Long Beach June 19th.
My good friend Bob Russel drives me from L.A. to Long Beach. Drops me 
at my couchsurfing host house.
My bed is a camp bed in a closet. 
Sometimes it's from riches to rags
I immediately step out for a walk to the beach.
Nice weather.
June 20th.
In early morning I pack up my Dylan bag for the day and the evening.
There is a show tonight.
I walk the two hours walk along the beach towards the .. Queen Mary.
Bob Russel invites me for lunch and we have a good time talking of 
different topics.
By 5.30pm I am at the Terrace theater with blisters under my feet
Strange venue! Three different entrances. I choose the one by the 
parking lot to ask for a ticket. Around 7pm a nice gentleman hands 
me a ticket. He says his wife was sick and couldn't come and he 
doesn't want to waste the ticket! So nice.
We pass the security control and end up in a food/drink area. Alright.
Then we pass the ticket control and only my friend is asked to put his 
phone in the YONDR POUCH.
The seats are lodge 4 row 4 seats 14 13.
Ok. Not too bad.
I chat with my good Samaritan until 8.... something. That will be his 
first BD show.
Bob picks up his guitar. The sound is loud. More than usual. Which is 
good considering folks will talk here and there during the entire show.
There is even a crazy guy on my left who gonna whistle
Three specificities on that show:
-On the 6th song Bob starts "I'll be your baby tonight" instead of 
"Black Rider" though Bob Britt picked up the funny "flying V" guitar. 
Mistake from Dylan? Distraction?
-"Crossing the Rubicon" is hot ...so hot that Bob moves center stage 
and takes his black jacket off. Showing a beautiful silk green/blue 
fluffy shirt. Woah . Someone behind me shouts "Take it off!".. The 
shirt???
The crowd is "bon enfant", chatting, moving around, standing when 
Bob is center stage.
-On the 11th song the Band starts a new music rythme...woah! It's 
a brand new "Key west".
The crowd start clapping in rythm.
Great. Keep it this way Bobby!
Sweet "Every grain of sand" and the show is over.
A great show. With few surprises.
I say Goodbye to Bob Russell as it is his last show on that Tour.
I Bump into Stacey and his girlfriend who invites me to his 
'Bob Dylan' den in Long Beach.
That will be  a Bob Dylan break day!
Before Santa Barbara.
Thank you All the Good Samaritans.

This is the most unusual concert of all the fifteen or so Dylan concerts
have been to since the early 90’s. It was unusual in that it was not
like the others.

The stage lighting was incredible: simple varying blends of yellow,
orange, and salmon colors evenly up-lighting a tall curtain behind the
stage.  The musicians were silhouetted against this backdrop. It was hard
to make out their faces. The drummer, Charlie Drayton, sat on the left
facing across the stage to the right, so you see him and his movements in
profile.  Dylan was only visible behind the piano from his chest up. He
would come out from behind it between songs.  And then behind Dylan and
the piano, guitarist Doug Lancio was further obscured.  This broke the
feng shui of the musicians arrayed across the stage.  A bit puzzling why
he was positioned there.

The newish Terrace Theater had more than enough legroom, at least in the
orchestra section, and decent acoustics.  But it was also not so great. 
The floor seating was without aisles, meaning all access to all floor
seats was from the sides, down each long row.  Late-comers, and people
coming and going for a beer or to the bathroom had to interrupt those in
their row, 30-40 people each way, as they slowly side-shuffled to the left
or right, making everyone stop and squeeze their knees to one side and
hope their toes didn’t get stepped on, etc.

The big negative was that the bright house spotlights mounted above the
stage, shining directly back on the audience, were left on for the entire
show.  We speculated that this was to aid the people navigating to and
from their seats.  Yet immediately after the show, these lights were
turned off before the crowd exited.  At one point between songs someone
behind me yelled, “Turn off the lights!”  These lights were a constant
visual irritant for the duration of the concert.  Why would anyone have
turned them on and left them on?

The highlights of the show for me were Gotta Serve Somebody, Key West, and
Every Grain of Sand.  The new arrangements for most all the other songs
render them undistinguishable but for the lyrics.  So they tend to blend
in my memory after only hearing them once.

Drayton is a terrific drummer, with a lot of energy and variety.  His
style works well with these recent arrangements, or vice versa.  It was
cool to be able to watch him so prominently on stage.  The band is superb
and play well together, as could be expected.  Dylan seems to be doing
something more like talking than singing these days, and the songs have
more rhythm and less melody.

Thank you, Tony, for the ticket.