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| Gazza |
Just back from a few days of seeing 3 great Dylan shows in Glasgow and Belfast. I'll add my own reviews later - meanwhile here's todays review from the Scottish paper the "Sunday herald"
 Bob Almighty
Bob Dylan, SECC, Glasgow
Bob Dylan, Barrowland, Glasgow
Reviewed by Damien Love
WHATEVER happened to the Hampden Roar? I think I know. It took some time off. It travelled a bit , gave up cigarettes and drank tea and honey to soothe its ragged throat. Then, last Thursday, it came back home and managed to sneak into the greatest concert I�ve ever seen.
This happens four songs into Bob Dylan�s Glasgow Barrowland gig (his second night in town after playing the SECC the night before). By now, he�s already zigzagged across the great dark continent of his songbook, from a vicious, stop-start prowl and howl Drifter�s Escape, and a cat�s-paw playful I�ll Be Your Baby Tonight � which turns out to be his statement of intent � right into the new century with the absurdist newsflash Tweedle Dee And Tweedle Dum. Then, just when he�s made sure you don�t know where he might go next, his band start this pattering, descending-rising figure, and he�s playing Just Like A Woman.
And when he gets to the chorus � �Aw, she takes �� � it happens. The Roar jumps alive; the building sings. Not new, of course; people always sing at Dylan shows. Tonight, though, the place is so much smaller, the sound so much bigger, so much more together, it�s like a new presence has entered, hovering over the 1900 souls cramming this small, sweating room.
It astonishes everyone. You see the effect it has on the band breaking across the stage like dawn. Tony Garnier, the zoot-suited bassist who�s been Dylan�s bandleader since the late 1980s, suddenly has this huge, helpless grin, is turning to the other players � Larry Campbell on guitar, cittern, slide, fiddle ; George Recile on drums; Stu Kimball on guitar � as if to say, �Can you believe this?� These smiles are genuine.
Dylan is standing chording away at his keyboard, leaning into the song now, listening, and a surprised grin flashes across his face, too. Anyone who knows anything about Dylan will not believe this, but, by the end of the song, just for a moment, the man famous for wilfully restructuring the DNA of his songs , seems to be singing along with the crowd, not vice versa.
Flash back to the night before. Dylan appeared at the tin cattle shed that is the SECC, his regular Glasgow haunt for the past decade-and-a-half. In 1991, I saw Dylan charge like Custer at a suicidal set, leaving his band scattered behind. This new band, though, are ready for anything. On Wednesday, Dylan put on his best ever SECC show. Those present, and who didn�t get to Barrowland, may console themselves with the knowledge that, of the 17 songs he played both nights, 10 were different, and that on that first night he unveiled a fragile version of Boots Of Spanish Leather .
At the Barrowland, though, the audience is so surrealistically close to Dylan it�s like having Picasso paint your living room. It�s Alright Ma is a storm approaching a city. Girl Of The North Country, with Garnier gently bowing his double bass, is chamber music to make the silverware shiver. Summer Days, a roadhouse rumble, driven by Kimbal�s splenetic work. Dylan is definitely back into one of his �periods�. You can tell by the way he looks. He always looks great when he�s at his best: the 1960s punk alien; the beat-gypsy of the 1970s renaissance. Now, with Clark Gable moustache and Civil War duds, he just looks incredible, a cosmic cowboy vampire bluesman. H e walks like a bopping boxer, hands held before him. With one hand, he�s rediscovered the harmonica, producing forceful, sinister and plaintive runs . With the other, he paws out these big, warm, gospel-inflected chords on his keyboard.
People have wondered why he�s given up guitar this time. Some have speculated arthritis (though, last month, he was playing guitar with Willie Nelson). But Dylan has always played piano and, notably during late-1970s tours, has abandoned guitar before, to concentrate on singing. And he is singing tonight. That exotic pet of a voice is something up from a mysterious swamp, a husk covered in scales, but filled with skeletons and jewels. Sometimes, it�s a spook show; he puts these high inflections at the end of phrases, so words linger and drift. Sometimes (Ballad Of A Thin Man), it�s that old put-down sneer. Sometimes (I Believe in You), a lover�s prayer.
We eventually get to the hymn that is Like A Rolling Stone. The Roar rises on that chorus, redoubled. After it, the grin can�t be hid. Dylan comes stage centre, shaking his head and � that rarest thing � talks to us. �We musta played that song a thousand times, an� no-one�s ever kept up like that.�
Bob Dylan pays us a compliment. All Along The Watchtower sounds a warning. Then, it�s over.
