My first Dylan show - Random thoughts
badlands420
upset there.
* Hotel was next door to the arena and the restaurant was outstanding.
Double bonus.
* As the arena was filling up, my mom and I had great fun examining the
demographics of the crowd. I was struck by the large number of middle-aged
parents sitting next to mortified looking teenagers who were clearly
thinking "Oh my god, I can't believe my parents dragged me here to watch
some old guy sing." Pretty funny stuff.
* Show opens with a totally smoking version of Maggie's Farm. Dylan appears
more energetic than I expected him to and plays quite a long (and great
sounding) harmonica break.
* Dylan sounds better vocally than I was anticipating. On the Love & Theft
tunes, he sounded like he does on the studio versions. But for the remainder
of the numbers, I thought his voice sounded a lot like it did on the MTV
Unplugged album.
* Every song was well-played and I enjoyed all of the latest arrangements.
But for me, the undisputed highlight was the unspeakably good version of
It's Alright, Ma. The song was played as a heavy blues stomp (like AC/DC
heavy, it was fucking great) and restructured so the middle eight from the
original version was extended and became the main riff. But the amazing
thing was, even though the song had been structurally turned on its ear and
musically rebuilt from the ground up, the vibe and feeling of it was exactly
the same as the solo acoustic version he wrote in 1965, but when he plays it
this way it becomes currently relevant subject matter instead of a 60s
nostaligia number. Brilliant, brilliant stuff. This song by itself made the
seven-hour road trip worthwhile.
* I can't describe the admiration I have for the guys in Dylan's band.
They're not only outstanding players, but I never realized the extent to
which Dylan changes songs around while they're being played. Throughout the
show, he's using hand signals to change solos around, add verses, extend
instrumental breaks, and none of these guys missed a transition the whole
time.
* I was (pleasantly) surprised by just how heavy the band's sound is and how
hard they rock. This wasn't a bunch of innocuous low volume senior citizen
fodder, these songs had BALLS, and it was awesome.
* The organ tone on Dylan's keyboard generally sounds good when it's in the
back of the mix and compliments the guitar sound. But when there's not much
else going on in the arrangement and the keyboard gets too upfront in the
mix, it sounds a bit cartoonish, although that only happend a couple times,
and briefly.
* Dylan looks to be in good shape and appears to be genuinely enjoying
himself. He's very physically expressive with his keyboard playing, seeming
to use his entire body to hit every chord. His harmonica playing was
excellent and more frequent than I expected based on what I've read recently
(I think there were only three or four songs that didn't feature any harp
work.)
* All in all, I came away from the show feeling like I'd seen a legend at
the top of his game, a legend who's remained vital long after he could have
been relaxing in the rocking chair of self-parody, and who is still having
genuine fun plying his trade.
* If there's anybody who got a good sounding boot of last night's show, I'd
like to volunteer to be your best friend.
Highland
Thanks for your thoughts Badland!
good work : )
Mr Jinx
Thanks. Great to get a view from the razor's cutting edge.
Mr Jinx
Barbara
"badlands420" <bu...@hole.com> wrote in message
news:CTmZf.1866$up2.1608@fed1read07...
Abbye
I can see that this tour is not going to end for me after the third and
final show in my "neighborhood"!
You have quite a nice ear, BL. Not to mention your eye and your hand...
"badlands420" <bu...@hole.com> wrote in message
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bgr...@aol.com
expressed than I could have done . God bless those teenagers, lets hope
they had ears to hear.
badlands420
> Rawk on, dood!
Please don't be a stalker. I've asked you nicely for the second time. If you
want to flame me, do it in the thread where the flame war is going on. But
do not interrupt on-topic threads with personal insults. This is extremely
rude to the rest of the newsgroup and I will not be a part of it.
badlands420
>God bless those teenagers, lets hope
> they had ears to hear.
I'm sure they do, even though they may not realize it now. There will
probably be a day in the future when those teenagers brag to their
grandchildren about having seen Bob Dylan live in concert.
Barbara
My son is 18 and just graduated from navy bootcamp, you know what was one of
the first things he bought?
A discplayer and a Bob Dylan Greatest hits cd. He is as happy as can be,
this one had Jokerman on it and he loved it! Can't help but feel proud of my
son! :)
~Barbara~
badlands420
> My son is 18 and just graduated from navy bootcamp,
That's great, and I appreciate his service.
>you know what was one of
> the first things he bought?
> A discplayer and a Bob Dylan Greatest hits cd. He is as happy as can be,
> this one had Jokerman on it and he loved it!
My son (who's 12) came up to me the other day and asked if he could rip
Bringing It All Back Home onto his mp3 player, because he really digs SHB
and 115th Dream. So then I had to call my mom and tell her we had a third
generation Dylan fan on our hands.
Barbara
Oumer Teyeb
badlands420
> Please adopt me! (I am just a 30 yr young stripling :-)
Having a son a year younger than me would certainly make for some
interesting introductions.