Catfish John W.'s review of the ZIMMY show in Ithaca last night
John J. Wood
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Date: October 29, 1989
Artist: Bob Dylan
Jason & The Scorchers
Venue: Ben Light Gymnasium, Ithaca College
Location: Ithaca, N.Y.
First off, folks, the set list...:-)
Positively 4th Street
Masters Of War
Lay Lady Lay
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight **
Highway 61 Revisited ***
It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) *
Knockin' On Heaven's Door *
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall *
Everything Is Broken->
What Good Am I?
Most Of The Time->
Man In The Long Black Coat
Like A Rolling Stone
ENCORE
Disease Of Conceit ****
All Along The Watchtower
* - acoustic: G.E. Smith on second guitar
** - electric: Zimmy on acoustic guitar
*** - electric: Zimmy on acoustic guitar, G.E. Smith on slide
**** - electric: Zimmy on piano!!!
Between songs in the middle of Jason & The Scorchers' opening set,
lead vocalist Jason said, "We've been opening for Dylan all this tour, and
believe me, it's one of the best he's ever done". Yes, it sounded like
a lot of hype.
The thing was, though, Jason wasn't kidding. :-):-):-)
Last night's show was not a show where the setlist told the story. For
90 minutes, Robert Allan Zimmerman, ace guitarist G.E. Smith, bassist Kenny
Aaronson and drummer Christopher Parker did something that made this show
special to the 3,000 (!!) folks that attended.....
...they flat-out KICKED ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:-):-):-):-):-)
You read that correctly!! The band, and especially Zimmy, came out
and took complete control throughout, never letting up one bit throughout.
In each song, Zimmy took chances with his material and was not afraid to
substitute different lyrics. The jams were played with adventure and
authority. The band, especially G.E. Smith and ESPECIALLY Bob Dylan, were
simply ON last night!!:-):-):-):-):-)
The show opened with a rousingly wonderful version of the classic
"Positively 4th Street". Anyone who has ever doubted Dylan's desire to
play great shows should have been in Ithaca, New York last night. I have
never heard Zimmy sound THIS good. I knew this show would be killer where
at the end of the one verse, Zimmy sang, "You just want to be on the side
that's wiinnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnggg" (and I'm
not exaggerating, either!). This didn't have the seven minute jam intro
like the 9/3/89 Greek Theatre version, but what it did have was authority
and spirit!!
From there, Zimmy launched into a powerful "Masters Of War". Aaronson
and Parker's groove was perfectly flawless, and Dylan's rhythm riffs and
urgent vocals made this song a true gem, and not a drag that "Masters OF
War" has been to some folks that have seen Zimmy the last two years. This
was a "Masters Of War" where I absorbed Dylan's powerful words and danced my
face off at the same time. Zimmy and G.E. played a biting jam to close
this brilliantly.
From here came the most pleasant surprise of the evening: a playful,
spirited version of the great NASHVILLE SKYLINE ballad "Lay Lady Lay". Zimmy's
vocals were full of zest and life ("Lay lady lay, lay acrosss my biiiiggg
brass bbbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedddddddddddddddd" :-), and the ensemble playing
had the spirit of a true garage band. Absolutely delightful!!:-)
Then came one of my favorites: "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight". This
was a spirited country-romp version, where Zimmy played with the lyrics
and snarled them out as if it was an anthem. Also, Zimmy switched from his
electric to his fabled acoustic guitar and played some strong rhythm riffs.
When you can hear Dylan's acoustic guitar over the powerful musical backdrop
of G.E. Smith and company, you know Zimmy was playing with passion!
The first electric mini-set closed with the finest moment I have
ever witnessed in a Bob Dylan concert (this was my fifth time): a
downright WAILING version of "Highway 61 Revisited"!! Yes, W-A-I-L-I-N-G!!
After each verse, Zimmy was GRINNING, as if he knew the VERY high energy
and excitement was truly happening. G.E Smith played a screaming slide that
was relentless and just wouldn't quit (G.E .was smiling a LOT last night, too).
But again, the man in charge was Dylan, and he snarled and growled his
classic lyrics with a zest I thought he didn't have anymore. I'll just
say this again: this was a possessed, WAILING version of the damn best
"Highway 61" I have ever heard!!!!!!!!!!!!:-):-):-):-):-):-):-)
The energy, passion and awesome power displayed in the first five
songs carried over to the acoustic set. The only flaw of the acoustic set
is that a couple more songs wouldn't have hurt: but still, Zimmy's
mini-acoustic set was pure MAGIC last night!! A snarling, downright MEAN
version of "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" found Zimmy whipping out
the politically-laden lyrics with urgency: in other words, he MEANT it!!
Then came a long, poigname and emotionally uplifting "Knockin' On HEaven's
Door". Unlike the 7/19/89 Merriweather version, this was all acoustic,
with Zimmy's harmonica fully driving the message home. Also, Zimmy
included a verse that was brand new to me, making this more special. The
too-short mini-set ended with a majestic "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall".
