9

Reviews

Seville, Spain

Fibes Auditorium

May 3, 2019


[Paul M. Backert], [Masaki Minonishi], [Giles Genovese]

Review by Paul M. Backert



My second concert of the tour after Düsseldorf and the most enthusiastic
crowd of all the 25 Dylan concerts I have attended since 1981. Also the
concert itself I rank among the best (as it was the case with Düsseldorf)
again with Scarlet Town as the highlight. Pure Magic this one and only
string band arrangement of the evening. 

Probably very uncommon for a Dylan concert: Nearly after every song
Dylan went to center stage and bowed to the public. 

In Düsseldorf Dylan sang the line of the Like A Rolling Stone refrain How
DOES it feel, In Seville he returned to How does it FEEEEEL adding new
freshness to it anyway by the long and very loud frasing of FEEEL. LARS
from Seville was more rocky again than in the beginning of the tour in
Düsseldorf. 

Interesting that there are still reminiscences of the Sinatra singing. But
the "Sweet" codas are short and very well packed into the best tannins of
the world---the Dylan voice we are used to. It functions very well. 

At the end, before the encore, again Serve Somebody and a very
interesting one. To me it seemed that the arrangement focused the
temptations of the artificial/superficial fenomenons (devil) of our
world, very well emphasized by Charly Sextons short gitar soli. 

After Blowin In The Wind Bob seemed to have a short look to the heaven
above the cealing asking for a good answer soon to the question How many
times must a man og down..... 

Not to be forgotten, during Dignity Dylan sang the line "Dignity never has
been fotographed" twice quite loud. 

Paul M. Backert 
Norway

[TOP]

Review by Masaki Minonishi



Another impressive show held at a modern congress hall, but slightly
overshadowed by the greatness of the Porto show held at a classic theater
two days ago. Maybe the seat on the far right I got for this show, had
some effect on my impressions too. Since I only got to see Bob from the
side, and that made the impression as if he’s singing to the rest of the
audience. And I can’t remember seeing any of the band members all
through the show, except a glimpse of Donnie here and there. But Bob’s
vocals were strong, and I got to see what he was doing behind the piano,
like the way he plays it, the timing he reaches for the harmonica or when
he moves the microphone to finish up the songs and stuff. The band was
tight and strong as always, so all in all it was a great show, just a
little bit different kind of experience.

My personal highlights were,

Simple twist of fate - Tonight, this one was sung very tenderly, with full
emotion. Wish he would played the harmonica longer on this one.

Dignity- I’m always mentioning this one as a highlight, but can’t help
it. Why didn’t he play this one more often in the past.

Scarlet town - Always a crowd pleaser, but tonight’s audience really
seems to love it, as they cheer at the end of every verse. 

Don’t think twice - All the audience were holding their breath, not to
miss one word Bob sings, and after the harmonica solo, a huge applause and
a standing ovation followed.

Thunder on the mountain- Bob’s vocals were really clear and strong on
this one. Strong but not too rushy as he sometimes do, so we can hear all
the lyrics clearly. His vocals really gears up the band, and then Boom!!
comes George’s drum solo. Perfect.

Gotta serve somebody - I was able  to make out some more funny lines like
“You might be in a honky tonk, or you might be in a nursing room” or
something like that. Can someone please write down all the lines for me
because I’m too busy dancing on this one.

It takes a lot laugh - I never thought this one would make a show closer,
but boy, this nasty blues is a perfect show closer. And Bob really seems
to enjoy singing this one. 

[TOP]

Review by Giles Genovese



The Bob Dylan concert I never expected to attend…

Thank you very much Mr Dylan, from the bottom of my heart.
For perspective, at the beginning of this century, having moved much
closer again to B.D. after “Love and Theft”, I decided to see a concert of
his every time he came to my region (Andalusia). This worked in 2004
(Córdoba) and 2008 (Jerez) but in 2015, with tickets bought, I was unable
to see him in Córdoba because of being in the ICU with a lung blood clot.
Then: would both of us last?
So: Seville (my hometown), almost exactly half a century after seeing him
(for the first time) in the Isle of Wight.
Planned and got first line “row zero” (sic) seat directly in front  of his
piano, so the stage lights were in a straight line between the two of us
and when he started “Things have changed” an immense beam came onto my
face which remained for all the outstandingly splendid concert: things had
changed, they always do, of course…
He was just a few metres away and I kept my eyes on him…
My impression (from his face, from his movements to centrestage between
most songs and with a hint of a bow; the way the band members interchanged
smiles from the very start that said everything was spot on) was that he
was enjoying himself as much as me! Then, when he sang “When you think
that you’ve lost everything/ you find out you can always lose a little
more”, was it just my wild imagination that had me think he half-winked at
me? And during “It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry”, wasn’t
he staring straight at me to see if I could mouth the lyrics (which I
could, having bought the album upon its release when I was an early
teenager)?
How does it feeeeel? Still rolling = Brilliant!!!

[TOP]

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