Reviews

'Hurt not others with that which pains yourself' Udanavarga, 560BC
(Buddhism), 'Love thy neighbour as thyself' Leviticus, 1300BC (Judaism),
'One should always treat others as they themselves wish to be
treated'Hitopadesa, 3200BC (Hinduism), 'What you do not want done to
yourself, do not do to others' Analects, 557BC (Confucianism), 'Do unto
others as you would have others do unto you' [Matthew 7:12] Jesus, 30AD
(Christianity), 'Ya got to do unto others Like you'dhave them, like you'd
have them, do unto you' Bob Dylan, 1979AD (Slow Train Coming), can you
spot the Jokerman, seems to me that Religion is a lot like Folk Music only
attracting more people, so may be to copy the odd idea and lyric from here
and there is totallyacceptable if it allows something good to meet a
larger audience, being in the audience is something that I have not done
for well over a year now so I am bound to be a little rusty on all things
Bob, hopefully you can excuse me for that because is anybody presently
reallymanaging to keep up with Bob anyway, is anyone capable of keeping up
with everything that Bob is doing and creating, I am so thankful that I am
not a collector as that must now be so stressful even if it was possible
to afford to keep up with it all, tryingto make sure that everything is
collected and not least having the storage space to put it all in, lets
hope that Bob does not take up pottery or we will have to find room for a
kitchen sink as well as a set of metal garden gates, just the music alone
takes somekeeping up with, we cannot even get The Complete Album
Collection in one instalment and the Bootleg Series seems to be endless,
has anyone won the competition yet by knowing who the guy on the Vol 10
album cover is, now we have even got something called aniOS App for anyone
clever enough to know what that is and how it works, got me wondering how
is the greatest Dylanologist of them all Clinton Heylin going to record
this lot, I am almost physically struggling now to pick up the latest
edition of Behind The Shades, not thatI have got any chance of ever
reading anything as lengthy as that anyway with my ameba attention span
and intelligence, Clinton should have done what Bob has done and started
off by using the title Complete Bob Dylan Vol 1, if that had been the case
we would probably by now beup to Vol 16 (years!), that way even more books
could have been sold and even someone having my low attention span could
perhaps have a chance of reading some of it and thereby learning a bit
more about Bob, take a leaf from Bobs book, no pun intended, do notput out
your complete work in one hit, could even have done the book with four
different colour options for the cover just to stress out the collectors a
little bit more than they must be already by having to collect all four
versions for completeness, wellyou can keep all those books upon your
shelf, whatever the colour of the cover is, now it is time for me to visit
Germany to again witness what Bob does best, I decided on Hannover or if
you prefer Hanover, much has happened in the world of Bob since I last saw
him thatit will probably be like seeing him anew again for the first time,
a lot of new songs and new arrangements of some of the old ones that have
been reported, could even have been a different guitarist in the band but
even that was not possible for me to keepup with as things have now gone
full circle, on this night the stage is set up with what looks like old
fashioned Hollywood style movie stage light fittings from the 1920’s
which are at that time before the show giving off a dull gloomy yellow
glow, we stand facing the stage whilst beingentertained only by Bob’s
piano tuner tinkering at the keys, on finishing he reassembles the removed
parts to the piano, the front panel and then the keyboard cover before
finally lowering the lid, then he carefully places a tambourine on the lid
to the front of the piano,he then receives a few hand claps and cheers
from the at that time fairly small crowd, giving a small bow to them he
then humbly starts to put on his jacket and cap before leaving the stage,
you got the feeling that he was walking out back to put on his clips and
get on his biketo cycle home, a tambourine now I thought, not seen that
before, not another instrument to show off Bobs seemingly limitless
talents, is Bob going to play the tambourine next, surely not as we still
have the bag pipes to look forward to yet, Bob will be performing in
Glasgow soon soyou never know, we could have yet another instrument first
time performed live, then again may be we could also have Paul McCartney
as special guest at the Royal Albert Hall being accompanied by Bob on bag
pipes during Mull Of Kintyre, sorry, I just put that in, thatis not going
to happen, believe me that is just not going to happen, as said I just put
that in, it is not going to happen, period, you have probably read in
other reviews already that the concert starts with Bob springing to centre
stage and jumping straightin to Things Have Changed, well Bob springs
centre stage and standing there hatless jumps straight into Things Have
Changed, the crowd seemed up for it from the off and with Bob every inch
of the way, certainly those front of house were, Bob was standing facing
the audience centre stage hands on hips belting the song out at rapid
speed to fantastic backing from the band, these guys probably do not get
much rehearsal time in the traditional sense, but in a night on night
repetition sensethey had certainly put in enough practice time and got
this one nailed, I have heard it said that Bob ending a song can take for
ever, in some cases the ending being longer than the song itself, now
however the songs seem to end rather abruptly, almost as though they are
clipped and cutshort in a dash to get on with the next one, something else
new is the intermission, not sure what that is all about but it did seem a
little strange stopping things in mid flow, not most welcome for a General
Admission show when you are standing up front, not a lot you can do with
thetime but, well, stand, on the spot, just stand, on the spot, something
good did however come out of this break in proceedings, things seemed to
shift up a gear on their return to the stage, that is not to say that
there was anything wrong with what had gone before, just that it seemed
like the show got invigorated somehowafter the break, Waiting For You
performed before the intermission did seem to puzzle a lot of the
audience, I am not too sure many people recognized or knew the song, at
the end it seemed to receive a more subdued applause than the other songs,
almost out of acknowledgement to Bob rather than for appreciation and
recognition, completely unlike whenthis song was first performed at
Brixton in 2005 where the song received instant recognition from a lot in
the crowd and rapturous applause, the version performed here seemed more
slowed down and the phrasing broken up somehow, personally I really like
the waythe song was on the film version, not that I have watched the film