27 June 2004
[Edited by Gazza] |
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| Phog |
Lucky dog!! Hope you had a blast. We await your reveiws eagerly. |
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| Lazy Bones |
Thin Man, Boots and Hollis Brown - you bastard!! A 3-night treat. Not bad at all.
I echo Phog's wishes of awaiting your reviews... |
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| Gazza |
You picked three songs that each night were for me particular highlights.
Ballad of a Thin man he used to play all the time, and it was sort of 'played out'. At the barrowlands, it was a revelation. and seeing him play it at the piano - shades of "Eat the document". marvellous
Hollis Brown last night...Good God. How to describe the arrangement and feel of it. Imagine it had been written in 1989 and Lanois had produced it for "Oh mercy" and recorded it on the same day as "man in the long black coat". It was eerie. I've NEVER heard it as brilliant as that.
I didnt have great seats at the SECC - it was up the left hand side and its a horrible venue with bad sightlines unless youre on the floor, so Bob had his back to me as he stands on the left of the stage playing keyboards. Sound was terrific and his voice crystal clear. Never ceases to amaze me how he can breathe new life and feeling into a song like "The Times They Are A Changin" which he must have played zillions of times...that plus how many different ARRANGEMENTS of these songs are possible. Man In The Long Black Coat was a jawdropper of a performance, as were Boots of Spanish Leather (superb arrangement) and I Dont Believe You (it swung a la the 1978 era version).. I sneaked down onto the floor about 20 feet in front of the stage for the encores, and beside me there was this guy who was carrying his daughter, who must have been about 5 - he held her up in the aisle so she could see Bob - it was what Keith would call "passing the torch" , ie "THIS is what your dad likes" - and she's groovin along like crazy in his arms. A beautiful moment.
SECC, Glasgow setlist 23/6/04 : The Wicked Messenger/
The Times They Are A-Changin'/Cry A While/Tryin' To Get To Heaven/It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)/
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again/Man In The Long Black Coat/Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum/Boots Of Spanish Leather/I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)/Forever Young/Honest With Me/Every Grain Of Sand/Summer Days
(encore)Don't Think Twice, It's All Right/Like A Rolling Stone/All Along The Watchtower
The club show at Barrowlands was only announced about 2 weeks in advance and I got the much sought after tickets because, as usual, Bob's management and the promoters have an arrangement with the unofficial fan magazines and sites such as Desolation Row and Isis so that the diehard fans get priority notice and first preference. Oh, and it costs us next to nothing to do it. The tickets went on sale to the public 12 hours after the date was confirmed and a phone call within 30 minutes of having received the e-mail about the show had ensured that 2 tickets were kept for me while I popped a cheque in the post to pay for them. See? It can be done without having to pay $100 for nothing.
Being me, there had to be a bit of drama before I could see the Barrowland show. A mate was flying in from Belfast to join me for this concert. I had the tickets with me and left my hotel to meet him as his bus came in from the airport, a 7 minute stroll from my city centre hotel. Got back to the hotel room, went to reach into my jacket to give him his ticket and.....no fucking tickets!!! Pulled everything out of every pocket..nothing. Its now one hour until the doors open and less than 2 hours until Bob is onstage and this guy has came over for this club show and we dont have tickets..and of course, had it been for the SECC show or the Belfast gig two nights later i could have simply got 2 new tickets at face value, but these bloody things were (I found out later) changing hands outside for �150-200, about 5 times face value. I'm going almost white with disbelief, so we go outside and retrace our steps. We walk all the way back through the city centre in the rush hour traffic and I clap eyes on this piece of paper lying on the ground 12 yards from the bus stop. Its the friggin' tickets, lying face down on the pavement. Had they been face up, or had it been windy or wet (it had poured for 2 days non stop but the ground had just dried up an hour earlier) they'd have been history. Looking down, I guess they just looked like an old train or bus ticket. A couple of people had even stood on them!! So, if any Glaswegian commuters are reading this and are wondering why last Thursday you saw two grown men hugging each other in delight on Bothwell Street in broad daylight during the rush hour, relax, it wasn't some gay tryst. Suffice to say, the pint I had five minutes afterwards was perhaps the best I ever tasted.
After that, this show, my 25th Dylan concert, was always going to be a good one. What the reviewer at the top of this thread said about was right on the nail. The most enthusiastic audience I've EVER seen at a Dylan concert (the spoken intro at the start was absolutely DROWNED out) and certainly one of the five best shows I've ever seen him do. An amazingly hot and sweaty venue. We didnt go too close, so it was just great to stand at the side, near the bar and watch Bob. Beats the usual Thursday night choice of bar band.
