I attended a show by Bob Dylan at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco on November 1, 1979.

Dylan had just released Slow Train Coming so I figured we were in for his new gospel songs.

The show was a disaster. I’d seen Dylan with The Band five years earlier at the Oakland Coliseum and that was really something.

For this show, Dylan had the wrong band and I was shocked at the mediocre performance. (The next night, Nov. 2, 1979, was recorded and you can hear the entire set below, and it sounds much better than what I remember of the show I attended.)

But then, at the end, with many already gone from the theater, Dylan returned, took a seat at the piano, and played a beautiful song I’d not heard before, “Pressing On.”

The solo performance of “Pressing On” that night was spectacular.

The song ended up on Saved, but that recording doesn’t touch what I heard live.

Here is a better version from a show in Toronto at Massey Hall, April 20, 1980:

And here’s a performance of “To Ramona” with Jerry Garcia on guitar. This is from Dylan’s return engagement at the Warfield. For those 1980 shows he was once again singing some of the songs that made him famous.

Here’s the entire November 2, 1979 show at the Warfield:

Part One:

Set list

Gotta Serve Somebody
I Believe In You
When You Gonna Wake Up
When He Returns
Man Gave Names To All The Animals
Precious Angel
Slow Train
Covenant Woman
Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking
Do Right To Me Baby (Do Unto Others)….

Part Two:

Set list

Solid Rock
Saving Grace
What Can I Do For You?
Saved
In The Garden
Blessed Be The Name
Pressing On

Bob Dylan with Jerry Garcia, November 16, 1980, Warfield Theater, San Francisco:

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