Thanks to Tobias Yamabe for the following review:

This was the first Dylan concert I ever been to (yeah, Iknow. But it's
brave to admit, right? ;) so the risk is that just seeing him makes this
a very possitive "review". I also have to admit I was a bit worried that
it wouldn't be as great as I thought it "should" be, but I needed not to
worry for long...

Billie Myers started and stood in the dark the most of the time.

Then Dylan came in and it was a Dylan in great form!

I loved the arrangement of "All Along The Watchtower" with the "reapeat"
of the half line. "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" also great
with lovely moves by Dylan. A suprice with a bit upbeat and wonderful
"Every Grain Of Sand". The acoustic set started with "Desolation Row"
followed by the lovely "One Too many Mornings" which harp solo was worth
the entry fee. The slow "Make You Feel My Love" (reminded me a bit of
"Simple Twist Of Faith" on "Darkness At The Break Of Noon"). "This
Wheel's On Fire" also great and again Dylan showed those lovely moves!
The crowd kept seated for the hole time.

Before the encore the crowd got up and ran up towards the stage, I kept
seated though on my distant seat.

The encore started with the best version of "Forever Young" I ever
heard, "Love Sick" and during "Rainy Day Woman", afetr the lights had
been turned on, Dylan didn't seam to want to finish and the guitar solo
went on forever.

The crowd loved it so much so Dylan came in and finished with a
beautiful "Blowin' In The Wind"! 15 songs in 1 h 40 minutes, thank you
Bob!

If anyone finds a tape of this, please don't hesitate to write
(tyamabe@hotmail.com :)

All the best
Tobias Yamabe

**************************************************************

Thanks to Carsten Wohlfeld for the following review:

Truth is I lied. I never intended to attend the scandinavian shows and had
only planned to rejoin the tour in Copenhagen on thursday. But then of
course came the Rostock show and suddenly I realized: the "don't you dare
miss it" thing on the posters is no joke! Fortunately for me the two
festivals in Malmö and Oslo had been okay, but not great.

Now I consder myself to be smarter than Bob and Tony? Why you ask? Here's
the answer: I concluded my last review by saying that they better not play
"Every Grain Of Sand" 'til Copenhagen, so I'd be able to hear it. Somehow
they must've found out and thought: "Okay, just to freak him out, we'll do
it in Stockholm... that's a trainride that's 17 fucking hours long (even
longer than it took him to get to Miami Beach!) and he won't travel that
far and leave his cozy home just for another show." Well, I was indeed
stupid enough to do the trip and unfortunately I didn't have a chance to
check out the beautiful city of Stockholm at all, but I got to hear "Every
Grain..." so I'm definitely not complaining. Billie Myers opened with a
7-song set that was a mixture of Whintey Houston, Spice Girls and Skunk
Anansie.. Due to problems with the cuesheet the show started 20 mins late,
at 8.50pm.

 All Along The Watchtower

Not a very convoncing version that sounded more like the under-rehearsed
Miami rendition than the superb Rostock one.

 Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You

Solid performance of this song which I consider to be one of the weaker #2
alternates. The people in the huge Icehockey Arena all stayed in their
seats, which didn't improve the performances at all.

 Cold Irons Bound

First stellar vocal performance of the night, even though the bad acoustics
of the venue were a real letdown throughout the night.

 Every Grain Of Sand

Started with the usual looooong instrumental intro, followed my very
emotional vocals, delivered very softly. Some minor lyric fuckups I think,
but alltogether every bit as good as I had hoped for. Thanks, Bob!

 Silvio

Great rocker, perfect for a huge venue like this. No major surprises.

 Desolation Row (acoustic)

Got the biggest cheer of the night and sounded like an electric song played
acoustically. We even got the "Nero's Neptun" verse which was pretty
special indeed. One of the night's highlights.

 One Too Many Mornings (acoustic)

One of this current favourites I guess, cause he's doing it rather often,
but always very passionate. Also featured the best harp solo I heard him do
in quite a while, with long breaks, slowing building up.

  Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)

The usual crowd-pleaser, this time without the "lucky just to be employed"
line but something else that rhymed with "wasting your time away". Very
fast version, almost rushed.

 Make You Feel My Love

Still a bad song that his given a very careful treatment. Sounds better
than it actually is, if you know what I mean. Band intros followed early on
in the set.

 This Wheel's On Fire

Always great to hear, if only for Bucky's and Larry's backing vocals.

 Highway 61 Revisted

was "Highway". Rocked the place and made way for the encores.

 (encores)
 Forever Young

Beautiful vocal delivery, fit in perfectly with all the passionate songs
Bob had been doing all night.

