POP MUSIC REVIEW : Dylan, Santana: Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right : The potential for parody was there, but Mr. Tambourine Man and Mr. Guitar prove they’ve still got it.

“Two legends--one night,” declared an ad for the Bob Dylan-Santana tour package, treading perilously close to parody.

It’s just one baby step away in a “Saturday Night Live” sketch writer’s imagination from the pure spoof of “Mr. Tambourine Man meets Mr. Guitar.”

In truth, the biggest potential for parody on Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl rested on the shoulders of Legend No. 1, Dylan.

The most acclaimed songwriter of the rock era, Dylan appeared so ragged and indifferent as a singer in a pair of disastrous TV appearances in recent years that even a mother’s love would be tested.

Dylan had the right idea at the 1991 Grammy telecast when he sang “Masters of War”--a blistering mockery of the show’s timid, commercial tone during the Persian Gulf crisis. But all that anyone remembers from the night was the incomprehensibility of his vocal.

This tour--which continues Tuesday at the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion in Devore--should do much to combat that disheartening image, which was sometimes reinforced in unfocused concerts.

Returning to the Bowl, where he was the guest artist 30 years ago at a Joan Baez concert, Dylan regained much of his honor as a performer. In an endearing, 90-minute set before an enthusiastic crowd of 14,500, he demonstrated a commitment and joy of music that many feared had left him forever.

Though his enunciation remained trying at times Saturday, Dylan no longer seemed reluctant or retreating. In the hundreds of shows he has done in recent years--many of them relatively low-profile concerts on college campuses and in small halls, Dylan has discovered there is, indeed, life for him as a musician--not only as a living museum piece.

He will still sing the ‘60s songs whose lyrics and ideas defined his rock legend, but he has found comfort in focusing on other elements of his music--including a love for old blues and folk tunes. Indeed, one of Saturday’s highlights was his spirited harmonica and guitar playing on “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”

Wearing a Western-style black suit, Dylan emphasized his career-musician role by opening with “You’re Gonna Quit Me,” a traditional song from his 1992 album “Good As I Been to You.”

He and his four-piece, blues-and-country-rooted band then moved easily between acoustic and electric versions of his vintage and recent material--scoring as well on an explosive version of 1990’s “God Knows,” a song about struggle and morality, as the tender rendition of 1964’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe” that closed the show.

Where Dylan once sang the latter song with the defiance of a young man insisting on his independence, his vocal at the Bowl, though hoarse, had a warm, disarming quality to it, almost as if he is now able to let down his guard and celebrate with the audience all the years together--and, one hopes, still to come.

Legend No. 2, guitarist Carlos Santana, displays a soulful purity and beauty on his all-too-few solo turns, but his individuality is largely lost in the band’s by now predictable percussion-heavy approach. Also: Someone should warn him about the parody dangers of speaking between songs about dreaming of a world with no flags, boundaries or wallets --this at a concert where the top tickets were $65.