Bob Dylan fans are remembering his legendary Grammy Awards appearance ahead of the ceremony's 67th show tomorrow night (Sunday, February 2). Veteran songwriter Dylan, who wrote the likes of Mr Tambourine Man, All Along the Watchtower and Mother of Muses, made an appearance at the 40th Grammy Awards Ceremony back in 1998. His performance of Love Sick, a song taken from his comeback album Time Out of Mind, was played at the ceremony, where Dylan picked up four awards.
But his performance is memorable for more than one reason, and the songwriter's show is still a talking point among fans. A clip of the rendition was shared to X, where fans recalled the "entertaining" moment Dylan's gig was upstaged. A fan wrote: "The entirety of A Complete Unknown is nowhere near as entertaining as the blazing solo Bob rips off during Love Sick after the Soy Bomb guy finally gets booted off the stage." Dylan, who features in the video wearing a grey suit, would later be joined on stage by Michael Portnoy, a protestor who had the words "Soy Bomb" written on his chest.
While there was plenty of praise for Dylan's fretwork, which was compared to a "Neil Young solo," some members of the public were left stumped by the appearance of a shirtless Portnoy. One wrote: "Never forget the soy bomb guy, real name Mike Portnoy.". The protest attracted plenty of attention at the time and is still well-remembered to this day. Fans looking back at a clip of the incident more than 20 years later were stunned at how Dylan continued playing. He received praise for his guitar work which one user said sounds "like a Neil Young solo" while another added: "He never misses a beat… and proceeds to do a really cool solo.".
Others praised the song and wider album, with one writing: "Incredible performance of that song. I always loved that album. Probably played it over 100 times." Another praised the backing musicians too, adding: "The whole performance is classic and I love Bob’s playing during that 1995-2000 era but guitar part is mostly Larry. Some even thought it was all part of the performance, and said that they had not read the caption of the video before watching. They wrote: "I hadn’t read the caption before watching and just assumed he was supposed to be there, that’s something Bob would do, he should join all of his tours.".
Portnoy has since shared how he managed to stage the protest, saying a lack of rehearsals for the Grammy performance meant those in control of the show itself had no way of knowing whether he was part of the act. He said in an interview with MOJO: "There had only been one rehearsal, so the people in the control booth didn’t know if it was part of the act." He was escorted off stage by the casting director.
