All the Concerts Fit to Print

I had noted the announcement of Dylan's concert, but decided to skip it. We'd seen him a few times, and the tickets weren't that cheap. Mark Knopfler being on the bill almost tempted me. Then, a week or two ahead of the show, they announced that tickets would be discounted. We decided to go. The show must have sold very poorly, since we ended up on the main floor, only about 20 rows back. I thought we would be alongside the sound boards, but we were closer than that.

I was looking forward to seeing Mark Knopfler, so I was really mad when I realized I'd left the tickets at home. I'd had them in my hand when Cyn asked if I had them, but I set them down. The trip home and back downtown only took about 50 minutes, but it meant we missed the beginning of Knopfler's set. Not sure when it started, but we got to our seats when a longish song was ending, about 7:50. A review in the paper says he played for about 75 minutes, so he must have started right on time.

He started out with three other guys, but soon another five joined him (guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, piano, banjo, accordion, mandolin, pipes, flute, and one other mandolin-like instrument I didn't recognize). His music is a rather laid-back mix of countryish, bluesish, folky rock. Very pleasant. He got an encore, and played Dire Straits's "So Far Away." The one song I wasn't impressed with.

Then Bob Dylan. If you're familiar with his style, well, you knew what you were getting into. He doesn't really sing. He rasps. Sometimes croaks. He only occasionally tries to hit actual notes, and he doesn't always succeed. Very few of the songs sound anything like the original versions, particularly the older ones. I've heard that he changes them so people don't sing along. That sounds like Bob, but I also don't think he could actually sing them.

She-was-workin' in-a-top-less PLACE
And-I stopped-in-for-a BEER
I-just-kept-lookin'-at-the-side-of-her FACE
In-the-spotlight so CLEAR

He also changes his arrangements quite a bit. We played the usual game of "guess the song," though it was easier than usual. Some songs were fairly faithful. The sound was very good, and the lyrics were generally very audible. I recognized "Like a Rolling Stone" right away, even without its characteristic organ. He played a single song for the encore. I didn't recognize "Blowin' in the Wind" until I heard the word "cannonball." "Ballad of a Thin Man" and "Million Miles" were very much like the original. So it was nice of him to change it up like that.

Onstage, Dylan was quite active... for Dylan. He alternated between sitting behind his keyboard (often playing harmonica), and standing at center stage with a corded mic in his hand. He was often kinda dancing around. Kinda. Stepping back and forth, actually. But even that is pretty rare. And he's 71.

The band consisted of Tony Garnier (bass guitar), Donnie Herron (banjo, mandolin, lap steel, pedal steel, violin), Stu Kimball (guitar), George Recile (drums) and Charlie Sexton (guitar). There's not much I can say about these stalwarts - they're just plain good. They presented a unified sound, which was actually at odds with Dylan himself, but what can you do? Aside from Dylan's odd vocal and keyboard stylings, he was mixed a bit high, and wasn't integrated well with the rest of the band.

He played no songs from Tempest, his latest album. He played three from Modern Times, (two albums previous), and one song that was a single from that time. I enjoyed "Million Miles" and "Love Sick" from 1998's Time Out of Mind. Beyond those, he had a generous helping of his early hits.

1. "Watching the River Flow"
2. "Girl from the North Country"
3. "Things Have Changed"
4. "Tangled Up in Blue"
5. "Million Miles"
6. "Chimes of Freedom"
7. "Rollin' and Tumblin'"
8. "Love Sick"
9. "Highway 61 Revisited"
10. "Ain't Talkin'"
11. "Thunder on the Mountain"
12. "Ballad of a Thin Man"
13. "Like a Rolling Stone"
14. "All Along the Watchtower"
Encore - "Blowin' in the Wind"

review at the Journal-Sentinel

My dad and I went to see another Dylan show. We had good seats, up off the floor, not too far from the stage. All the hippies were down on the general admission floor.

Phil Lesh, the Dead's bassist put on a perfectly acceptable show. Bluesy, if I recall correctly.

Dylan's show, I don't recall very much at all. Okay, none, really. I can almost see it...

The legendary Bob Dylan at the Eagles Ballroom. I went with my dad and stepmom. I was surprised that they had set up seating in the ballroom. I'd never seen that before, or since. Very old wooden seats. Must have been original to the club.

Never having seen Dylan live, I didn't know what to expect, but it was still different than I'd have imagined. The music was all kinda run together, and you couldn't really understand his vocals. It often took a while to recognize the songs they were playing. Other than that, the music was good. Dylan wore black, with a low, wide-brimmed hat, and always seemed to be hunched over his keyboard. I kept thinking his silhouette was that of Georgia O'Keeffe, but maybe she didn't hunch like that.

Dylan played keyboards all night. No guitar.

There was this thing going on with the kids in the row in front of us. They wanted to dance. My dad, the girl next to us (about my age) and her mother, didn't want to stand. My dad was a little mad and complained about them, but the mother to us was getting angry and vocal about it. She kept asking them to sit down. She complained to the ushers/security. The kids weren't complete jerks about it, though. Sometimes they refused to sit, but other times they did sit. At some point, a couple of them got permission to dance in the aisle or to go someplace else. During the encore, however, when asked to sit down, they flat-out refused. One turned, and shook his head "no," with a smile.

I wouldn't have minded standing through much of the show, but most of it wasn't really a dancing kind of show. By the end of the show I was getting pretty fed up with the anger. I wanted to say, "just deal with it. You're not so old you can't stand up for some of the show. And the show isn't going to be ruined for you if you can't see the band in every single song. You're going away from here with just a few snapshots in your memories, anyway. Instead of remembering the show for the assholes in front of you who wouldn't sit down, wouldn't you rather remember it for the music you heard and sometimes saw?"

( setlist )