Bob Dylan at Budokan reached in the U.S. and went gold, while simultaneously peaking at in the UK. Publishing in his "Consumer Guide" column,
Robert Christgau gave the album a C+ rating, writing "I believe this double LP was made available so our hero could boast of being outclassed by
Cheap Trick, who had the self-control to release but a single disc from this location". However, the album received stronger reviews in Europe, and critic
Janet Maslin (then a music critic for
Rolling Stone magazine) defended the album in her review. "The method here is hit-or-miss, and the results are correspondingly spotty", Maslin wrote. "The fire and brimstone are behind Dylan, [but] this hardly means the fight has gone out of him:
Bob Dylan at Budokan is a very contentious effort—and, for the most part, a victorious one".
Stereogum ran an article to coincide with Dylan's 80th birthday on 24 May 2021 in which 80 musicians were asked to name their favorite Dylan songs.
Steve Gunn selected the Budokan version of "
Shelter from the Storm", noting that "the delivery is declarative and minimal, holding a steady line and giving the song a different life than the original. There’s a new confidence, which gives one of my all-time favorite Dylan lines new resonance: 'I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form'. Dylan’s life is full of comeback waves, and the energy propulsing through this song is testament to his genius for looking deeper into his art". Despite its initial lukewarm reception, the album has developed a
cult following over the years, with some commentators expressing admiration for its "innovative arrangements" and referring to it as an "overlooked classic". ==Track listing==