Bob Dylan has played "Tangled Up in Blue" 1,685 times in concert to date (as of May 18, 2024). I can't say for the rest of them, but of the 65 or so times I've seen him do it live in concert, this has to be one of if not the absolute downest and dirtiest, bluesiest version I've ever experienced.
This ain't the folk-rock sound of the original released rendition on 1974's "Blood on the Tracks." This one really puts the blues in it. You hear it especially in the guitar breaks between verses, which get noisier, with more distortion and growling power cords vying for attention each time they come again. There's also a nice, long, bluesy harmonica solo before the song comes chugging to an end.
One thing that stands out about Japanese audiences - at least if you're American - is how quiet they are. For much of the show when you see Dylan in Japan, you could hear a pin drop. More often than not, polite Japanese fans hold their appreciation until the end of each song.
But the intense energy of this performance clearly got to the audience this night, with not a few people hollering out their excitement during the instrumentals - both as some nasty guitar crests at the end of one break, and when Dylan gets to work with his harmonica.
Six months earlier, Dylan's fall 1993 shows featured a lot of long guitar jams with John Jackson. All that jamming easily stretched some versions of "Tangled" from that NET leg past 11 minutes.
My first impression watching and listening to this performance now was that it seemed a lot tighter than those, and therefore must be at least a bit shorter. But turns out it clocks in at the exact same 11 minutes 8 seconds as the marathon version Dylan and his band delivered in Saratoga, NY, that past September 4.
One difference in the impression may be due to a more disciplined, directed approach to those guitar instrumentals. Instead of that loose, jammy feeling, it sounds with each one that Dylan and Jackson know exactly where they're going with it.
Another reason for the shorter impression is probably the false ending in this version. At 9 minutes and 10 seconds in, it sounds like Dylan and the band are winding up their big finale. But no...just when you think it's over, the fake wind-up turns into a slowly screaming coda that prolongs the song for nearly another 2 minutes (or 1:43 to be exact).
The audience, it's clear, doesn't mind having been toyed with. When the song finally comes to its inevitable end, you can clearly hear that they are a very happy, satisfied bunch!