up and many times have vocal and music overdubs, and have the audience blended back into them at the perfect level. Then the tapes are mastered, and then sent out of house for post mastering. The result is a pleasing and 'perfect sounding concert' that could be broadcast on FM radio. That, in  fact, happened with a few of the songs from this show. All Along The Watchtower was added to the "Superstar Concert Series" 3LP radio broadcast set, for the USA Westwood One station broadcast of August 31, 1986. Girl Of The North Country, When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky, and It Ain't Me, Babe were also included in sets manufactured for broadcasts outside the USA. Those tracks sound fantastic from the official broadcast releases, but remember, this is a raw tape. Dylan's vocals remain too buried for the majority of the show. The instruments and backing vocals are not well mixed, and one thing or another is always too loud. Also, the ultimate purpose of these tapes require them to be taken from pre-effects outputs. This means that the vocals sound dry and mid-range. Mid-range is usually an unpleasant frequency to the human ear, and this tape is no exception. As there are no other CD releases of this show, it is a milestone release. However, because of the raw sound, not everyone will care for it. It is an incredible piece of memorabilia of music history, but not necessarily an enjoyable listen at all times. Of course, there are many exceptions. Ballad Of A Thin Man is the runaway highlight of the first two discs, with little else jumping out to claim second place.
Petty's set on the second disc is quite nice, and when the lead cranks up at the 4 minute mark of Refugee, suddenly you realize that you're listening to what could be a perfect studio quality release. Sadly, the song is over a minute later. Alas, those moments are indeed the exception with this set. Ironically, when there is no music, the vocals are pristine. For instance, the lengthy band introductions are perfection. The mic is then left hot for the beginning of Like A Rolling Stone, and it sounds great.  (Continued...)
© 2008 CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
View enlarged images below
Front
CD1
CD2
CD3
Liner(f)
Liner
Back
Information:
source:
Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA - July 31, 1986

Manufacturer / Catalog No.
Scorpio    /   BD-08016

Released:
Aug. 2008

Quality:
7 stars

Bob's Boots ref  #
BB-L20

Special Thanks to Lincoln Park Mark


(Bs) Bob Dylan solo vocal & guitar
(BT) Bob Dylan and Tom Petty (shared vocals)
Review: (Cond.)
As a matter of fact, the vocal mic seems to be hotter on all songs of the final disc, and it becomes the best sounding CD of the package. Also, because Petty's Spike includes a lot of talking over low background music, it is one of the better mixed recordings, along with Dylan singing and playing solo on acoustic guitar. More problems arise from the fact that most of the songs are just not performed that well. There are musical mistakes in many, and Bob seems mechanical and rushed through most. Two songs are left out. Gotta Serve Somebody and I and I were performed after Across The Borderline.
The CDs were mastered at a very low volume, so they need to be turned up fairly loud. As there is an almost non-existent noise floor level, this is not a problem. However, once the vocals are turned up to a comfortable level, the music and the irritating midrange tend to grind on the ears. It's best to listen to this one at lower volumes and strain a little to hear. Definitely grab this one if you're interested in the historical importance of a find such as this tape represents. If you simply want to sit back with a cold ice tea and enjoy the summer  of 1986 True Confessions Tour – this might not be your cup of meat.

Dylan talks quite a bit throughout the show:

Transcribed by bobsboots.com from The Tacoma Dome July, 31, 1986
Before the Cecil A. Null penned song I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know (About Her) Bob quickly says:

"All right, Tom and I are gonna sing an old song for you now... the kind they don't write anymore... an' you  know they don't write these kind of songs no more. The' oughta petition somebody. Anybody out there runnin' for office? (laughs) Oh yeah, we got somebody over there runnin' for office. (laughs) Good luck!"Transcribed by bobsboots.com from The Tacoma Dome July, 31, 1986
To introduce Lonesome Town:"OK now, throughout the years Ricky Nelson he did a lot of my songs and I admired him a whole lot 'n I'm gonna do one of his songs called Lonesome Town."Transcribed by bobsboots.com from The Tacoma Dome July, 31, 1986Before beginning Like A Rolling Stone, Bob introduces the band, and engages an unidentified female with:

Where do you wanna,  you wanna, where do you wanna be? You wanna be right there? You just be right there. You can even be right there. Y'all know she can be right there, huh?  That's where she's gonna be. OK, now we wanna introduce Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. On the keyboards, Benmont Tench. Or should I say Benmont Tench on the keyboards. (laughs). All right, playing lead guitar, Mike Campbell. On the bass guitar, Howie Epstein. One of the finest drummers in all of the United States, Stan Lynch. I especially wanna thank Mr. Tom Petty himself. A real gentleman... he should be around a long while. All right, now I also have my own Heartbreakers, yeah. Y'all can come down too if you want. That's Louise Bethune and Carolyn Dennis. Madelyn Quebec and Queen Esther Marrow. All right.Transcribed by bobsboots.com from The Tacoma Dome July, 31, 1986

Bob introduces In The Garden with:
All right, thank you. Thank you very much. OK, I wanna do this last song here. I wanna dedicate this song to all the people in prison for doing good things. Some kind are away in prison for doing things, lot's of people are in prison for doing bad things. Robbing from the poor, stealing from the sick and murdering the lame. There's a lot of people in prison for those things. But there’s also people in prison in their own kinda way for doing good things like feeding the hungry and taking care of the sick.
Transcribed by bobsboots.com from The Tacoma Dome July, 31, 1986
© 2008 CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com
© 2008 CD Pinkerton / bobsboots.com