through, though I have got the movie on DVD but only to listen to the song
at the end, “you know you are a Dylan fan when…”, Tempest is not an
album that I have listened to much, I got the lyricsthat someone had put
together which were sent to me pretty much as soon as the album was
released, still I have not  got around to reading or studying them
properly as yet, hearing the songs from the latest album first time live
however they just sounded sofamiliar and fit in as though long
established, Bob also already seemed comfortable performing them, Bob
being Bob he has however already started to change some of them around a
bit from the album versions with some minor tweaks, nothing lost though
asthey were still totally recognizable to me, if I am being totally honest
I was not overly looking forward to the new songs, there was a reason of
sorts for that but in the end that proved really unjustifiable, I thought
about trying to explain that here but there is not the time to do that,
anywayI was wrong and boy was I so very glad to be so wrong, the new songs
were good, in fact they were very good, in fact they actually made the
concert for me, it was like being at a whole new show, Bob delivered the
new songs Brilliantly and you could tell that he enjoyed performing them, I
really enjoyed listening to all the new songs and the way they were
delivered, easily a ten out of ten, if you have not heard these new songs
live yet please do so soon, as said they made the concert for me, not that
these songs were the only gems, a very good Tangled Up In Blue with lyric
changesincluded, not mumbled but sang in a way that seemed at the time
quite clear, obviously it was not possible to catch every word at the time
or to memorise them, if a tape turns up though I think that it would be
possible to be able to make all the words out, well most of them at any
rate, Simple Twist Of Fate was exquisite and some word changes were
included on this song too, a fantastic High Water kicked things off after
the intermission, arranged in that choppy way and including the stop start
ending and great banjo from Donnie throughout, Donnie was infact really
audible tonight including when he picked up the violin which is always
good to hear, this was a really good concert overall and that is just not
possible without the band being on top form too so well done to all the
guys up there in supporting Bobso well, great work as usual from Donnie
and some really good stand out work from Charlie on guitar, it would be
very difficult for me to say what the best song of the night was, just
proves how good a lot of the songs were as actually it should have been
areally easy decision as Forgetful Heart could not have been performed
better, I am not too sure that Bob really appreciates just how good he can
deliver a song when he really hits it, after Forgetful Heart I just wanted
to go into a darkened room for an hour or twoto reflect on what I had just
experienced, but what does Bob do, Bob just sits down at his piano to
clank out Spirit On The Water by banging on the keyboard as though playing
chop sticks, it would be really interesting to know whether Bob can tell
himself that he has justdone something truly amazing, Bob can do the most
artistic rendition possible of some premier work of his then bang out
something fourth division to follow it on, lets make it clear here however
that when I say fourth division in Bob terms this would no doubt be
premierstuff in the league of anyone else, got me wondering about all the
things that Bob has done in the time since I last saw him perform live,
really gets you thinking - what must his To Do list read like, I have not
even got around to touching up the damaged paintwork on my kitchen
skirting board that got chipped over three years ago now during the time
that I got a carpet fitted, sobering thought really to think that Bob’s
To Do list probably reads Paint My Masterpiece whilst mine just reads
Paint My Skirting Board,I am rather interested however in the metalwork
thing that Bob has done that is being put on show in London during the
time of the Royal Albert Hall shows, also the painting show at the
National Portrait Gallery would be very interesting too but there are
limits, as the collectorsknow it is just not always possible to fit
everything in, however having not missed a UK show in years I presently
feel in danger of doing so now as currently I have no tickets for any of
the Royal Albert Hall shows, I guess that like it is for the collectors,
financiallythere has to come limits and here I have probably found mine,
outside at most Dylan shows you will find a lady with a sign which says
that she needs a free ticket, for the Royal Albert Hall shows I may need
to be investing in a box of crayons and composing a similar sign myself
before joiningher on the pavement, I just put that in, that is not going
to happen, believe me that is just not going to happen, as said I just put
that in, it is not going to happen, period, if however you do have a free
ticket available I would be truly grateful, wellthree free tickets
actually, no point doing just the one show is there when even with the
same set list every show is different, may as well be hung for a sheep as
a calf, or is that a donkey, no that is hung like a donkey, anyhow,
whatever, probably not the rightanalogy anyway, if you don’t ask you
don’t get is probably a better way of putting it, anyway to all of you
who are going to the Royal Albert Hall shows I hope that you enjoy the new
songs as much as I enjoyed them at Hannover, please do spare a thought for
me thoughas I will probably be on my knees in my kitchen touching up the
paint on my skirting board and feeling just like Cinderella when she  does
not get to go to the Ball, others of you may of course at that time be
lucky enough to be watching Bob as he performs some of his previously done
Masterpieces, I will however still have Hannover to remember, oh and
Glasgow, oh and Blackpool, plus one hundred shows previous to those to
reflect back on, well the previous shows that I can still remember in
order to reflect back on, as the collectors out there already know, it is
sometimes not possible to have everything, closing the show at Hannover
Bob performed Blowin’ In The Wind, what an absolutely amazing lifetime
achievement of work I thought and it is still not over, a song from over a
half century ago togetherwith a handful of new songs, new songs that would
be the absolute pinnacle of most other peoples careers just on their own,
all of this on the same set from the same man in the same time and in the
same place, truly amazing, Bob said of Woody that there's not many men
that done the things that you've done, well Bob, it has to be said of you
that  there's not any man that done the things that you've done, even now
things have not yet been taken full circle, no doubt I still have that Bob
Dylan kitchen sink to look forward to collecting one day from the Complete
Pottery Collection Vol 1, Brilliant! 