Setlist was incredibly different to the night before. Apart from the three encores which were unchanged from night to night, the only three songs duplicated from the night before were "its alright ma" and the three from "love and theft". The singalong on "just like a woman" was amazing, it may have been the best version of this song EVER - Bob just gave up and let them get on with it, something he hardly ever does (shades of Barcelona 84 for those of you familar with that one), the new arrangement of "it aint me babe" saw possibly the best performance of the 3 nights, "Highway 61" saw the band rock as good and hard as any band on earth (and I mean ANY), "Thin man" was a real pleasant surprise and he absolutely SPAT the words out, and the audience reaction to "like a rolling stone" provoked Bob into, for a change, actually addressing the crowd for a change apart from the standard band intros when he said something along the lines of "we've played that thousands of times and NOBODY has been able to sing it WITH me before - nobody".
A show for the ages.
setlist for Barrowland, Glasgow 24/6/04:
Drifter's Escape/I'll Be Your Baby Tonight/
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum/Just Like A Woman/
It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)/Girl Of The North Country /Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
Ballad Of A Thin Man /Floater (Too Much To Ask)
Highway 61 Revisited/It Ain't Me, Babe (acoustic)
Honest With Me/I Believe In You/Summer Days
(encore)
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right/Like A Rolling Stone
All Along The Watchtower
I got back home on Friday lunchtime..its only a 30 minute flight and went into work for the afternoon as I'm trying to save my holiday time. Back out that evening for some liquid refreshment with fellow Rocks Off-er Billyboll who had flown over from Liverpool with his mate Andy for the next day's Belfast show.
Five of us met up at Billy's hotel on the Saturday for the "home" gig which had been moved due to grant and licensing problems from the completely unsuitable (for Bob) location of Stormont's Parliament Buildings to the indoor Odyssey Arena. The "festival" line up of 9 acts remained intact so I was expecting a shorter setlist and a crowd of not really BIG Dylan fans, so of the 3 shows it was probably the show I was least enthusiastic about in advance. However, it turned out fine. We were able to get a place near the front (2nd row right in front of where Bob would be) even though we got there just 3 hours before he came on and during the day you were able to get wristband passes and go in and out of the venue to the bars nearby etc. After lively sets by hometown artist Gary Moore and Dublin band The Thrills, Bob hit the stage at 8.45 and opened with four songs that he hadnt done at EITHER of the Glasgow shows. It was probably a harder rocking and bluesier set than the other two nights and again both Bob and the band were nailing every number. "Lovesick" was a real surprise as was "tears of rage" but the real "fuck ME" moment of the night was the version he did of "Hollis brown". At the end of "rolling stone" Bob for some reason doubled up in fits of the giggles when introducing the band and he was still struggling to keep his face straight in time to sing "watchtower". Two hours of brilliance and the crowd seemed really up for it, especially towards the end - and thankfully not a festival style greatest hits setlist that we may have expected - and another 8 songs that I hadn't heard at either of the Glasgow shows.
The band Dylan has these days is shit-hot to say the least. Stu Kimball has been in the band 3 weeks and plays like he's been there for ten years. They all watch Dylan like hawks wondering what he's going to do next. I found some of Bob's "never ending tour" bands a bit hit and miss at times in the early days of the tour, but especially since 1998 or so, anyone who has been replaced has been substituted without really being missed. the standard has been terrific and they remain an incredibly tight unit.
I saw Dylan at Wembley 7 months ago and really enjoyed it. Due to the short time thats elapsed since then, I wasnt sure if I'd enjoy these three as much as (like the Stones) I think its time Bob gave us a new record. However, I thought all three of these shows blew away the Wembley '03 show and were up there with the autumn 2000 UK shows as the most consistently excellent string of gigs I've seen him do
Setlist Odyssey Arena, Belfast 26.6.04
Maggie's Farm /Watching The River Flow /Seeing The Real You At Last /Moonlight /Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum /
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
Love Sick /Highway 61 Revisited /Tears Of Rage
Cold Irons Bound /Every Grain Of Sand /Honest With Me
Ballad Of Hollis Brown /Summer Days
(encore)
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right/Like A Rolling Stone
All Along The Watchtower
Some stats: Each show lasted around 2 hours. 17 songs each night. Of the 51 songs played on the 3 shows, there were 35 DIFFERENT songs. Only 6 songs (including all 3 encores)were played every night. If my calculations are right, 25 of the 35 songs were played at only one of the three shows.
