Best Of The Blogs: The Midnight Cafe

[Ojai Sam]

Name: "The Midnight Cafe" (themidnightcafe.org)

Host: Mat Brewster

Year started: 2004

Focus: This blog describes itself as a "lossless bootleg bonanza", truth in advertising for sure. Mat posts one or more flac albums every day, with an emphasis on Dylan, the Grateful Dead and other classic rock artists.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead - Oakland Stadium (July 24, 1987)

I stumbled across this site while searching for this Bob Dylan show to complement the Grateful Dead's "View From The Vault IV". I just posted that album over in the "What On Earth Are You Listening To NOW?" thread (emphasis by Mrs. Ojai).

Dylan's tour with the Dead doesn't earn much respect, perhaps due to the mediocrity of the resulting Dylan And The Dead record. I was therefore pleasantly surprised by this powerhouse performance featuring a full set of Zimmy with energetic backing by the Dead. The instrumentals (including some neat steel work by Jerry Garcia) and harmonies bring new life to a bunch of Dylan songs that the group had frequently covered. This was the third and final set of the evening. By the time the last note of the second encore ("All Along The Watchtower") faded away, the audience had enjoyed an historic pairing that more than justified its hype.

on the Sam-O-Meter.