The Generalife gardens at sunset are sublime and by 9.30 the 
smartest of Granada’s citizens have filled every seat of this 
initimate, cyprus- bordered auditorium. The buzz is palpable 
as friends embrace friends and an unusually gender-balanced 
and smartly dressed Bob crowd take their seats.

Bob and band roar in with a super-charged ‘Watching The River 
Flow’ and Bob pulls out with a joyous ‘thank you’.  

A voice calls out ‘Blowin in the Wind’ from the front left 
side of the audience. Bob says ‘we hear you…we can hear 
every word you say’ and plays ‘Key West’, answering the 
audience member’s implicit question with lines like ‘I do 
what I think is right, what I think is best’, ‘If you're 
looking for immortality, Stay on the road, follow the highway 
sign’ and ‘Wherever I travel, wherever I roam, I'm not that 
far from the comfort of home’ (Bob’s been listening to 
Metallica it seems, and following the same Beaten Path).

Key West was compelling and one of the evening’s stand-out 
songs. Likewise ‘My Own Version of You’ was riveting.

Settled in and taking a breath Bob said ‘This is a beautiful 
place to play … I wish it was like this every night’.

Much laughter and joking between Bob and Tony before ‘Gotta 
Serve Somebody’ which is then performed in a blistering new 
arrangement that owes more than a little to Lennon’s ‘Gotta 
Serve Yourself’ : probably the best of the night’s oldies.

The Rough and Rowdy songs dominate and resonate with only 
‘Crossing The Rubicon’ and ‘Mother Of Muses’ stretching the 
limits of their content. ‘Every Grain of Sand’ was a little 
fatigued compared to last year and the harmonica limited in 
length and expression but, none the less, great to hear.

This has been the opening concert of the 2023 festival and 
a major event in the musical heritage of Generalife and 
Granada. The ambience and the crowd’s warmth raised Bob and 
the band’s energy and performance to a joyous level.

A voice from front left had called out ‘I Love You’ and Bob 
had replied ‘I Love You Too’. Its difficult to think that 
the years ahead may ever bring a greater Bob Dylan show, but 
then …

Nick Cowie