Not bad for an old fart. A great few days from Dr Robert
[Edited by Gazza] |
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| charlotte |
Thanks for the review Gazza, I saw Robert in Columbia,SC(US)recently, excellent show. |
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| Gazza |
just checkin the setlists on the other UK shows and to add to the 35 songs I saw, he did these as well, most of them one-offs :
Cardiff 18/6 - its all over now baby blue, If dogs run free, shooting star
London "Fleadh" 20/6 - Down along the cove, lonesome day blues, desolation row, positively 4th Street, High water, Not dark yet
newcastle 22/6 - tell me that it isnt true, Under the red sky, Ring them bells, This wheels on fire, hattie carroll, Bye and Bye, masters of war, If not for you
52 different songs over six nights. |
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| Gazza |
Barrowland review from rec.music.dylan
Bob Dylan
Glasgow � Barrowland
24 June 2004
by Toby Richards-Carpenter
Would you be prepared to believe that a great Bob Dylan show could
occur without necessarily containing a set of great Bob Dylan
performances? Tonight was the night, truly the �You Had To Be There'
gig to end them all.
In broad terms, the Glasgow Barrowland crowd generated a wall of
noise, a noise of such force that Bob Dylan was coerced on occasion,
(and you're not going to believe this), into duetting with his
audience. For whatever the volume of support, and it did overwhelm the
music coming from the stage at times, this was not an unthinking or
disrespectful barrage of shouting.
It was just that, on occasion, the entire crowd sang along. In a place
the size of your average village hall, this didn't have the usual
irritating, cheesy effect of a good-time clap-along for people who
knew the songs only off the record. Oh no. This was Bob Dylan's music
crossing boundaries, forming a state of unity between song, audience
and performer in the profoundest sense.
This first occurred during �Just Like A Woman', and Bob acknowledged
the collective power of the moment during the final verse. "You fake�
like� woman" filled in Bob through a huge grin, surfing the wave of
sound that flooded the room. As this continued to the song's
conclusion, the sense of euphoria grew and the reception given was
tumultuous.
People were cheering Bob of course, but also celebrating their own joy
at being part of such a moment. The only comparable feeling I can
think of occurred during �A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' in Bournemouth
in 2002 when Bob's microphone cut out, for those of you who remember.
After the reaction to �Just Like A Woman', which had clearly taken Bob
aback, it seemed that he was actively trying to steer clear of the big
chorus-laden songs. People were rapt in attention during �It's
Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), �Girl Of The North Country' and �Most
Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll go Mine)', although the level of
adulation never dropped below the deafening between songs.
It was during this middle portion of the set that the show's
centrepiece unravelled, a heroically vengeful �Ballad Of A Thin Man'.
On a day when Bob Dylan's image adorned the front page of every
newspaper in Scotland, alongside insulting headlines criticising his
appearance at his degree ceremony in St. Andrews on Wednesday, �Ballad
Of A Thin Man' was the only response.
The bit between his teeth, Dylan tore into the song, and how glorious
to hear it sung with genuine purpose, with a target, Bob getting even
with his accusers in the press. He'd literally been with the
professors, discussed matter with scholars, and none of them knew what
was happening. The Barrowland crowd knew though, cheering and
hollering at the level of Bob's response.
Along with �Ballad Of A Thin Man' there was one other performance that
Bob claimed as his own, separate from the insane din that elevated and
defined the show. �I Believe In You' took exceptional willpower for
Bob to sing with such searing gospel heat. The selfless religious
intensity was generated from Bob's commitment to sing from the bottom
of his heart, not to mention his lungs.
One passage in particular took on the verve and menace of the �Born
Again' era:
"Oh, though the earth may shake me
Oh, and my friend for sake me
Oh, even that wouldn't make me go back"
I was close enough to see Bob's shoulders rising and falling as he
took deep breaths, reaching and drawing out the notes as though
offering his voice as a sacrifice, and I saw him give a little cough
afterwards and a flicker of a smile to George as if to say "That's it
� that's all I got nowadays!". It's plenty, Bob, plenty.
Although five rows or so back from the rail, and directly in front of
the drum kit, I was still within 15 feet of Bob's keyboard in this
tiny venue. It was a fabulously intimate vantage point, and a
privilege to get such a close-up look at the workings of the band. I
could see beads of sweat, Larry smiling, Stu grimacing, George's legs
shaking, and Tony looking a little scared. And if I paused for a
second, I could feel the barrage of noise pressing against me from the
back of the room.
The encores were the pinnacle of this communal elation. Bob sang
�Don't Think Twice, It's Alright' with a smile as the audience
harmonised, and during �Like A Rolling Stone' he was actually pointing
at us, conducting us, telling us when to come in! For all concerned
the effect seemed to be utterly surreal yet, to me, wonderfully pure
as well. Bob had finally surrendered to the collective ascendancy of
the music.
