Reviews

This is my my 10th Dylan show & 2nd review for boblinks(the other one
being april 18th,2001)... After going for awhile w/out seeing a Dylan
show(last one was in denver in oct. 2001), me & Jennifer were more than
ready to see THE MAN...& the drive from colorado springs up to Winter park
was beautiful to say the least...we got seated a couple of hrs. before Bob
& the boys went on stage...Bob came out in a dark blue suit,took off his
cowboy hat,left the shades on & got behind the keyboards where he remained
the whole show -no strat,tele or martin for that matter either - Bob Dylan
the piano man's fine w/me(he could play the ukalele all night & i would'nt
mind).Anyway,they went quickly into a decent"Mobile/Memphis blues"&
then,"Back pgs."which was mellow & a treat & for a second i could'a swore
Hunter S.Thompson & his wife,Anita came walking behind the stage to set
down & watch the show,but i don't think it was them...could'a been a bit
of a distraction having two of my biggest heros onstage at the same time:
who do you watch?..both very GREAT men..ok,well back to the
songs.."Tweedle Dee/Dum" was fun-they were loosining up & then,"Things
have changed"-i love to hear that anytime-one of his great songs."HWY
61"was there w/the lyrics,"put some bleachers out in the sun",but of
course at this ski resort,there was only this very steep hill that we sat
on in very overgrown weeds...bad crazyness for sure.."Ain't me babe"was
very soft & quiet & harmonica sounding good."High water" was my personal
favorite performance of this show & it was electric funk-too cool...
During"4th st." someone asked me for my binoculars & i had to say no,so
sorry to whoever you were,but...bring your own pair! "Honest w/me" & "Bye
& Bye were Jennifer's favorites of the night & i understand why:they were
nearly flawless,plus,during the line"I'm stark nakid & don't care",some
gal took off her bra & threw it at Bob - it landed at his feet & stayed
there 'till the end."Drifter's escape" as usual,rocked."Summer days"
seemed to show the band having the most fun of the night.They then left
the stage for a bit, but came back out later to a fine version of "Rolling
stone" & "Watchtower".Not a bad show at all-the main speakers sounded
wrong most of the time & even cut out for around 4 seconds during one
song,but what are ya gonna do?As Bob's friend Hunter S.Thompson says,"When
the goin' gets weird,the weird turn pro"& Bob Dyan in my view is a TRUE
professional...seconds after the last song ended,he put his hat back on &
was down the road...to yet another show. 

Jerome B.Mansfield Colo.spgs.,CO
July 12,2003   10:25 p.m.

Winter Park and Casper. I’m going to describe mostly imagery. I can
describe some of what I saw and how I felt; you can decide if the music
hits you or not. Bob played to his crowd each of the last two nights.
Winter Park was a bit crazy. Casper was focused. Winter Park was rowdy and
loose. Lots of crowd chatter. At any given time, half the people weren’t
looking at the stage. Good show. Not poor, not great. I don’t recall
anything being a big highlight. No complaints, but I found my attention
drifting at times. Generally, the same arrangments as last tour. It had
the “first show of the tour” feel. They had rough starts on a couple
songs. Freddy was going off early and often. Bob seemed frustrated at
times with this. He would stand with the harp in his hand banging away on
the keyboard with his other hand waiting for the guitar players to notice.
He looked particularly upset at the start of one song and kept shaking his
head “no”. He sometimes slammed the keyboard with the palm of his hand
like a pissed off kid trying to get everyone’s attention. He had mine, but
not always Freddy’s it seemed. Bob was looking at the crowd a lot. Lots of
points, sneers, smiles, and brow raising from behind the shades, etc. Lots
of antics. He gave a few double points, double thumbs up, shadow boxed,
pulled his hair, and kept showing us the palms of his hands like they were
puppets. He’d move around behind the keyboard and rock back on his heels.
He went across the stage a lot during and after songs. He would exaggerate
stumbling around and flinching like he was getting electric shocks or
something. Between songs early on Bob said something in Tony's ear. Tony
laughed and I believe I read his lips to say "Wake up!". A song or two
later, Bob walked back near the drums to talk to the guitar technician. I
thought he was upset again, but a friends wife, looking through
binoculars, said the guy mixed him up a gatorade or something from blue
crystals which Bob downed. He wore dark shades the whole time. The cowboy
hat (straw?) sat next to the set list. He took the shades off and put the
hat on after the encore. Stood in the last line up like that. I got chills
when they broke into “Mobile” (there he is!), but nothing really sent me
after that. Lots of guitar. Freddy would take a ride and go out there a
bit before Larry would take his turn and play much tighter and bring the
song back. On the earlier songs, Feddy was slapping with his thumb while
his pick was in his mouth and his fingers were moving all over the fret.
There were moments when they were in sync. They only seemed out of phase a
few times. One nice highlight…I think it was Drifter’s…Freddy just went
off followed by Larry’s nice break. All within a few seconds, Larry looks
to Tony, Tony nods to Bob, Bob nods to George. Everyone quits playing for
a split second while George smashes the snare right as Bob hits the first
word of the next verse. It was there, but they weren’t quite hitting on
all cylinders this day. Bob had one electric and one acoustic guitar
behind him that he did not touch.

