Meridian April April 8th.
That show was added later on the Tour. And the tickets were hard to find. 
Capacity 900 patrons.
My friend Simon first thought of doing that show but changed his mind and 
sold me his ticket. I decided happily to hand it to Corky who had been such 
a friend .
So I do need an extra ticket, so does Stefanie.
We can't stop being nervous about that Tix :(
Stefanie will reach Meridian early morning and starts stalking the box office. 
Asking all the people retrieving their ticket from ' will call ' if they have an 
extra for sale. We are both willing to pay.
With Corky we arrive early afternoon.
I'm surprised to see that the theater is downtown and not on a campus.
Downtown is ... Few blocks of restaurants and shops and a tall building 
turned into a hotel!
Nothing is happening except a basketball team parade ; the entire 
Afro-American community is parading in front of...few Afro-American folks.

Weird!
Bobby's bus pulls in shortly before 6 pm and to my surprise some Fan from
the tall hotel building took photos of Bobby stepping out of his bus before 
show time, dressed casually. :)
But with a hoodie
The wind is cold so I am in Corky's car when Stefanie rushes to me. A Lady 
passed by in a car and said she had two tickets for sale as the husband of 
her friend just died in hospital.
She will be back. 
We wait impatiently with Stefanie. The Lady pulls by us and I use the $200 
Corky generously gave me for my birthday. We have two tickets for 
MERIDIAN. Truly a Miracle!

I almost cry of joy as the tension from my body is plummeted.
We enter the theater to see what is so special about that show. I'm 
pretty sure Bobby won't change the set. Why should he? :)
The folks are ...old.  More even than the average  60's. For what I 
understood they may have tickets for that Bob Dylan show as part of 
their year VIP package from a specific club ; Queen City Social. For that 
Lady asked me to mention where the tickets where coming from on 
Facebook.
Ok.

Stefanie chooses the front row seat on the right, view instructed by 
the two bottles on the piano. A permanent set now. I choose the 
seat row L 21. I will never be able to see Charley on drums. He's hidden 
behind the side...curtains :(
Corky has less chance even. His view is totally obstructed by a pillar :( . 
He will manage to switch for a better seat.
My friends from Australia also have an obstructed view. They will manage 
to change or bend forward. :(
We're all set. But finally this is not such a great venue for Bob and his 
Band.

The show starts on time. 
It takes the  fifth song before all 900 folks are sited and quiet. 
It feels like they are at their rotary club! Noisily charitable!
The guy next to me arrives in the middle of  "Black rider" and him and 
his three girls leave in the middle of "My own version of you"  :(
I bet they never paid for their Tix :(
Bob moves center stage after "False prophet" and receives absolutely 
no reaction. He will not move center anymore :(
Bob and his Band are doing their job for a non receptive audience. I 
am sure some folks wonder where is Bob Dylan? The one on the 
guitar left, maybe? Or is he the one on the drums ? :):)
I try to enjoy a good show. Nothing wrong with the show in itself.
Except they're playing for dead rotary fishes !
Fine. Out they're dead fishes as well.

Absolutely no reaction to my paintings.
It hurts to see that some rich folks have no interest for Art.
I will be mad for few hours.
But I realize it was just another experience and lesson : don't 
expect much or you may be disappointed.
So for the Fans who didn't make it to Meridian...have absolutely 
no regrets.
Try another one on the road.
Four more to go.

I have lost track of how many Dylan shows I have seen since 1986, but it
is in the 70+ range.  Saw the 12/2 show in DC last year, which I really
enjoyed.  The Meridian show was a real unexpected treat however.  The
venue was a restored 1889 opera house with 950 seating capacity. 
Definitely the smallest venue I have ever seen Dylan play.  It had the
vibe of seeing him play in a high school auditorium.  My seat was next to
the sound booth. Stand out tracks to me were Gotta Serve Somebody, Black
Rider, Key West, Every Grain of Sand, Most LikelyYou'll Go Your Way and
Melancholy Mood (much to my surprise).  I have been closer to Dylan at
many shows, but the intimacy of the venue was extraordinary.  It was a
magical evening.