When the time for the band introductions came, Bob took the chance to
acknowledge what was happening. Most of his words were inaudible above
the hysteria, but I think he began with something like "My, it's loud
in here" and, in reference to �Like A Rolling Stone', said "I must
have sung that a thousand times and nobody could ever sing along with
it".
I may be wrong about these words, but what was clear was that Bob was
touched and somewhat overwhelmed by the level of reaction his mere
presence had generated. I say his mere presence, because the chaotic
buzz was there in the room before a note had been played, and many of
the songs' performances, as far as I could tell, were routine in their
execution by Bob and the band.
But the Barrowland gig wasn't about inspired interpretations by Bob of
individual songs. It was about the power of music. It was about the
human spirit. And, above all, it seemed to be about the fans in the
venue expressing their unconditional gratitude to Bob Dylan for all he
has done. That this expression was recognised, acknowledged and
finally appreciated by Bob means more than I can say.
So, for reasons that may baffle those who weren't present, who may
just hear a recording, Glasgow Barrowland was one of the all-time
great Dylan concerts. You just had to be there.
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| Riffhard |
Wow great review Gazza! I saw Zimmy in Atlantic City a few weeks ago at the Borgata Hotel and Casino. He was outstanding. You are right about the band. They are tighter than a tick's ass! He is really mixing it up on the setlists these days. I also got High Water,which was great. He also did a beautiful Lay Lady Lay which blew everyone away. Can't wait for him to come back!
Riffhard |
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| Riffhard |
Oh,by the way,did you see his Oscar trophy Gazza? He keeps in right behind his keyboard near the guitar racks. He takes it everywhere for goodluck! A guy with binoculars pointed it out to me in AC.
Riffhard |
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| Gazza |
Cant say I've noticed it...maybe he just has it visible sometimes?
When he toured Europe in summer 2001, I saw him at Stirling Castle in Scotland That was just a couple of months after he won the Oscar and it was on the guitar amp on every show at that time (when he did "things have changed" at Liverpool - and you can see it on the video/DVD of it - he acknowledges the applause for the Oscar winning song by grabbing the statuette and waving it!).. I've seen him six times since then and havent noticed 'Oscar' at any of the shows I've been at..! |
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| FPM C10 |
Thanks for the great review(s), Gazza. I especially LOVED the story about losing the tickets and then finding them - when things like that happen it almost makes me believe in a righteous god.
The highlight of the show I saw in April in DC was "Hollis Brown", and your description of it as sounding like Lanois produced it is spot on. Every time I see Dylan there are moments that just transcend time and space, and that was one of the MOST transcendent. It had the low-key intensity of any good murder ballad, and people cheered the rebirth of the seven souls at the end.
Impossible not to compare the Stones to Dylan and wish they could follow his lead in terms of changing the setlists and releasing albums, but they have painted themselves into the corner they're in and the paint ain't gonna dry before the end of the road. |
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| Phog |
Thanks Gazza. That's great you found your tix. Jesus, I would've been shitting myself.
Cheers |
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| Gazza |
>Jesus, I would've been shitting myself.
theres no "would have been" about it. Had I not "gone" about an hour earlier, I most certainly WOULD have!
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| Gazza |
Tonights stadium show in Galway, Ireland featured an extra encore and one more song than normal - and SIX (count them!) songs not played on any of the 6 UK shows: (those songs are denoted as "*")
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 *
If You See Her, Say Hello *
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
If Not For You
Drifter's Escspe
The Man In Me *
Down Along The Cove
Mr. Tambourine Man *
God Knows *
Tangled Up In Blue *
Not Dark Yet
Honest With Me
Forever Young
Summer Days
(1st encore)
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (acoustic)
Like A Rolling Stone
All Along The Watchtower
(2nd encore)
Highway 61 Revisited
setlist from Boblinks. Thats now 58 different bloody songs in 7 shows
[Edited by Gazza] |
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| T&A |
you know, the word is that Bob's recording for a new live album. maybe even he knows how good the band is right now... |
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| Lazy Bones |
Holy shit with your tickets. I'll bet you kissed those babies something fierce when you picked them up.
Great reviews, Gary. Don't you feel absolutely blessed when you get as many songs as you did over a 3-night span?! Not to mention that he gives you performances that you didn't think were still possible out of him!
Glad you enjoyed em! |
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| Martha |
quote:
Gazza wrote:
Cant say I've noticed it...maybe he just has it visible sometimes?
