May 10, 2015
Review by Cortney McKay
Music Hall in Kansas City, Missouri is an Art Deco theater and was a
brilliant choice that nicely complimented "Shadows of the Night" Bob. The
theater is an architectural masterpiece of both the 1930's and today and
provided a great backdrop as Bob and band blended together a set list of
classics and many selections from 2012's *Tempest. *In fact, gracing the
stage were two white busts of what appeared to be the Greek goddess that
is seen on the cover of*Tempest. *In regards to the Hall, I was delighted
by the quality of sound and much obliged to the house rules of no drink in
the theater as well as the assigned seating. It seems that too often
general admission shows take away from the stage as people move about and
clumsily spill their drinks, so the opportunity at a venue with reserved
seating was a delight. In days past it looks like the Hall has hosted The
Who, Crosby and Nash, Procol Harem, and others. I don't know if those
shows had opening acts, but this one didn't...another brilliant highlight
of the evening.
Now on to Bob. Compared to years previous I've been out of the loop. It
had been almost 5 years since I had seen him live and in that span of time
I had rarely even consulted bobdylan.com, so for all I knew he could have
finally written Chronicles Vol. 2. The night before the concert I did take
to consulting "Bob Links" for the current set list and reviews of the
current tour. I then knew that going into the show that it would be more
of a melancholic tear-jerker than a dancing fest of "Watching the River
Flow" or "Summer Days." Based on a wonderful review of the San Antonio
show it was brought to my attention that Bob was missing his ring and that
the feel of the show may have an intentional theme of what one might call
"a broken heart." The Kansas City show and all other shows to-date opened
with what could be labeled as a stage of anger- "I used to care, but
things have changed" to ultimately ending with a stage of desperation that
pleaded "stay with me." It could be that Bob is just screwing with us and
it isn't reflective of his being "love sick," or "tangled up in blue," but
I tend to think it's a reflection of his current and ever continuing truth
which is that of "love & theft." Despite a couple of women's desire to
dance through "Blowin' in the Wind," the show's mood had an almost
existential vibe of what it means to be human and attempting to deal with
feeling and emotion through song.
At times, Bob was most adamant about his lyrics claiming "I'm sick of
love!" and putting one hand on his waist and standing in a pose that
declared he actually was fed up. He also walked back and forth across a
small portion of the stage, at times almost pacing. His interactions with
the grabbing and releasing of the mic stand was highly amusing.
Additionally, the lighting of the show was an exceptional compliment to
the character of each song and definitely played a role in communicating
if the audience should focus on the entire band or just focus on Bob and
most of the time it was "focus on Bob." I was slightly disappointed that
Charlie and Tony didn't get some kind of acknowledgement for their
incredible playing and long-standing loyalty, but I guess that just
wasn't part of "the show." Bob did speak to the audience right before
intermission. His words I could not discern based on a combination of
audience noise and Bob's tendency to what I think is an intentional
mumble.
After an approximately 20 minute intermission the 2nd half of the show
started with "High Water (For Charley Patton)" and then moved into an
utterly breathtaking rendition of "Simple Twist of Fate." This was the
third time of the evening, but for the first time in the 2nd half that Bob
masterfully owned the harp. The first half of the show was amazing, but I
thought the 2nd half was nothing less than phenomenal. Throughout the
show there was a great balance of Bob being centered at the mic and Bob at
orchestra right on piano. I think the stage setup was probably pretty
good no matter where you were seated. In years past it was unfortunate
when Bob was standing at the keyboard staring straight into the stage wing
or down at the keyboard, so I was happy to see him front and center or
seated at the piano with animation and looks toward the audience or band.
