It was nice to finally meet Laurette Maillet in front of the Hult Center.
I went to the show with my wife and daughter and the four of us spoke for
a bit outside. Laurette gave our daughter one of her reproductions of her
drawings of Dylan and it has immediately become one of her prized
possessions. I wish I had a ticket to give to Laurette, but we were all
pretty confident that Laurette would get one and, sure enough, when I went
back to check on her later, she was gone, likely already inside.

The Silva Hall of the Hult Center is a good venue with very good
acoustics. The first half of this show, up until “Crossing the
Rubicon,” was remarkable in how silent the audience was, reverent even.
Yes, there was enthusiasm and clapping in between songs, but there were
moments in the first half of the show where one could hear a pin drop. My
family and I were seated three rows in front of the soundboard.

Tonight, from beginning to end, Dylan was wearing a light gray or off
white (it was difficult to tell in the lighting) pork pie hat. He never
took it off.

We all know that there are many lyric variations from night to night.
Perhaps because of the fine acoustics and respectful audience, I could
hear most of them better tonight. Perhaps there were a few variations
unique to Eugene.

During “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine),” Dylan sang
“200, 300, 400 pounds / is too much weight to be carrying around / I’m
gonna let you pass / Yes, and I’ll go last…” When he sang “You say
you’re sorry for tellin’ stories / you know I believe are true,” you
could truly hear a pin drop in the Hult Center. Everyone in the hall was
attentive to Dylan. This was my favorite version of “Most Likely You Go
Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)” from the four shows I saw (Kennewick,
Portland, June 2 Seattle, and Eugene). Charley Drayton’s drumming was
propulsive, driving the song.

It was difficult for me to make out the new first verse to “I Contain
Multitudes” in Seattle, but it was much easier in Eugene. I think that
Dylricus’s transcription from the Seattle thread is correct. This is
what I heard: “It’s All Saints Day on Albert Street / You can sell
your soul to the first man you meet / I'll jump all around with lightning
speed / I ain't giving anything to anyone unless they beg and they plead /
I fuss with my hair and I fight blood feuds…I contain multitudes.”

“False Prophet” was crisp tonight. The vocal came through clearer than
some of the other shows.

At the beginning of “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” Dylan went over to
the center mic, but he was back at the piano for the performance of this
song. Dylan sang “You can always get yourself into trouble on a cold
dark night on the Spanish Stairs.” Also, after singing, “Gonna turn my
back on the world for a while,” he added a quick aside, “Just a little
while,” before continuing, “Just until I paint my masterpiece.” He
sang the last chorus as “When I *finally* paint that masterpiece.”

Dylan went over to the center mic to sing the first verse, but then
returned to the piano to sing and play for the rest of the song.

During “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” I heard a variation I had not
heard before, “Shut the door, short the blind / Tonight you’re gonna
be all mine.” This song continues to be a highlight of the set.

“My Own Version of You” featured an exceptional vocal from Dylan
tonight. Instead of “You can bring it to St. Peter - you can bring it to
Jerome / You can move it on over - bring it all the way home,” he sang,
“You can bring it to St. Peter - you can bring it to Jerome / Bring it
all the way over than bring it on home.” During the “I can see the
history of the whole human race” verse, the three guitar players stopped
playing and as he sang it with bass and drum accompaniment, the Silva Hall
was unnaturally quiet. Dylan’s voice seemed to fill everything.
Dylan’s voice sounded vicious when he sang “See the rawhide lash rip
the skin off their backs.” After the song, Dylan said, “Thank you,
everybody.”

During “Crossing the Rubicon” we are at song nine of a seventeen song
set and the crowd seemed to identify this as an intermission point as
there were many people that got up and shifted about and finally there was
some noise from the crowd. “Crossing the Rubicon” is another of
tonight’s outings that featured a strong vocal. He sounded natural and
convincing when he sang, “Take the high, take the low / Take the road
you’re on.” The new verse seems to add Dylan’s thought that he’s
got 10 or 20 years in him left, if we can associate the song’s speaker
with him: “Right or wrong, what can I say, what remains to be said? /
I’ll spill your brains on ground, you’ll be better off with the dead /
Seems like 10, maybe 20 years I’ll be gone / I stood between Heaven and
Earth and I crossed the Rubicon.” I heard “I’ll be gone” instead
of “I’ve been gone,” but who knows? The recording will provide
evidence to examine. I think it was after “Rubicon” that Dylan said,
“Thank you” and then something to the effect of “you’re a nice
crowd,” but all I could make out was “crowd.”

