Holmdel August 10th review
Peter Stone Brown
something's gonna happen because in the darkness you can see an extra mic
has been set up on stage and extra amp which when the lights come up turns
out to be an old tan Fender Bassman and the Heartbreakers file back out and
there's this guy in white, white cowboy, white shirt and off-white pants and
white snakeskin cowboy boots and he's like shimmering, the white is
glistening and this roar erupts from the crowd and whoever he is he's got
this thing that's been missing from the stage for the past 90 minutes or so
and that thing is presence. So a roadie plugs this guy's Fender
Stratocaster into that tan amp and the band starts to play "Knockin' On
Heaven's Door" and this cowboy dude, well he don't care if Mike Campbell's
on the stage or not, he's gonna play that Strat and take one of his raunchy
maybe I'll find maybe I won't solos and well. it was kinda like old times.
Thirty-three minutes later more or less after the roadies have rolled up the
Petty rugs to reveal the black and white checkerboard stage the cowboy dude
is back, but this time without a hat a dressed in black, and he's behind
that piano that's behind the lap steel and into "Maggie's Farm" and it's
kicking along nicely and on the last verse he even stretches out a bit with
a long "nooooooooooooooo more," and then just like the previous night song
two is "If You See Her Say Hello," but this version is a bit more alive and
he takes a really crazy harp solo where he does that up and down thing with
a whole bunch of notes in between and after a couple of more verses does it
again and while the harp was pretty wild the night before it wasn't quite
this wild. At some point in the song Tommy Morrongiello joined in playing a
Strat which he kept on doing throughout the night, each time apparently
waiting for Dylan's invitation.
Then again like the night before he's into "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum" and
again he's going from this low husky voice where he sounds like he's gasping
for breath but on the next line shows he isn't at all and the best part of
the song was when he sneered the "you're obnoxious to me" line.
That was followed with "Just Like A Woman" with Larry Campbell on pedal
steel and after all the verses Dylan reached for the harp and started to
play, then stopped and let the verse go by and just as you thought the song
was about to end, he then takes a truly insane harp solo that in its own way
went all the way back to Free Trade Hall.
"Highway 61" was "Highway 61," and the best thing about it was Freddie
trading solos and these guys mesh like twin brothers, switching rhythms and
leads effortlessly. Next came a nice surprise, "Most Likely You Go Your
Way" which was going good until the second bridge where the entire band
seemed to get lost, but the recovered quickly and jumped right into "High
Water" which again was marked by great guitar work, though I still find the
original arrangement preferable.
Next came a sort of strange version of "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" that
started off with just the bass and drums. Larry played a very cool Western
swing influenced pedal steel part but Recile's drums just never fit with the
arrangement, which wasn't quite the sort of boogie rocker it's been in live
performance for the past couple of decades but wasn't quite the country song
of "John Wesley Harding" either.
"Wicked Messenger," "Bye and Bye" and "Honest With Me" were all fine though
nothing really special, but "Summer Days" started to approach its former
glory. Dylan was far more animated than he was on Saturday night, sometimes
bopping back and forth across the stage throughout the show and he was into
"Summer Days" with a vengeance, but it was a Freddie Koella solo that took
the song higher. All of a sudden during his solo, he found what he was
looking for and hammered this one wild bending chord letting it soar and
repeated it over and over and the band just kicked into another gear with
Larry and Tony providing the line from Joe Turner's "Roll 'Em Pete." Now it
still wasn't on the level of the versions with Sexton, but this may have
been the best version of the song this band has done yet.
The band returned for the usual version of "Watchtower." Dylan took the
stage wearing his cowboy hat, carrying his jacket over his shoulder in a
manner similar to the way Jack Fate carries his clothes bag, looked at the
crowd for about five seconds and was gone.
--
"I'm having a hard time believin' some people were ever alive" -Bob Dylan
e-mail: p...@peterstonebrown.com
http://www.peterstonebrown.com
christine consolvo
Thanks, Peter....always the next best thing to being there......
Just thought I'd mention it...
Christine
"Peter Stone Brown" <ps...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:b7HZa.3992$Ew5.3...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
Johnny
Wow. There's a name from the past. Thought you were gone somewhere . . .
Howard Mirowitz
>
> Thanks, Peter....always the next best thing to being there......
>
> Just thought I'd mention it...
> Christine
>
> "Peter Stone Brown" <ps...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:b7HZa.3992$Ew5.3...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net...
> > Okay, so Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are done their set and you know
> > something's gonna happen because in the darkness you can see an extra mic
> > has been set up on stage and extra amp which when the lights come up turns
> > out to be an old tan Fender Bassman and the Heartbreakers file back out
> and
> > there's this guy in white, white cowboy, white shirt and off-white pants
> and
> > white snakeskin cowboy boots and he's like shimmering, the white is
> > glistening and this roar erupts from the crowd and whoever he is he's got
> > this thing that's been missing from the stage for the past 90 minutes or
> so
> > and that thing is presence. >
Two great reviews, alike in perspicacity,
In fair Holmdel where we set our scene ...
Adding my thanx, Peter.
H.
Ray Baldwin
Howard Mirowitz wrote:
Two great reviews, alike in perspicacity,
> In fair Holmdel where we set our scene ...
>
> Adding my thanx, Peter.
>
> H.
And if it encourages more excellent reviews such as those from PSB and SDW, I'm
adding my thanks and gratitude as well.
Ray.