 Love Sick

The vocal delivery is somewhat different on this one now, it sounds more
casual and laidback compared to late '97 versions. Different, but not
better or worse.

 Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35

was still there and had a nice Country-edge to it tonight, cause Bucky got
an extra pedal steel solo.

 Blowin' In The Wind (acoustic)

Crowd-pleasing as usual, a bit rushed, but still better than Leipzig or
Berlin. A number of people (the more cusual fans) were already on their way
to their cars.

I soon followed to catch the nightrain to Göteborg. Expect another review
of that show soon. Thanks for reading and thanks also to Chritian Z. for
letting me use his account.

carsten wohlfeld
--
"it's irrelevant, I'm an elephant, she's a mouse" (smudge)

*********************************************************************

Thanks to Eyolf Ostrem for the following review:


At last! My first show in seven long years. Decent seats in row 17. Not
much to say about the "special guest", I think. Fairly tight sound, but
she seemed to be acting in a much too evident way. I usually can't stand
people who play air-guitar (or air-drums for that matter), and this was
no exception. The drummer was the only one who really was on stage, and
had a reason to be there. I'm not going to buy the record. 
Then a long (slightly too long) break when nothing seemed to be
happening, except for a lady creating such a commotion that she was
escorted out of the audience and placed in one of the upper galleries
where she couldn't disturb anyone. Too bad for her, I guess, but good
for the rest of us. That's life.
Then, finally, His Bobness (or is it Bobliness?) enters. The first song
is 

1. All Along The Watchtower
in the same new arrangment that has been used in the last few shows. I
really like it. It sounds like a mixture of the TOOM sound and Series of
dreams (the drums). Slow, but with a lot happening on the surface level,
so to speak. At the title phrase comes the first shivers of the evening.
Spooky.

2. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
Overall good - nothing special, really. "Thanks everybody" #1.

3. Cold Irons Bound
Introduced as "one of my newer ones". Rather shorter intro than on the
earlier shows I've heard. A magnificent rendition. I was struck by a lot
of things: How tight the band is, how good the song is and that Dylan
seems to have a lot of fun. 

4. Every Grain of Sand
The first really pleasant surprise! I do miss the heavy 1995 version,
but this is the second best.

5. Silvio
No surprises here! Hard-driving rock'n'roll. And it *is* an amusing
song!

6. Desolation Row @
The @ should perhaps be replaced by a more appropriate sign - not much
of a change from the electric set, except that they play acoustic
guitars/bass. The presence of bass/drums also in the ac. set has the
effect that even potentially slow/quiet songs become uptempo rockers.
D-Row gets a fair treatment with some really delightful moments. 

7. One Too Many Mornings @ (w/harp)
Surprise number two. This is the one song where it is most difficult not
to compare with 1966... I'm not much affected by this version. It merits
inclusion here for the short (but sweet) harp solo. Hand-held harp and
mike, which evidently created some trouble when it got stuck in the
shoulder strap of the guitar, but it all worked out fairly well. Nice to
hear the celestial instrument again anyway.

8. Tangled Up in Blue @
I was expecting Masters of War here, but they went straight to Tangled.
Not much to say about this one either - I'm beginning to like the new,
fast version. 

9. To Make You Feel My Love
The only really quiet song of the evening. 

10. Wheel's on Fire
Pleasant surprise number three! And a really pleasant one at that! I
really like this version, with Larry's low riffs and the slowly broken
dim-chords. Beautiful!

11. Highway 61 Revisited
OK. 

12. Forever Young @
OK2.

13. Love Sick
Before the show started, the lady behind me had a discussion with her
partner about the new album ("What is it called? Time out...? Time out
of mind? Yes I think it is that?" "That first song is really marvellous"
etc.) I turned around after Forever Young to see her reaction, and the
look on her face when she heard the first chords and realised what was
coming up, that was worth at least a third of the ticket! It was a
welcome reminder that Dylan is enjoyed even by those who don't remember
the title of his latest album. Of course it was sung/played wonderfully.

14. Rainy Day Women #12&35
Lights on, people rushing to the stage. He really seemed to be enjoying
himself up there. Looong guitar solos. And he's actually getting better
at it, it seems. Lots of knee bending, splits, even a tad of a duck walk
at one point, small dance steps. It looks slightly awkward, of course,
but it feels good! 

15. Blowin' in the Wind @
Crowd pleaser? I guess so. 

And now off for Gothenburg.
-- 
Eyolf Østrem		
Rackarbergsg 30:410	
S-752 32 Uppsala, Sweden	

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