Bob's wardrobe choice for the evening was a creme colored suit with black
stripes up the pant leg, a black shirt with a men's white silk scarf tie
and a creme colored Stetson hat. Unfortunately I wasn't close enough to
make out the boots, but I'd like to think that they were creme colored
with big black stars on them. Backing up a bit, I want to say that this
show started very close to its 8:00 start time. I think around 8:05 there
was the sound of the introductory gong to start the show and then what may
or may not have been the sounds of "Ghost Riders in the Sky." I think the
show ended around 10:15 or so. On another note, I'd like to give a
shout-out to the East-West Touring Company and Geoff Gans for an amazing
concert poster with a fabulous Warholesque design.
Despite the shows lack of dancing ability the people made it fun. A guy
in the crowd yelled out "Happy Birthday, Bob," a young couple next to me
admitted it was definitely different but they still managed to find joy in
that difference and stayed the entire show, a woman in the restroom stall
next to me produced her own rendition of "Love Sick" while doing what she
needed to do and a woman with long thing braids that could have easily
been a part of the Willie Nelson family danced throughout the honking and
impatient drivers leaving the parking garage.
As for the specific songs, I'll admit that I was secretly hoping that "Pay
in Blood" was going to transition into a cover of "Brown Sugar," and while
that didn't happen something else did...I was blown away by the live
versions from *Shadows of the Night. *It's a good album, but hearing a
couple of the tracks live made the songs much, much more powerful and will
undoubtedly increase my enthusiasm toward the studio versions. In
previewing the set list, I thought that ending with "Autumn Leaves" as
opposed to "Like a Rolling Stone" or "All Along the Watchtower" seemed
anti-climatic, but I was incredibly wrong. For all the goodness of
timeless masterpieces such as "Like a Rolling Stone" or "All Along the
Watchtower," they don't stand a chance up against Bob at the mic singing
"Autumn Leaves." I don't know that I've ever gone to a concert and been
moved to tears, but this practically did it. In conclusion, I've found
that whatever time and distance there has been between my involvement with
the Bob scene, that some things never change and that the lyrical and
musical talent of Bob is and always will be very much a part of who I am.
Jack Frost has done it again and if he ever dies I know a little part of
me will die too.
Review by Marty Traynor
Dylan's shows have become so relatively lacking in variety lately that a review
reflecting much variety from someone who has attended multiple shows
becomes as much a review of the host city, venue and crowd as of the music.
So Kansas City is a place of wonders (the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), good
food that has not been in Arthur Bryant's pit, and a good music hall, albeit one
with seats crushed so closely that they make air travel in non-premium seats
seem spacious. And the crowd was really nice except for the 5% or so that
seemed to be unable to sit for more than 7 minutes without walking out,
evidently to either purchase or eliminate beverages. Why bother going to a
concert if you are just going to pop up and down constantly? Grrr…
The setlist was a virtual carbon copy of the past few nights, and close to the
list Dylan has performed for over a year. The only change from the setlist of
the last concert I attended (Hollywood last October 26) is the addition of
"Autumn Leaves" before the break for encore. And a fine addition it was.
On both "Autumn Leaves" and "Stay with Me" his singing was terrific and I
thought the music, live, was better than on the recent "Shadows in the
Night".
Other highlights included "Early Roman Kings" and "Duquesne Whistle", which
featured particularly nice work by Charlie Sexton and, as always, George Recile.
I have grown to appreciate what a great drummer Recile is watching him back
Dylan for nearly 15 years. Sexton stood out on "Lovesick" and "Soon After
Midnight" featured nice work by both Sexton and Herron. And I have always
enjoyed Donnie Herron's viola playing on "Forgetful Heart".
Dylan's harp playing (on "She Belongs to Me", "Tangled Up in Blue", "Simple
Twist of Fate" and "Forgetful Heart") was masterful, especially on "Simple
Twist". His piano playing is always enthusiastic and seems to have improved
with time. His voice was great, as mentioned, for the new songs, and his
interest in singing seems to be in inverse proportion to the age of the song
(he absolutely talked the two "Blood on the Tracks" songs, for example).
The biggest cheer of the night was for the "Kansas City" line in "High Water".
No surprise there.
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