Reviews

Rochester, New York

Frontier Field
August 30, 2006


[Chuck Owen], [Chuck Case], [Steve Pulver], [Herbert Coe]

Review by Chuck Owen



My Dylan buddies Rose, Lisa and I made the 2 hour trip again up to
Rochester NY from Welland ON Canada, to see Dylan's new summer tour swing
bye. And I must say it was definately worth the drive. The last time we
made this trip was November 13, 2004. The opening act wants me to plan a
trip to Austin TX, if that's what's happening there, great country swing,
with lots of pickin and grinn'in from Elana James & The Continental Two,
this act is a must see, so don't be late, Elana was followed by Junior
Brown who also is a fine performer, with a Johnny Cash like voice, I
really enjoyed his style, Junior along with that wonderful voice, can play
the guitar with the best of them. Then Jimmie Vaughan took the stage, and
completely overwhelmed the 10,000 plus crowd, it's a shame what happened
to Stevie Ray, because it would of been fantastic to hear them together.
For Jimmie is also a diamond in the rough. I know that he will have a
great career ahead of him. Then at about 9:15 PM Bob Dylan and his band
took the stage, Dylan opened with a remarkable version of "Cat's in the
Well"  he followed with " You Ain't Goin Nowhere" I thought this was a
great follow up, then Dylan  threw in "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum" to be
honest with you I wish that he would drop this song from his set list. It
has great lyrics but I just don't care for this tune. He followed with"
Positively 4'th Street" this is one of my favorite vintage Dylan tunes and
tonight it was performed to perfection.Then Dylan performed another
classic " I'll Be Your Baby Tonight " off that great LP John Wesley
Harding, one of my favorites, then they swirled into a wonderful version
of " Stuck Inside Of Memphis With The Mobile Blues Again" Dylan followed
with " Masters Of War " is anthem tune to all the turmoil in our world
today, and listening to these lyrics it was haunting and mysterious, Dylan
was right on the money when he wrote this, and I think his first
performance of this tune was June 18, 1963 at the Monterey Folk Festival,
then the show picked up some steam with "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat" that
nugget off of Blonde On Blonde, they then stormed into a chilling version
of "Joey" I closed my eye's and visualized the shooting in the clam bar in
NY City, for Dylan's lyrics can do this to you, he's so sagacious (
mentally penetrating ). Then he did my all time favorite tune "Highway 61
Revisited" this takes me back in time to those wonderful years when I was
a teenager and rushed home to listen to this classic album for the first
time, wow 1965 seems so long ago. Then they swung into "Sugar Baby"  which
took us to his present era of great song writting. Then the set finished
with a classic "Summer Days" a suitable ending on a fine summer night in
Rochester NY. The encore featured two of his signature tunes " Like A
Rolling Stone" and " All Along The Watchtower". It was a fine evening
spent with the opening acts and the living legend himself Bob Dylan. And
if you're ever in this part of the world make sure you stop at Rochester
NY for it is a very beautiful city situated on the shores of Lake Ontario,
I've had the pleasure of completing the cycle here with Dylan for I've
seen him at The Blue Cross Arena, RIT campus and now Frontier Field. There
is a building downtown that was visible from the stadium that looked like
it had a space ship sitting on top of it, I was told that it is a
revolving restaurant, on my next trip to Rochester I'll have to check it
out, it was another memorable evening cheers,

Chuck Owen
Welland ON Canada

[TOP]

Review by Chuck Case


Bob has been good to upstate New York the past several years; making 
frequent tour stops to its small cities.   

This was the best Bob Dylan show I've seen in a few years, probably since 
2003.  Although, admittedly, I have only seen him as he has passed through 
Western New York.  The band is much tighter than it was on his last few 
swings through.  The bluesy feel from the post "Love and Theft" tours is 
back.  So is the Bob's "yawp" - that voice where he lets the rasp complete 
itself as he patiently works through the words. Sometimes he even leaned 
on the rasp: growling as he danced through the verses of "Stuck Inside of 
Mobile" or "You Ain't Going Nowhere."  All and all a more blues oriented 
show than the past few years.  

The set list was not nearly as important as the treatment of the songs, 
which is good because having a wish list of songs is a perilous endeavor at a 
Dylan show.  He sang a stunning "Masters of War" (big, well deserved, 
ovation) and an excellent "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum".  He also did a 
lovely reworked "Sugar Baby." "Joey" was delivered with a lovely blues 
country feel very reminiscent of "Mississippi." 

During his last three shows in WNY, he had a tendency to just dump all the 
words from his mouth in an unrecognizable garble, but at this show his 
delivery was patient and focused, and at times downright melodic.   

