May 11, 2015
Review by Jason Guthrie Barton
"Until 7:00 pm tonight, for all intents and purposes, I was done w/ Bob,
at least live. After seeing Wilco a few weeks ago, I seemed to have
subconsciously transferred my affections to Jeff Tweedy and his band.
(At all times, I require a soulful, charismatic songwriter as a touchstone
in my life - one I can call upon during times of duress, and usually,
there's only room for one in my head at any moment!)
Vol. 3 of my overdue, library copy of Telltale Signs had been all-but
glued to my car stereo for months. But, after seeing Wilco live for the
nth time recently, it suddenly felt less vital, lifeless even.
In a flash, my connection to Dylan had seemingly unwound and, for the
millionth time or so, I had cast aside one musical avatar for another - in
this case, Bob for Jeff.
Nonetheless, after a sudden re-appraisal after talking to a friend - (I'm
sort of fickle like that!) - I decided to dash to the theater in the hopes
of finding a ticket.
By the time I approached, it was nearly 8:30 - 30 mins after starting!
However, I grabbed a ticket from the box office and walked in. After
bypassing my section in the rear, I found an aisle seat 5 rows from the
front.
This tour, as everyone knows, is a continuation of Bob's cowboy/crooner
persona w/ minimal staging and lights. In addition, Dylan's set-list is
mostly unchanged. Luckily, the mirrors are gone, but the stage is still
shadowy and subdued, as befits his recent sound, and the elegaic quality
of his latest record.
Tonight, Dylan and the band sounded fantastic.
At times Bob appears to be channeling Tom Waits, standing inscrutably at
center stage, clutching the mic stand w/ one hand, gingerly.
Even if Dylan's band is decidedly smoother, less carnivalesque than
Waits', the effect - from Dylan's gravelly delivery to the shadowy,
theatrical lighting - is strangely similar. At times, they even sound like
a musical act from an unreleased David Lynch film - something btwn "Blue
Velvet" and "Mulholland Drive."
Between verses, Bob glided effortlessly around stage, at times even
shuffling his feet in a nearly-imperceptible boxer's shuffle.
He alternated btwn center stage and his piano at right, depending on the
song.
Recent ones, from "Tempest" and "Shadows in the Night," are particularly
inspired. Clearly, Dylan has honed this band to produce the blended,
edge-free backing that his recent album requires. However, as a result,
blues-based songs like "High Water" sounded particularly flat.
"Early Roman Kings" and "Scarlet Town," however, were seamless, in
particular, the latter's apocalyptic mood perfectly synched w/ Bob's
crooner persona and the minimalist lighting on stage.
"Long and Wasted Years" and "Autumn Leaves" were particularly inspired.
I'm not sure if the album versions are as short as the concert versions,
but they appear to be truncated to two, if not one, verses. They're
short, yet perfectly abridged.
Within moments of ending, the house lights had returned and stagehands
were dismantling the equipment. As the rear curtain pulled back, it
exposed brick and scaffolding behind it. At that moment, the artificial
construction of Bob's latest persona, the crooner/cowboy, was reinforced
in my mind. Like all his personae preceding it (as countless others have
noted), his latest vestige is merely another in a long line of
performative transformations, a co-mingling of public and private
appendages, depending on his ever-changing nature. In this case, it's
sheer perfection.
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