When he toured Europe in summer 2001, I saw him at Stirling Castle in Scotland That was just a couple of months after he won the Oscar and it was on the guitar amp on every show at that time (when he did "things have changed" at Liverpool - and you can see it on the video/DVD of it - he acknowledges the applause for the Oscar winning song by grabbing the statuette and waving it!).. I've seen him six times since then and havent noticed 'Oscar' at any of the shows I've been at..!
He moved his Oscar, Gary. It used to be behind Bob (when he was center stage) in the mid/center stage area on a guitar amp and now it is way over to his right on the far side of the stage. There are some of those gaudy florescent beaded necklaces along with some feather boas hanging out there with Oscar. Even though it is right there you have to look for it. It's there though. :-) |
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| Nasty Habits |
That Barrowlands gig sounds so great, Gazza. Wish I could have been there singing with you all.
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| Martha |
Bloody fantastic reviews Gary and the lost ticket story had me nervous for you even though I knew you somehow found them before I got to that part of the story. Big Sigh.......................of RELIEF!!! :-)
I had a feeling you were gonna get something special at one of the shows....and I was right. I just knew it somehow. I'm so damn happy for you......now when will you have boots from these gigs! LOL!
I really want to be in the audience and experience Bob performing the song "Love Sick". I noticed it was one of your highlight moments. Can you tell me anymore about that moment/performance? Thanks!
I REALLY appreciate all the reviews! It sounds like magic, indeed!
"I can't wait, ...wait for you to change your mind.
It's late..............I'm trying to walk the line...."
Martha! |
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| justinkurian |
Great reviews...I saw him a month ago at AC, too. I just picked up tickets to see him and Willie at Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. My bro, one of my buddies, and I are taking the day off, going to the HoF and then catching Willie and Bob at night. Can't wait...and it's standing room only, too. |
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| Martha |
quote:
justinkurian wrote:
Great reviews...I saw him a month ago at AC, too. I just picked up tickets to see him and Willie at Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. My bro, one of my buddies, and I are taking the day off, going to the HoF and then catching Willie and Bob at night. Can't wait...and it's standing room only, too.
Hey Justin, We'll be there too! It would be great to meet you if we can figure out how to hook-up at the show. Do you have a room booked in Cooperstown? The rates are HIGH if you don't already know that. PM with your details if you want to try to meet! :-) |
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| Sir Stonesalot |
Great stuff Gazz. Man, the tickets story....that is so great and terrible at the same time.
And Flea was totally correct...Hollis Brown was fanfuckintastic...seems to be a trend with that one.
I just picked up tix for the Altoona PA gig. What a strange venue choice. There is a big friggin' rollercoaster in right field...what a surreal backdrop. And the really cool thing.....kids under 12 are admitted free! I get to take my boy to see Bob!
Now if I can just get Bob to play Blind Willie McTell there, I can die a happy man! |
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| Gazza |
According to a link on expectingrain.com, Dylan visited the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children last weekend, and "he did impromptu songs with harmonica and gave harmonicas out to sick children" - (WireImage)
see the pics here!! :
http://www.wireimage.com./GalleryListing.asp?navtyp=CLB&str=6504&styp=clbi&sfld=&nvc=E&nvv=67486&nm=Bob+Dylan&evntI=
the last two pics werent published on that site. Found them by just changing the serial number of the pic on the link...
[Edited by Gazza] |
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| Factory Girl |
Dylan received an Oscar for what movie? |
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| Gazza |
Bob Dylan, Glasgow Barrowlands 24th June 2004: Bob Be Praised
Jun 28 '04
The Bottom Line Bob Dylan's most intimate venue in over a decade results in a truly mesmerising concert. You really should have been there.
The "historic gig" is one of the cornerstones of popular music mythology. Time and again, we hear the tale of Jimi Hendrix's Isle of Wight show, where his black Stratocaster was sacrificed to the flames. There's The Beatles' final gig on the rooftop of their Apple headquarters. Oasis at Knebworth Park, Pink Floyd in Pompeii, The Stone Roses at Spike Island, U2 in Sarajevo, The Stones at Altamont, Nirvana's 1992 Reading Festival appearance - The list goes on, but it must be said that the vast majority of these shows have taken place in the fairly distant past, during what some would call rock's glory years. Popular music just doesn't seem to inspire the same levels of legendary performances these days. We hear the stories of its golden era, listen to the misty-eyed ruminations of those who managed to attend some of these occasions, but its so rare for one of these gigs to take place now, in our era of Britneys, Didos and Justins. But if you're lucky, and choose your gigs wisely, you will find one that is genuinely good enough to be described as classic.
