May 16, 2015
Review by Greg Wallace
The known and unvarying set list Dylan has been presenting wasn't to my
taste but the venue itself tempted me because it's pretty small and has
fine acoustic possibilities. Happily the sound wasn't cranked to eleven
and the singer had no trouble being heard. This makes for a much better
Dylan show because he needn't bark over his band. Words and phrases can
often be deciphered and with Dylan that's generally the point. The
removal of the ZZ Topish numbers seems to have saved his voice and there
were times where he sounded like he sounded decades ago.
There were the usual Blood on the Tracks numbers with new lyrics
(something about "you look someone I can trust" in the 'Tangled Up in
Blue' club scene and the singer ending up in the midwest in 'Simple Twist
of Fate'). The crowd seemed at least old enough to remember those songs
and quite a few seemed old enough to remember 'Blowin in the Wind'
(although it sounded like it might be 'Just Like a Woman' during the
intro). 'She Belongs to Me' was set to a strange thumping and ponderous
beat like one of those pseudo-profound country tunes I hear from time to
time.
Otherwise the set was a half dozen Tempest tunes and assorted other recent
compositions until Dylan assayed 'Autumn Leaves' and did a pretty fine
daring job of it. I thought he sold most of the songs, only failing on
the punch lines to 'Beyond Here Lies Nothing' and 'Early Roman Kings' (a
shame!). Most stirring performance was 'Forgetful Heart' and that got a
big audience response. 'Pay in Blood' seemed to be re-cast in a minor mode
and also got a big audience response which made me wonder what the song
means to the audience. Some of the Tempest songs kind of broke the spell
for me. Although there was a bit of mayhem in older Dylan songs the
singer didn't seem to relish it like he does now. Tempest has enough
mayhem for a Hollywood action spectacular. So the concert experience was
more one of being impressed than being moved.
The lobby offered souvenir grocery bags and red Rolling Thunder
sweatshirts in XXL, pretty cool. This aspect of touring never ceases to
amuse me. Music biz 2015!
Greg Wallace
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