Reviews

Kool Haus - Toronto - formerly the Warehouse and now a standing room
bar/entertainment venue.  The sound was very good.  In front of me..a
Leopard Skin Pill-Box hat.    Missed the Phoenix but glad I decided to
come tonight.  Overall..hard rock blues the way I Iike to hear it.  And in
the smaller venue, very satisfying.  The band is gritty and tight as they
were Friday at the Ricoh Centre.  Highlights were a moderate reworking of
"It Ain't Me, Babe" (for me anyway) and a superlative "Tom Thumb's Blues"
(how I love that song).  "Honest With Me", "Lonesome Day Blues" , and
"Cold Irons Bound" proved again that my appreciation of Dylan and his
blues approach is not misplaced.  He is a master of this form and thrived
on it tonight.  "Lay Lady Lay" was most appealing and certainly was a
crowd pleaser for those around me.   The extended rocking "Summer Days"
was great with the musicians really showing their stuff as a tight and
effective rock and roll band.  A pleasure to see Bob Dylan in a smaller
venue.  It really does make a difference.

Joke during band introduction after Rolling Stone): "Freddy Koella eats a
lot of chicken.  That must be why he's always in a foul mood."  They
laughed.

Is it worth it? Those were my thoughts while standing in sub zero
temperatures outside of the Kool Haus. We were let in slowly after almost
an hour. No lines for drinks was nice, the servers were easy on the eyes
and the venue was sort of cozy. The kid beside me called the opener and I
was not complaining, Maggie's farm has always been a personal fav. of
mine. Lay Lady Lay got a positive response from people around me, I have
never been a big fan of it but can't complain. Rest of night was pretty
standard stuff, with Tom Thumb' Blues standing out for me. Funny joke
during the band intro's had me chuckling on the way home.  I thought
seeing Dylan at such a small place would have a different effect but it
really wasn't all that different then arena shows I have seen recently. Be
it good or bad, sure beats the movies!

Mick

long slow line winding around industrial waterfront of toronto, on lake
ontario, minus about 20 with the wind-chill, waiting to go into big square
industrial box to absorb some very organic music.  

beers, you could smoke, it wasn't over packed.  

comes on about 8:35 wearing big white cowboy hat, and black western show
suit.  first 3 or 4 songs his voice was raspier, more horse, scraggled,
worn, shot than I've ever heard it.  first time age or the weather seemed
to show in my nigh-on 20 years of bob-hoppin.  

maggie - standard but real rockin and got the whole crowd right into it. 
very animated for canada I thought

lay lady lay - 2nd drummer (richie) joins, larry on pedal steel 
kinda stunned, don't know if I've heard it before, maybe once, loved it,
country, that voice & vibe.  really takes me back to another time.  

lonesome day - this and others kept sounding like leopard skin pill-box; 
rockin;  2 drummers works great - love the extra KICK.  huge applause, big
rocker.  

I don't believe you - harp solo.  this sure sounded like Mostly Likely You
Go Your Way . . . 

tweedledee beer run

you ain't goin nowhere - nuther country peak, larry back on pedal steel,
harp solo #2, and p.s. the sound was GREAT.  mind you we were in front of
the board, but could hear every instrument at will.  

cold irons bound - the rock n roll frenzy highlight of the night for me -
no greatest song, but greatest rock ride.   the dance part of the song &
dance man.  

it ain't me babe - upright bass, larry on acoustic, always great o hear
and all, but didn't take me to that other place.  

watchin the river flow - that got there - love it -- trancy, transportive,
more country rock theme and vibe

tom thumbs - tries harp solo, doesn't seem to go, so it's tres short.  
but a great set so far, pretty perfect playing, NYC ending nice to hear,
and coming at the end there was a nice hoot in this young new york.  

shooting star - fourth, final and maybe best and longest harp solo;  only
one drummer - pretty lively 

summer days - great silly rock n roll song, I call it the chuck berry
song, I dunno.  or his jumpin jack flash.  

goes off, still hasn't said a word to the audience.  

Cats 
Rolling Stone - which I thought was great, surprised, how does he keep
breathing new life into these after version gazillion-and-one.  ("I know,
maybe it's how good the song is.")  I've been a little bit homeless lately
and there he was bringing it all back home, singing right to me.  

intros band, into Watchtower - which, again, I was expecting to be bored
by but just loved it and people were dancing and going for it.  

larry was smiling, good two-guitar interplay / balance, but I found freddy
a little predicable.  not complaining, but you'd think he could have a
real innovative guy in that slot.  

all-in-all a cracker-jack rock-n-roll band, playing the small venues for
the hard-core.  maybe I'm spoiled by now, and that his shows kept getting
better for about 5 years running, but for me kool haus was sort of average
great bob, except for the beginning where it sounded like he'd just gotten
up from a long night of partying.  

as i count it, he played about 35 different songs over 3 nights in
toronto.

brian hassett
oakville (toronto), and new york city