On Thursday 24th June, Bob Dylan was set to play his smallest venue in over 15 years, at the legendary Glasgow Barrowlands. An ex-ballroom which holds about 1900 people, it�s located in the Gallowgate region of the city, an area that could be described as �full of character� by some and �a bit dodgy� by others. The gig was a last-minute addition to the UK leg of his current tour, and the chance to see Dylan up close in such a small venue ensured that the tickets sold out within about seven minutes of going on sale. As a committed Dylan fan, I wasn�t to be dissuaded, and ended up paying rather handsomely through that wonderful thing called Ebay for 2 tickets for my Dad and myself. This, quite simply, was a gig not to be missed.
But the omens weren�t good. The previous day, Dylan had picked up an honorary doctorate in music from St Andrew�s University, the oldest in Scotland, only the second time he has ever accepted one. The news footage showed Dr. Dylan looking thoroughly bored and tired throughout the ceremony, and the following day one tabloid newspaper, apparently irked at his refusal to give an interview, headlined with �Hey Mr. Damn Boring Man� ( Geddit? ). So one might be forgiven for thinking that Dylan might not be in the best of spirits. And few performers swing between such wild extremes in concert as Dylan - One night he�ll be life-affirmingly brilliant, and the next, crap.
On the Wednesday night I attended his show at the cavernous steel and concrete box of the SECC centre, a sit-down gig with as much atmosphere as a punctured lung, and though the show was solid, I was simply too far away to be truly moved, the sound scattered by the dismal acoustics, his voice seeming to veer between a disinterested honk and a bronchial splutter. So, would the Barrowlands gig be the legendary occasion we all hoped it would be, or a disappointing anti-climax in the style of his Live Aid appearance?
The answer, my friends, is that Bob Dylan�s show on Thursday 24th June is without question the greatest concert I have ever attended. The audience is so close to Dylan, so near to the flesh of the myth, that as one journalist put it the next day in his gushing review, its like having Picasso paint your living room. As he strolls out to rapturous applause, we see that Bob Dylan is actually a man, a human being of surprisingly short stature, with a deeply lined but wise face, narrowed eyes and a fetching gold cowboy hat. He stands stage right , plays electric keyboards and harmonica, and radiates musical genius. Sometime in the nineties his voice finally waved a white flag and collapsed from 30 years worth of touring, wine and weed. Many performers would have thrown in the towel at that point, their primary instrument broken, but not so Dylan. The voice first introduced on �Time Out Of Mind�, a husky lived-in rasp, now tackles the verbal landscapes of his incomparable back catalogue with an entirely different method of phrasing, timing and inflection, and is marinaded with pathos and wisdom. No other voice would sound right singing the semi-comical backwoods shuffle of �Floater� the way he does tonight, or rattling through the chicken-wire sharp slide fest of �Honest With Me�. It�s a voice which has earned its right to sing of the entire range of human emotional experience, contained in his lyrics and his mountainous songbook, and tonight, it�s a riveting instrument.
He and his band launch into �Drifter�s Escape�, and we�re off: Two hours of sheer genius and magnificent music. We get the country swing of �I�ll Be Your Baby Tonight�, the nursery rhyme absurdism of �Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee�, a beautifully rearranged and fragile �Boots Of Spanish Leather�, and a drop-dead stunning stomp through the 50�s rockabilly of �Summer Days�. The band is tighter than a tightly tightened tight thing, with multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell adding every shade of colour by switching between acoustic and electric guitar, pedal steel, mandolin and violin throughout. There�s a passionate version of �I Believe In You�, his committed statement to God from the �Slow Train Coming� album - Not my favourite, but the level of his sincerity can�t be doubted.
�It�s Alright Ma� is a scorched-earth blues hymn, driven by guitarist Stuart Kimball�s molten guitar riffs, and there is a paralysingly beautiful rendering of �Don�t Think Twice, It�s Alright�, more lovelorn resignation than the defiant sneer of the original. The Scottish crowd shout their approval with shouts of �Gaun yersel� Bobby!!� ( Translation: �Go on yourself Bob!�, meaning, �Go Bob!� ).
So what is it about this particular concert that etches it so indelibly on my consciousness? I�ve been to a fair few gigs in my life, but this is the one I will rank and remember above all others. Firstly, the sheer awestruck thrill of seeing Dylan perform in such a small atmospheric venue will ensure that the Barrowlands gig will go down in Dylan annals as one of his finest and most memorable. Secondly, there is the realisation that Dylan, despite any talk to the contrary, is an utterly committed live performer, never trotting out a workhorse soundalike version of a song. He bends, shapes, moulds and recasts his works with stunning invention and, occasionally, bizarre but always compelling audacity, making him a unique stage artist.