Bob's blues delivery makes him the most compelling blues singer out there 
right now.  There are more miles, both real and metaphysical, in Bob's 
cadence and phrasings than anybody else, with the possible exception of 
Lucinda.  When Bob is on, there is nobody that can sing better.  

Nothing from Modern Times at this show, which doubled both as a 
disappointment and a wonderful commentary about Bob's patience with 
his art.  After all those songs are not going anywhere, Bob can get around 
to them in his own time.  


[TOP]

Review by Steve Pulver



First show since Vegas in the spring for me. I haven't heard anything
(recordings, etc) since then so bear with me. Nice venue. Dylan and Tony
rode up on their motorcycles at about 5:45pm...I didn't see them come in,
but someone nearby did...Pretty wicked show...They replaced the cue sheets
last minute, so I don't know if that was good or bad...Probably bad
though...The thing I noticed right off the bat (no pun intended) was how
this band sounds compared to a few months ago. They finally sound tighter
and louder...They have come a long way - the recording of MT, I strongly
believe brought them together...George was off all night though. He never
really found a groove...In fact, he was messing up the band on a few
numbers - most notably Highway 61...Denny really picked up his game from
the last show I saw him at...Stu played lots of acoustic tonight...

About the stage setup. Come on Bob. Enough is enough...I found out
once I got my spot in the venue that he had changed sides this
tour...He's even further back and not facing the audience at
all...Pretty odd stuff...Dylan and Donny exchanged some good laughs
too. The whole band seemed to be having a whopping good time...

Cat's was a strong opener, which I would take over Maggies any day.
YAGN was standard. Tweedle - let's pray thats the last time I have to hear
that one...4th street was solid - really only a few upsinging instances -
the only realy upsinging of the night - grandfunkdylan (Greg) didn't like
it, but I thought it was well performed. IBYBT was also standard - I was
hoping for something exciting in that slot. The band was cooking on mobile
- Denny sounded great. Masters was one of the highlights for sure, great
arrangment. Leopard-Skin was great - a nice surprise for sure -
interesting place in the set though. And then, out of nowhere comes JOEY!
I had thought it was Tough Mama for the first bar or two, but then Denny's
solo line came in and I totally lost it...It was incredible, especially
for the first time in a few years...What a great surprise - made my 3.5
hour drive worth it. Highway 61 was sub-par due to George's drumming...I
don't know what was up with him all night. Sugar Baby was another
weakpoint for me. I wasn't familiar with the arrangment first of all, and
I didn't like it...Definitely the worst number of the night for me.
Summerdays was rocking...I don't mind the tune when I only see a show or
two a tour...It was a fun set closer on a nice summer evening. Rolling
Stone and Watchtower were standard...The band was really cookin' on
both...Lots of pictures were taken. Stay tuned.

All in all, a great show...Joey made it all worth it. I'm really
excited for the fall...The band is really starting to come together
and I like where they're going...See you in November Bobby!

[TOP]

Review by Hubert Coe



I had the pleasure of listening to the Bard last  evening at Frontier 
Field in Rochester.  It was a nice cool evening, and  I thought the 
crowd looked a lot bigger than the 5,500 they announced.  I
arrived about half way through Junior Brown’s set, and was instantly
disappointed I didn’t get there earlier.  I am not even sure what that
thing he was playing was, but he was just amazing.  Jimmy Vaughn had a
tough act to follow and seemed really flat in comparison.You know, I like
Dylan as much as the next guy, well perhaps a lot more given that I have
seen him about 35 times, own about 20 official CD’s, and have dozens of
field recordings.  It is time to recognize that the man’s voice is
totally shot. It doesn’t matter a lick to the converted.  As he launched
into “Cat’s in the Well” Dr. Seuss came to mind:“the Once-ler's whispers
are not very clear, since they have to come down through a snergelly
hose, and he sounds as if he had smallish bees up his nose”The show was
very steady – outside of “Sugar Baby” there were no lowlights.  But there
were no really high highlights either. I never understand why Bob keeps
such a tight leash on his band, as these guys can play but he rarely lets
them loose.  He came close on Summer Days, which was great, but not up to
the standard set in the Larry/Charlie days of the band.  “Joey” was a
great surprise; not just that he played it but that it was one of the
better songs of the evening. He has got to be the only artist in the
world who would have a brand new CD and choose not to play a single song
from it on tour.So, a good, perhaps not great show.  All that said, it is
completely worth the price of admission to watch “The Stance” and see Bob
take his hat off and sprinkle imaginary fairy dust on the audience.

[TOP]

Click Here
to return to the
Main Page

page by Bill Pagel
billp61@execpc.com

Current
Tour Guide
Older
Tour Guides
Bob Links
Page
Songs
Performed
Set Lists
by Date
Set Lists
by Location
Cue
Sheets