He started doing that in the late '70s and continued through the mid '80s, where his shows contained a lot of new, often unreleased material but also very perfunctory run-thrus of the "hits." The Hammersmith and Buffalo sets released a few years ago are much the same way.
It's almost audible how he was becoming disenchanted with touring by the late '70s, even though his bands were incredible and his guitar playing was the best it ever got. I get the sense that the guitar playing and the audience interaction bits were the only parts he still really enjoyed by '77. The rest was just "optional entertainment."
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