The Toronto Star October 17, 1992, Saturday, SATURDAY SECOND EDITION Sinead O'Connor booed off stage at Dylan tribute By Christopher Hume NEW YORK - It may have been Bob Dylan's party last night at Madison Square Garden but that didn't stop Sinead O'Connor from stealing the show. The shaven-headed Irish pop singer who tore up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live earlier this month appeared half way through the marathon event but was booed off the stage. She never got a chance to sing her number, Dylan's "I Believe In You." Instead, she sang a bit of a protest song, "War," by reggae artist Bob Marley. She had sung the same song during her Saturday Night Live appearance. Clearly, New York hasn't buried its Irish Catholic roots. The booing just wouldn't stop until she left in tears. The concert marked the 30th anniversary of the release of Dylan's first album and the performers included Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Roseanne Cash, Lou Reed, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Stevie Wonder and Elvis Costello. The sound was absolutely awful, painfully loud and the playing almost worse, but that didn't bother the crowd. They were there for a good time and nothing was going to stop them. Not even Dyland himself. When the 51-year-old star finally took the stage at 11.30 p.m., singing through his nose, the house fell ominously silent. Running through a selection of his earliest songs - "Song To woody Guthrie" and "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding" - he made two of his best efforts sound like tunes written by an amateur. They're not, of course. But more than anything, the message last night was that great songwriters don't necessarily make great performer. Dylan however, has always been law unto himself. Since he first burst on to the folk music scene in 1960, he has done exactly as he wanted, refusing to play the rock star game. But in the intervening decades that's what he has become - a star, albeit a reluctant one. surrounded by his famous colleagues, Dylan seemed uncomfortable, maybe even overwhelmed. To be fair to Dylan, he seemed in complete control, fully able to stand on his own two feet, play his own guitar and sing his own songs. No words were forgotten but then he only sang three songs, including the encore. The rest of the evening was devoted to friends, and they were nothing if not respectful. Certainly they had reason to be. Dylan has written more hits for other singers than just about any other composer. His faithful friends led the packed house through a sing-a-long in which everyone knew all the words. The subtext to the evening was the '60s, when the world was a mess but Dylan was in his prime and his songs meant the most. A word about the Canadian contingent. Let it be said that it was Neil Young who brought the crowd to life and who reminded it why Dylan was being celebrated. His versions of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" and "All Along the Watch Tower" were the liveliest performances of the concert. It was Young as much as anyone who reminded us that Dylan is the man who wrote the soundtrack to which the baby boom generation grew up. It's not Dylan's fault the world has changed in the meantime. But if things ever return to the way they were, he will be there, ranting, railing and writing songs. and just as surely with the passage of enough time, he'll end up at Madison Square Garden one more time.