“To Be Alone With You” begins, as Dylan has done much during this
early leg of the tour, with Dylan singing while accompanied by his own
piano and, in this instance, Donnie Herron’s fiddle. After the first
verse, the rest of the band comes in to good effect. After this song,
Dylan said a quick, “Why thank you again.”

“Key West (Philosopher Pirate)” began with a nice piano run that stood
out. The vocal was good. For the first part of the song, it seemed like
the vocal mix dipped slightly in volume, but then increased about halfway
through the song. It was a slight change and didn’t make much of a
change to the song.

People really like “Gotta Serve Somebody.” It is an up-tempo number
and people are really starving for up-tempo numbers in this set,
especially after a long song like “Key West (Philosopher Pirate).”
This version is typical of most of the versions from this leg and did not
include the awesome almost acapella beginning that Dylan sang in Portland.

At the beginning of “I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You,”
Dylan moved to the center mic, then he moved back to the piano before he
began singing the song. A strong vocal delivery from Dylan on this song,
with I saw the flowers come and go” being sung tenderly.

Dylan started “Melancholy Mood” at the piano, then he moved to the
center mic to sing the song. After the song he went to the piano, and he
said a sentence or two to us and I could not make it out at all. I did not
recognize any words, which was strange given how quiet the concert hall
was earlier.

In “Mother of Muses” Dylan was smiling as he sang the final verse
about “Take me to the river and release your charms.” It struck me as
we moved from “make me invisible like the wind” to the farewell of
“Goodbye Jimmy Reed” how much this set list delivers a goodbye. This
is something that my friend and author Steven Thwaits had commented on when
we talked before the June 2 Seattle show.

Speaking of “Goodbye Jimmy Reed”: it brought in a little of the
unexpected highwire aspect of the Portland show to this otherwise much
more certain Eugene show. He omitted “good luck” but still sang the
concluding “Can’t play the record ‘cause my needle got stuck” even
though it no longer had a rhyme. Also, the first time through with that
verse he sang “nothing to fight back *with* but a butchers hook.” Then
he sang the verse again, this time with “good luck,” but he began the
verse singing only rhyming conclusions of the first couplet, so it went,
“They threw everything at, everything in the book / Butcher’s hook /
They have no pity…” and then the verse concludes with the regular
“good luck / needle got stuck” rhyme. Tony Garnier was playing strong
and prominent bass lines on the upright bass during this song, especially
during “They have no pity – they don’t lend a hand / I can’t sing
a song that I don’t understand.”

During the band introductions, Dylan (again) mistakenly introduced Charley
Drayton as “Charlie Sexton,” and then quickly corrected himself and
said “Drayton.” This time he did not make a joke about it. Both Doug
Lancio and Bob Britt were simply introduced as playing “guitar.”

After the second verse of “Every Grain of Sand,” I was struck by how
prominent Donnie Herron’s pedal steel playing became as I didn’t
recall him playing a solo in the other three shows I saw. Then, while I
was noting that, Dylan takes a harmonica from the top of the upright piano
and plays a beautiful solo for the duration of the verse… a good length
solo. People were clapping and losing their minds. The guy directly in
front of me kept yelling, “Keep going Bob,” he was so caught up in it.
Toward the end of the solo, Dylan went low when I would have expected him
to play higher. It added an effective, dramatic quality to the solo. Even
my wife (who shies away from some of Dylan’s shrieking harmonica solos)
really liked it. Dylan stood at the upright and played harp with both
hands. Then he sang the last verse, and then played the harp again as an
outro (not verse length the second time).

People around us seemed to enjoy the show. I thought, like the second
(June 2) Seattle show, it was solid. I think the vocals were a little
better here in Eugene and there was some more care put into the vocal
delivery throughout. There were nice piano fills and strong piano playing
throughout from Dylan, but it was only the Portland show where it struck
me that Dylan was the musical force of the band; that was not the case
tonight. Tonight it was about the vocal delivery.