We arrived at the base of the Winter Park Ski Area a little after 7:00
a.m. and there were already 1000 people sitting in a long line of
humanity.  The gates were to open at 9:30 and security was checking
everything.  Finally in and a mad dash to the front.  Many people in line
jet to the top of the hill instead of up front so we were still able to
get a spot on the railing on the right side of the stage.  A blanket and 2
small chairs secures our little plot for most of the very hot afternoon. 
With every Dylan show we see old friends and meet a lot of "interesting"
people, especially at the very front.  Hello to all of you.  It's all day
music starting with Bridgett DeMeyer with Ivan Neville followed by Guster
(for the younger crowd).  Next up is Kenny Wayne Shepard and Double
Trouble (Stevie Ray Vaughn's original band) and it was hard rockin',
smokin' Texas blues.  Then came the happiest band we've seen in a long
time, Sonia Dada from Chicago.  They seem to have a party on stage, lots
of dancing, singing and a great band.  Up next is the Man himself.  It's
4:00 p.m., bright hot sun and very dry.  Temp is in the 90's and the crowd
is crushing forward.  We lost our dancing plot but kept our place on the
railing.  Bob wore a deep blue silky shirt with white western accents on
the pockets, a white western tie and he carried his jacket and cowboy hat
onstage with him and laid them by the drum kit during the show.  The band
sounded great (as usual) and Bob was clearly in an upbeat, happy mood and
he wore shades for the entire show to block out the intense sun.  We
missed seeing those baby blues!  The stage was set up differently with Bob
on the far left of the stage, his piano facing Larry and directly in front
of George, in Charlie's spot (insert sad-face here).  There was a
microphone set up in front of the piano for him to play guitar but he
never did this day.  Tony, Freddie and Larry were lined up in a row and
there were two backup microphones set up for Freddie and Larry which also
were not used this day.  Tony appeared to be "babysitting" the new guy a
little bit, signaling him with a "Go" when it was time for his jam.  Bob
was more animated than we have ever seen him.  He smiled a lot, danced
with the music while playing piano and shuffle-danced out from behind the
piano during and after songs. 
 He didn't "walk" anywhere, he danced.  He consulted with Tony before
 almost 
every tune.  He interacted with the audience a bit by doing this
double-handed little quick-draw pointing thing and shared some great belly
laughs with George.  We noticed what appeared to be a change in the set
list when he came to Tony and they talked with Bob shaking his head "No"
then Tony turned and said "Bye and Bye" to Larry and Freddie.  After the
encore, he placed his cowboy hat on  his head, fluffed the sides of his
hair, picked up his jacket and came back out in front of the piano to gaze
at the audience and enjoy the screams and applause one last time before
leaving.