It was a version where Dylan proved he could really SING when he wanted
to. By the way, Dylan's voice in the mix was prominent: EVERY line he
sang could be heard and was not drowned out. G.E., of course, played
some tasteful backing guitar.
The remainder of the show, including the encore segment, was
mostly occupied by the new OH MERCY songs. The good news was that each
version was completely enjoyable. So, the second electric mini-set
started with a rollicking "Everything Is Broken" which was completely
danceable a la the studio version. What was nice here was that G.E.
and Zimmy were having lots of fun playing this, with lots of smiles
throughout. The jamming at the end was well-done again, with the
music gradually dying down to a soft tone, then Zimmy jumped into a
starking "What Good Am I". The band played this at a soft, almost
reggaeish, tone, which was to Dylan's advantage as he sang with a
zestfulness that I never thought he could do today. Zimmy's harmonica
break was, well, classic Zimmy!!!:-)
After "What Good Am I" ended, Dylan broke into "Most Of The Time"
which was EONS superior to the studio version. The main reason was G.E.
and friends, who played this passionately, without the U2-ish gloss that,
IMHO, stopped the song's potential. "Most OF The Time" veered into
an angry version of the new gem, "Man In The Long Black Coat", with more
beautiful harmonica by Zimmy. The band brought the slow tempo to a
sublimed frenzy of a climax: just amazing! Finally, Zimmy and Company
closed the set with another of those powerful "Like A Rolling Stone"s.
I don't think you have to ask me how I felt when Zimmy asked that famous
question, especially after what I had heard the previous 80+ minutes. :-)
The first song of the encore was a beautifully jammy "Disease Of
Conceit", with Zimmy on the piano! This song built into another sweet
jam, with Zimmy boldly trading licks with G.E. Zimmy's piano playing
was another pleasant surprise. No, he won't be mistaken for Keith
Jarrett, but his playing was so spirited and inspired that it just added
to the jam. This just proved more and more on what a truly great and
important musician Bob Dylan is to popular music.
The show ended with a WEIRD "All Along The Watchtower". After
going through the entire song, the band went off on this crazy jam, as
if they were trying to segue into another song. At one point, the
jam reminded me a bit of "Tangled Up In Blue", but the band just kept
jamming and jamming and let the jam lead the band into new places. THEN,
after gradually slowing down the jam, and playing a certain riff over and
over, Dylan sang ANOTHER verse (it was the first one), then the band
built it up to a frenzy again, then finally closed!!
The Zimmy fashion report: Zimmy was wearing his black leather,
but wore a different leather jacket. This jacket had a large drawing
of a guitar on the back, studded in rhinestones. G.E. wore a nice purple
collared-shirt, and his blonde hair was in his usual pony-tail. Kenny
Aaronson wore a really nice hat.
Opening act Jason & The Scorchers were amusing at best. The one thing
I will say is that they were more tolerable than Steve Earle. A lot
of noise, much on the heavy-metal side, and covers of "Absolutely Sweet Marie"
and Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now", which were only interesting in the fact
that the band covered them. Let's just say that I'll skip them the next
time they are in Upstate New York.
However, I'll DEFINITELY won't miss Zimmy on the next tour: that's
for damn sure!! The version of "Highway 61" was easily worth the 2+ hour
drive alone. If anything, I now regret that I missed the Albany show. OK,
I overused a lot of superlatives, but this was definitely the best Dylan show
I've seen PERIOD. The Ben Light Gymnasium proved to be one of the most
interesting places for a show I've been to. It was a small gymnasium
with a echo. So, considering that, the mix for the Dylan set was absolutely
superb. Dylan's voice, guitar and harmonica were out in the forefront, and
G.E and company could be heard beautifully, It was also a general admission
show (I sat around the 15th row, Aaronson's side) and a gorgeous day out
in beautiful Ithaca. I am right now on three hours of sleep, but you
bet your copy of OH MERCY I'm not regretting one minute of it!!:-):-):-)
And once again.......THANK YOU, ZIMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:-):-):-)
That happy Catfish named John W.
"And all of rules of the road have been lodged,
It's people's games you gotta dodge,
And it's alright, Ma, I'm only SIGHING...." :-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-)
John J. Wood
At the end of the final verse of "All Along The Watchtower", after Zimmy
sang "..and the wind began to hhhooowwwwwwlllll", Zimmy actually HOWLED
after the verse!!!
The crowd for the Zimmy show was electric: a crowd that came to see Dylan.
Even the first notes of "Positively 4th Street" brought heartfelt cheers!!:-)
Tickets were first sold only on the Ithaca College campus. A small portion
was sold through Ticketron (my friends fron Syracuse had my ticket!:-).
However, at the show, there were students selling extra tickets at cost.
No scalpers present!!
NO background music was played until after the show was over! Nothing before
the opening band nor between the band and Dylan sets.
Security was pretty tight, but lenient. The usual concert searches.
Catfish John W.
"..and her name was Barbara Allen..."