Reviews

Very good show indeed.

Dylan was half-ran/skipped towards the microphone during the intro - 
clearly inspired to be in the city of Paris.  Front rows rushed the 
stage.

The band members seemed to be more expressive than normal – Denny  
shuffling back and forth occasionally, Stu’s face was reflecting his 
playing, George full of grins and smirks. More lead from Stu too. Good 
interaction between band members, with Bob’s main focus seeming to be  on
George most of the night.

Menacing, tense versions of John Brown and Masters of War. In fact,  one
of the best Masters I’ve heard in quite a while. This band does  menacing
well.

Tweedle Dee: Dylan centre stage with harmonica, no guitar. Great  
harmonica during Blowin’.

Overall, impressive for the strong groove of the band and Dylan’s  
level of engagement with his singing. Voice is in very good shape.

Barnaby

Paris' Palais des Congrès is a theatre that holds less than four thousand 
people, all seated places that have been sold quite rapidly; outside the 
spot, scalpers are doing very good money with the few tickets on offer. 
At the beginning of the show, fans try to stand in front of the stage 
but are pushed back by the security, some manage to sit just there to 
benefit from a closer view and will be allowed to stand up only for the 
last of the encores. Though the audience is applauding and cheering 
along the whole show, the all-seated situation makes it for a less hot 
gig - at least this is my point of view. First numbers are a bit blurred by 
the problems I mentioned, though it is good to have Bob on guitar for 
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. Highlights of the show are an eerie John 
Brown, a very well sung Chimes Of Freedom, a Tweedle Dee & Tweedle 
Dum with Bob on harp centre stage, then back behind keyboards for the 
last part, a rightly applauded Masters Of War, and some of the faster 
numbers like Honest With Me, Highway 61, Thunder On The Mountain 
and LARS, because the band jams hard and Dylan appears to be in a very
lively mood. We also have Po' Boy again, very good as heard in Saarbrücken, 
I just wonder why he has decided to cut off the last verse, which is a very 
funny conclusion: but no big deal, it is a great come back anyway. Blowin' 
In The Wind, at the end, has him again walking in front of his fans, with his 
harp and some crazy dancing. A good finale. 

Marina Montesano

As always with Bob, i was a little doubtvious before the show, will he be
in a good mood, what about is voice ? The answer came fast, with a
powerfull cat's in the well, i'm not keen of that song, but it worked
well. Then a great old song, Times they are a changin', very slow version,
with a sweet voice and a nice harp. On i'll be your baby tonight Bob
played the electric guitar on center stage, it's always nice to see him
play old blues progression, but it was not as good as you could expect.
SIOMWTMBA really was great, one of the best time of the show, just as the
three next songs, a very dark john brown, a dynalmic rollin' and tumblin',
and a jewell, chimes of freedom. Tweedle dee was bad, i mean bob was
playin' harp on middle stage at first, but it sounds bad, definitly. A
good master of wars, dark and slow. Honest with me, definitly not my cup
of tea, but it's still a good old blues. Beyond the horizon, quite nice,
with a bob in a good mood, like yesterday nigt, constantly moving, those
kind of song work well. Po'boy was just great, very nice version. The end
of the show was the same than the nights before, very great, just a
regret, AATW was a bit to slow this night. A good show, with a bob in a
good mood, hope it'll be the same tomorow.

Mathieu

This was to be for me my first ever live Dylan show. Until now I’ve been
kept away as a result of expensive tickets and the fear of disappointment,
as I know and love the old and new recorded works with only a few
exceptions.

A few reservations to start with. I felt that the sound overall was rather
muddy and couldn’t hear Donnie’s instruments properly, which was a
disappointment and Bob’s voice was also sometimes a bit obscured in the
overall mass of sound. Maybe it was where I was placed. Anyway, this is
rock ‘n’ roll, so it doesn’t matter so much for numbers like
Rollin’ & Tumblin’ and Thunder on the Mountain, which came across with
appropriate energy, but I felt that songs like John Brown and Masters of
War were a bit lost in the loudness.

As for Bob’s voice, for which I am always concerned, I felt that it
started out good and strong, but sounded a bit shot towards the end of the
gig. Take care of it, Bob.

For me the first highlight was The Times They Are a-Changing. Everybody
loved it, swaying and joining in from time to time and then Bob blew some
harp and a wave of warmth spread through the hall. Then followed Bob’s
cheerful guitar solos in a rocking version of I’ll be your Baby Tonight
which gave us as much delight as it seemed to give him.

I was ecstatic to hear Chimes of Freedom, an old favourite, as well as
Po’ Boy – what a song! – both my favourite tracks from their
respective albums.

But, finally, the real treat for me was Spirit on the Water, which I love
on the album, but here it was played with such a delicate touch, light as
the air, wistful and humorous, a truly wonderful moment going out with
some really sweet harmonica. It’s been constantly in my head ever since.