The University Concert Committee is rarely able to attract a performer of the stature of Bob Dylan. Gregory Roth's review of Sunday's concert was a disservice to Dylan, those who attended and those who stayed home.

Readers of The Daily Collegian would have been better served by a reviewer who was familiar with Dylan's music, and the nature of live performance in general.

The "perfunctory songs" at Sunday's show were supplemented with a sampling of selections spanning the singer's career: "Ballad of a Thin Man" and "Highway 61 Revisited" from the mid-60s, through his exploration of Christianity in the 80s, up to his latest album, Oh, Mercy.

Dylan also surprised the audience with two songs from the Grateful Dead's repertoire, "Pretty Peggy-O" and "Been All Around This World." And don't fault him for plugging his new record; Lou Reed opened every concert on his last tour with a complete performance of New York to rave reviews.

Anyone familiar with Dylan's career understands his ability to delight and frustrate fans, sometimes simultaneously. Twenty-five years ago, "fans" booed him at the Newport Folk Festival for playing an electric guitar; music from this period is now considered "classic" Dylan.

And Dylan's "new twisting" of "Watchtower" and "Heaven's Door" may not be so new; read the liner notes in Biograph and find out how he really thinks "Watchtower" should be played.

Naturally, Dylan can't -- and won't -- satisfy everyone. But it's his music and he retains the right to perform it the way he wants.

If he had merely appeared at Rec Hall and rambled through an hour of his "hits" with no enthusiasm, he would have been accused of being just another nostalgic dinosaur of rock, pathetically trying to extend his career.

But instead, he gave the audience a vibrant performance and showed that he's still capable of producing viable music. It's unfortunate that this was not appreciated by those in attendance, and was not conveyed to those absent.