Daniel Mackay
https://kepw.org/hard-rain-slow-trains/

From Portland to Eugene June 5th.

I walked the 40 minutes walk crossing the ... Rubicon. Nope. Just the 
Willamette river. Sadly encountering the now so familiar Homeless Land. 
In each American city , there is a "nomad"/"no-men"Land. For the poor 
and the wretched. I call them the "Quechua underdogs". The ones 
who are left on the side of the American dream competition. The 
American dream now a reality for only 10% of the top ones who care 
about their pets (dogs and cats) more than they seam to care about 
their compatriots. I can't reconcile with myself to believe it's the way
it's supposed to be.

My FLIXBUS is on time, even ahead of time.
The driver is a nice Lady. Very polite and efficient.
I reach Eugene on time and walk the 50 minutes to another youth 
hostel. This one more "funky"; a hippy sort of den
Just time to drop my bags and getting ready for the rain...

I walk the 35 minutes to the Hult performing arts center. Looks nice.
Bobby's bus pulls in the parking lot around 6pm.
I meet a good Samaritan, Chuck, who helped me with accomodations. 
We have a little chat. I still need a ticket.
A man sold me one for 20$ and comes back 20 minutes later to ask 
the Tix back. His girlfriend just showed up
I'm back to point zero but manage to get bucks from my prints. 
Another man has an extra. He wants 84$. And nothing less. Weird! 
I know he will walk in with that ticket so I take the courage to walk 
to him and present my paintings. He is impressed and agrees to get 
20$ and two prints in exchange for the Tix. Cool!

I try to sell more prints and then walk in. Security is light. The tickets 
are scanned only at the entrance of individual doors. Weird!
I am on upper balcony next to a nice Lady who will give me 26$ for 
a print. I never made so much money before a show.

It might be 8.10pm and the lights dim dim!
Bob is... wearing his black hat .
Not the best for me. Being on the upper balcony his face totally 
disappears in the shadow of that hat.. I just see the top of the hat. 
Nice hat
So let's focus on the music.
The sound is very good.
Until "Crossing the Rubicon" there is nothing exceptional. 
Bob has a tentative of center stage for "Black Rider" but rapidly retrieves 
to the piano.
His energy is not the best.
"Crossing the Rubicon" adds some drama.
The public reacts here and there but nothing crazy. Are they focusing 
or..sleeping?
Truly I find that show slightly ... Boring.
He is messing up "Jimmy Reed" repeating twice the same verse. 
Missing the solo of piano/guitar and confusing the Band
He said "thank you" twice then "thank you, again!" the third time.
Presenting the Band I believe he said "Charley Sexton" for Charley 
Drayton then repeats "on drums Charley Drayton."
Then "Every grain of sand" normal for the two first verses then....
He signals Donnie Heron to play. Donnie starts a solo on steel guitar while 
Bob stops playing his piano and picks up a harp from the piano. And 
starts...blowing...
The public is wild
He did a solo for quite a while before singing the last verse and again a 
harp solo. So... That was the surprise of the night.
And really the only highlight ( except if you happen to like his ).

I sell prints outside when a pretty Lady approaches me. She presents 
herself as Bob Britt's daughter. Chuck joins in the conversation and we 
ask the Lady what her father thinks playing for Bob Dylan.
She says this is the most difficult job he ever done. Musicians have to be 
ready for anything happening on stage. They have to pay attention to 
one another to be in harmony at all time. There is no partition. 
Improvisation is the word.
Even if the setlist is the name, nothing is really truly the same! That's 
what makes a BOB DYLAN show always unique.
She also says that Bob Britt and Dough Lancio had been friends since 
childhood in Nashville. Alright! 
Bobby's bus is now passing in front of us. We wave goodbye and 
good night See you in Redding.

I walk back to my funky hostel where the owner invited me to paint 
a mural, one of those days ( when Bobby is not on the road).
After the tour?
 
I like Eugene. Nice community people.
Thank you all the good Samaritans. Much LOVE