grantss
A Bob Dylan concert from his 1980 tour. Captures Dylan during his "Christian period" - Dylan found Christianity in the late-1970s and had released two Christian albums - "Slow Train Coming" and "Saved". All the music in his concerts of the time was Christian music. Interspersed with the 1980 concert footage is a series of mini-sermons, with the preacher played by Michael Shannon. Quite a rare recording, as it captures Dylan during his Christian period. Due to this seeming departure from his usual style, this period often gets overlooked, or viewed as an anomaly, when examining the Dylan musical lexicon. As such, the concerts from that period don't get much airplay. Great music, profound lyrics and Dylan seems more animated than I recall from seeing other concerts of his. You can sense that, to him, this isn't just music, but a personal statement and belief. I am a Christian myself, so maybe I can relate more.I initially thought the Michael Shannon preacher interludes were just the director trying to turn the film into something arty and pretentious, or even make fun of Dylan's faith. However, the messages are quite profound and accurate, theologically, and Shannon doesn't turn the whole exercise into a parody. Whatever the director's motives for putting the mini-sermons in, they work just fine.
