Reviews

Stuttgart, Germany

Porsche Arena

April 20, 2007


[Harald Meusburger], [Tommi Brem], [Joachim Richter]

Review by Harald Meusburger

 

Yesterdays evening in stuttgart was one of the finest performances of Bob
that i have seen in years. The more i think about the more i realize it
was superb. Most of all i enjoyed bobs singing. Every word comes out as
clear as it should. No mumbling around, strong and powerful. He seems so
concentrated and delivers every song with passion. Gone are the days when
he sometimes just performes on autopilot in a very lazy way and didnt care
about the songs he is singing. Way back then charly and larry didnt help
that much to make that circumstance better. I think the current band fits
perfectly. I cant find anything wrong with the musicians. For me Denny
Freeman does a very good job on the guitar. He played so cool during the
whole show especially on when the deal goes down and spirit on the water.
Even like a rolling stone had interresting guitar work by him. Its a pity
that Donny Herrons pedal steel and violin was to low in the mix. Beside
that case the sound was fantastic although i was front row. Dylan did some
very nice things with his fender during It aint me babe. Nice to see him
back on guitar. I notice that sometimes Denny Freeman covers dylans guitar
playing style (the simple climpering dylan did before the keyboard years)
It makes sense when dylan is on keyboard. Years back there were always
songs which i didnt enjoyed during the concert and hoped they would end as
soon as possible. Not on this show !! I cant name you one song that didnt
sound right to my ears or bored me in any way. From start to end a very
high level show. Did i mentioned that tom thumbs blues was a premiere for
me? Again very good band work. I dont give a damn if Denny Freeman plays
the riffs on this one or that one correctly or not as some reviewers
mentioned. He is cool. See the setlist for the songs that were played.
Without troubles i will remember tom thumbs, its allright ma, it aint me
babe, sugar babe, all the modern times tunes, and of course tangled up in
blue as real standouts for a long time. I cant help but i have to catch
another show and must get a recording of this stuttgart gig soon.

Harald Meusburger

[TOP]

Review by Tommi Brem



"Seeing Dylan is like going to the opera", I just told my wife who
wasn't there last night.

Going to the Porsche Arena, thinking about what kind of car Dylan
might drive. People hand in their tickets, their jackets and when 
the bell rings, the show starts.

A magnificent show with decent sound, although the electric 
organ and the violin were at times a little drowned in the mix.

Absolute high point of the show for me was the rendition of 
"John Brown" with the oriental sounding interludes between 
verses. Closest to a "protest song" I have heard him do in years, 
but I haven't heard much.

I love what he does with his voice these days, he seems to enjoy
playing with the rattling and hissing, sounding a bit like the old
Burroughs. Nice atmosphere.

In the end I left happy knowing that it doesn't matter if Dylan
plays at Porsche or at Woodstock, he is simply amazing.

But could anyone tell me why he brought the "Oscar", sitting on 
stage at all times?

[TOP]

Review by Joachim Richter

 


After driving home from the show in Düsseldorf the night before it took me
some cups of coffee to become awake. Also my motivation for another 150 km
drive (and back home) was not too big as Düsseldorf has not been an
outstanding event to me.

However, I finally arrived at Stuttgart at 6 pm to find out that the
Porsche-Arena is a brand new and modern concert hall. It has been built
adjacent to the Schleyer-Halle which is much older but I believe it was
renovated recently. Both halls have a common entrance and a common foyer.
These are of course unimportant facts but the real weird thing about this
was the fact that BD played in the Porsche-Arena at 7:30 pm ... and in the
Schleyer-Halle: Peter Maffay at 8 pm ... (Explanation for non-germans:
Peter Maffay is a popular german-language singer with some limited talent.
The most significant thing I know about him is that the audience threw
tomatoes and eggs at him when he acted as opener for the Rolling Stones at
their stadium shows in Germany in 1982.) 

So, the BD audience and the Peter Maffay audience entered the common
longue at the same time. However, both parties acted as if the other was
not there. No contact or communication was noticed by me. My biggest hope
was that WE would not hear Peter Maffay's singing attempts when listening
to Bob. (Actually, we did NOT hear him during the show.) 

BD hit the stage at 7:30 pm and started with an unspectular "Tweedle dee &
Tweedle dum", however it was laid-back and nice to listen. The two
highlights of the evening were "John Brown" which was performed sparingly
and hauntingly at the same time, and "Tangled up in blue" with a powerful
arrangement and Stu Kimball playing a fine 12-string-guitar. The complete
remainder of the setlist was fine and sounded better than in Düsseldorf
the night before. The only song I did not like was "Nettie Moore", since
Bob changed the keys at this one, compared to the original.

Finally, it was really worth to be there. 

Joachim Richter

[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