''Ain't dead yet my bell still rings!'' That's it. Bob was in topform in
Hannover, just like the rest of his band. Charlie and Donnie played some
great solos, George smiled and laughed for the whole show...there was so
much energie on stage. It seems like Bob enjoys playing in Germany.

Things Have Changed
8:00 pm and the lights went out. Stu started his little ''song'' and
George came on stage, put of his shoes and sat down behind the drums. Then
Tony, Charlie, Donnie and Bob came on. Stu turned to George and the whole
band launched into ''Things Have Changed''. A great version, nearly the
best I've heard. Bob didn't growl he really sang! Some nice playing by
Charlie and Donnie, too.

She Belongs To Me
Stu changed guitars, Bob grabbed one of his harmonicas and they played a
nice and gently version of ''She Belongs To Me'' with some nice harp work
by Mr. Dylan.

Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
Piano time! And this songs gets better with each version I hear. Charlie
was really enjoying this tune and played a great solo.

What Good Am I
George worked hard on this song. But for me it has nearly the same
arragement than ''She Belongs To Me''. But anyway nice to hear it live.

Pay In Blood
Did not reconize this one at first. A new arragement with new lyrics. Bob
center stage gesturing and telling. Bob as a storyteller at his best. For
me the best song of the night!

Waiting for You
Another highlight! Far better than London's version from 2005. Bob sang it
really well, Charlie played a nice solo.

Duquesne Whistle
Stu had no time to change guitars so the first few bars were without a
rhythm guitar but when Stu started playing I reconized the new tune. Tony
looked really concentrated on this one. After the first verse Bob was
looking for the lyrics but did not found them. Anyway he went on singing
without missing a word. He laughed throughout the performance. A great
version I really enjoyed.

Tangled Up In Blue
New lyrics (again)! Like this version although I couldn't sing along...

Love Sick
The song I wanted to hear live! What a performance. I like the break in
the chorus....Bob enjoyed it as well.

Intermission
You don't need it!

High Water
Banjo time! When Bob sang ''I belive I'll dust my broom'' Charlie played
Elmore's little riff. Nice!  

Simple Twist of Fate
Saw Bob doing this last year in Bonn with guitar and in my opinion this
one needs Dylan's guitar style. 

Early Roman Kings
Yeah! Bob enjoyed banging on those keys. He played on and on. The whole
band starred at him cause they did not know when to end this song. But Bob
enjoyed ist so much we got an extra long version!

Forgetful Heart
The whole hall went quiet. What a performance. Bob played some lovely
harmonica on this one. Tony played stand-up bass with a bow and Donnie
played violin! Wonderful!

Spirit On The Water
The best version I've heard. Faster than the old versions and George was
playing real hard on this one. Bob found a note he played throughout the
song. Lots of smiles on this one, too. And when Bob sang ''You think a
past my prime'' everybody was shouting ''Nooooo!''

Scarlett Town
New version as well! Really nice.

Soon After Midnight
Charlie played a great, maybe the best solo of the night, on this one!

Long And Wasted Years
The perfect main set closer! ''I just came to you 'cause you're a friend
of mine''! No more to say. A real rocker and again better than the album
version!

All Along The Watchtower
With a long Dylan solo at the end. Still one of my favourites.

Blowin' In The Wind
The best „new version“ I've heard. Bob sang it real nice and played
some wonderful harmonica.