But here�s the main reason. To appreciate it, you really would have needed to be there, but I�ll describe it anyway. A Glasgow crowd is always a good one, and a Barrowlands crowd is as good as it gets. It�s been named by many bands as their favourite British venue due the bonhomie and good-time charge the place generates, and its hard not to suspect this is why Dylan added the gig at the eleventh hour. The third song in is �Just Like A Woman�, and Bob, as ever, sings it entirely differently to the recorded version, meaning the crowd can�t sing along, but they decide collectively to fix that. As Dylan reaches the chorus, he starts to sing, �She takes��, and the crowd, as one, holler �Just Like A Woman!!� They completely drown out the band and his Bobness, who can�t help letting his stoic demeanour crack and grinning from ear to ear, as the entire band laugh. But it gets better.
�Like A Rolling Stone� is the penultimate song of the evening, and Dylan is again trying to ensure no one can sing along by reinventing the melody as he goes. And the crowd, determined to outfox him, simply take over the chorus. A truly colossal roar of �HOW DOES IT FEEL??� flattens the band across the back of the stage, and Dylan is laughing fit to burst, shaking his head in wonder, letting the crowd own the song. He is visibly delighted and thrilled, singing along with the audience rather than the other way around. It�s a magical, transcendent moment, and at the song�s climax he actually talks to us, quipping: � Well, we musta played that a thousand times, and nobody could ever sing along. Nobody!� The crowd bellows its approval, and Dylan delivers an incandescent �All Along The Watchtower�. At the end, to ear-shattering applause, he stands stage centre, bows, and exits, pursued by the admiration and adulation of 2000 Scottish souls who�ve seen a brilliant representation of all that popular music was and is supposed to be.
The success of the gig, for me, lies in the fact that Dylan was playing the kind of venue that all bands and performers should play - Atmospheric, small and intimate enough to communicate. Dylan doesn�t want to play vast barns filled with beard-stroking trainspotters noting down how many times this tour he�s played �Ballad Of A Thin Man�. He wants to see the crowd enjoying themselves, to see young faces as well as old, to see them jump up and down. This was the kind of show that all musicians should aspire to. And he�s probably coming to a town near you soon.
Set List:
Drifter's Escape
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Just Like A Woman
It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Girl Of The North Country
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Floater (Too Much To Ask)
Highway 61 Revisited
It Ain't Me, Babe
Honest With Me
I Believe In You
Summer Days
(encore)
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Like A Rolling Stone
All Along The Watchtower
http://www.sundayherald.com/42920
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/photo_gallery/3834273.stm
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| Gazza |
>Dylan received an Oscar for what movie?
"The Wonder Boys", starring Michael Douglas and Frances McDormand etc.
The song "Things Have Changed" won the Oscar in 2001 for best original song from a motion picture
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| mac_daddy |
I just came across this - haven't heard it yet, though. it was one of the shows you attended, and spoke so highly of, right G?
BOB DYLAN
Odyssey Arena
Belfast
June 26, 2004
Taper: Streetcar Visions
Disc 1:
1. Intro
2. Maggie's Farm
3. Watching The River Flow
4. Seeing The Real You At Last
5. Moonlight
6. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
7. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
8. Love Sick
9. Highway 61 Revisited
10. Tears Of Rage
11. Cold Irons Bound
12. Every Grain Of Sand
Disc 2:
1. Honest With Me
2. Ballad Of Hollis Brown
3. Summer Days
4. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
5. Like A Rolling Stone
6. All Along the Watchtower |
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| Gazza |
you bet!! LOL |
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| mac_daddy |
this one...
BOB DYLAN
Pearse Stadium
Galway, Ireland
June 27, 2004
Taper: Streetcar Visions
Source: DPA 4021 > Lunatec V3 > Sony D8
Transfer: Sony D8 > Emagic 6/2 > Spark/Peak (G5) > xACT
Disc 1:
1. Intro
2. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
3. If You See Her, Say Hello
4. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
5. If Not For You
6. Drifter's Escspe
7. The Man In Me
8. Down Along The Cove
9. Mr. Tambourine Man
10. God Knows
11. Tangled Up In Blue
12. Not Dark Yet
Disc 2:
1. Honest With Me
2. Forever Young
3. Summer Days
4. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
5. Like A Rolling Stone
6. All Along the Watchtower
7. Highway 61 Revisited |
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| Gazza |
stop teasing me! |
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