July 3, 2010
Review by Paul Carvajal
Dylan performed a powerful show of sheer genius at Hop Farm. The
quality was consistent from the time the band filed on like the troupe
of master professionals they are till the time they lined up with the
song and dance man and filed off. Dylan is clearly the band leader
and plays the organ like he’s mixing up the palette. The relationship
between him and his band communicated through glances and subtle hand
movements was utterly fluent. It was all professionalism and artistry
at the highest level. Your just not going to see anything like it
anywhere else. He nailed it all straight last night and was in full
command of all his techniques. His voice was sharp, precise and
powerful, stretching, twisting, punctuating and modulating words to
pack them with expression. The ravaged vocal quality he has used in
his late (he says middle) period deepened the texture and colour of
his core poetic themes of mortality, fate, suffering and love. He
combined this richly expressive vocal delivery with equally expressive
physical movements and gestures, another innovation of his late
period. When he came to the front and stood with the mic for Ballad
of a Thin Man, Blind Willie McTell, High Water (for Charley Patton)
and Workingman’s Blues the performance became dramatic theatre. With
precision of voice and gesture he foregrounded the elements of the
songs that function like a screenplay and led us through the dialogue,
vignettes and images in a way that was almost cinematic. Texture,
atmosphere and dramatic force were also powerfully conveyed by his
remarkable harmonica playing, fully extending the potential of this
instrument. Musically and poetically Dylan is a master of the
traditions of American folk, blues and country music, what he has
called having the ‘blood of the land’ in his voice. It also remains
true that he rocks like no-one else. Yesterday we heard the blood of
the land in his unique wild mercury sound. I stood with my sons for
twelve hours in a dense crowd in intense heat to see the man close.
We did the quest and we saw the shaman.
Review by Joe Neanor
To the Hop Farm Festival in Kent, the Garden of England, for Bob's only UK
show of the summer tour on a lovely fine evening, about as good as gets
around here. As might be expected, given the name of the venue, the show
took place in a very large field. It was pleasing to see large screens
either side of stage - these had been so lacking last year when Bob played
the cavernous London O2 venue. Disappointingly, there were to be no close
ups of Bob. For some reason throughout the show the picture was a fixed
camera shot showing pretty much the breadth of the stage with no variation
that I noticed. This resulted in Stu Kimball never seeming to be in shot at
all, not at least when I glanced at the screen. I had a reasonable, if a
tight, side on view of Bob tonight. This was at the cost of not being able to
see any of the other musicians apart from the occasional glimpse of Charlie
Sexton. Glancing at the big screen gave the wider picture, except for the
visually absent Stu Kimball. The sound system was impressive.
A strong, and at times, compelling performance from Bob and his band.
Charlie Sexton is clearly on Bob's musical wavelength and, although a bit
over the top at times in the way he moves around the stage, he adds
something to the show. A flying start with a bouncing Everybody Must Get
Stoned. This was followed by a nice bright, guitar pinging, version of
Don't Think Twice and then a blistering Stuck Inside of Mobile. Bob sang
Just Like A Woman, like he wrote it yesterday, bringing out nuances. Next
came a swirling Honest With Me. In A Simple Twist of Fate Bob seemed to
fluff a line but this is forgivable as it was performed, like many songs
tonight, away from his keyboard and lyric sheets, facing the crowd from the
centre of the stage. Next came the highlights of show for me - great renditions
of High Water (for Charlie Patton) and a majestic Blind Willie McTell, both
featured wonderful harmonica solos. Highway 61 changed the mood, seeming to
career along at breakneck speed. This was followed by Working Mans Blues, such a
gentle but powerful song. Bob delivered the line "If you want to look into my
eyes please do" from the centre of stage with arms open. Thunder On The
Mountain, with him back behind the keyboard, picked up the tempo again. Ballad
Of A Thin Man saw Bob returning to centre stage, jabbing his free hand towards
the audience between harmonica solos. Like A Rolling Stone was sung with energy
and purpose, Bob turning sideways from his keyboard to engage with the audience.
Forever Young closed the show, sung from centre stage, to what seemed to me, a
mainly young audience.
At times watching the show it was all a bit of a squash and squeeze, with
some people who should have known better, losing their rag with younger
members of the audience who had had one drink too many. But worse was to
come - it took me about an hour and a half to get out of the car park and I had
parked near the exit.
Joe Neanor
Review by Martin Gayford
Bob was great last night at Hop Farm. Standing with my sons on my shoulders,
Forever Young almost had me blubbing. Partly because of the 25 years I've
known the song, and partly the significance of hearing it with my sons, but also
the sweetness with which Bob sang it. He sang Ballad Of A Thin Man with a
level of emotion that I haven't heard from him for a few years. The guitar and
organ playing was typically erratic, and obviously no acoustic guitar playing this
time. His harp playing was spectacular on some songs, High Water Everywhere
especially. His voice was rough - obviously - but the strength of feeling he put
into some songs raised them above the average croakiness. Personally, I'd love
to see a whole show of Bob with just mike and harp. The freedom he seems
to have away from the keyboard, and even guitar, result in superlative
performances. From where we were standing, some songs sounded mumbled
and muddy, but even an uneven Bob show is good if it has highlights like
Ballad Of A Thin Man last night.
Review by Mr. Jinx
HOPPED-UP
Resplendent in a vivid, livid pink shirt, dark suit and white hat, Dylan took
the stage to a mighty roar from twenty thousand souls gathered on a hop farm in
deepest Kent. Festival flags flying and the odd Chinese lantern floating
overhead in the twilight, the band launched with gusto into Rainy Day Women.
It soon became apparent that something was ‘happening here’. Dylan abandoned
the keyboard after just a couple of verses, strode over to the side of the
stage, picked up his guitar and spent the rest of the song stage front as the
crowd bellowed the refrain into the deepening blue skies.
Indeed, stage centre was where Dylan staked his territory for most of the night.
Song after song he returned to the spot, either plucking guitar, blowing harp
like a bastard or singing, hands outstretched like a turn of the century,
end-of-pier entertainer.
Simple Twist of Fate was an early highlight, Dylan trading licks with a wired
looking Charlie Sexton. It was a gorgeous arrangement. The nagging riff
bouncing between the two men like a crazy ping-pong ball. Then there was the
pugilists’ heavyweight double punch of High Water and Blind Willie McTell. Here
Dylan was at his most commanding, rasping the lines and skipping over the words
like a stone dancing across the surface of a clear lake.
It was harp, though, that proved to be Dylan’s main mode of communication during
the show. I can honestly say that in the 43 shows I have witnessed on the NET I
have never heard him so connected with his instrument. He returned to it time
and again, sometimes to ‘re-sing’ the song after the vocal was gone (as in Just
Like A Woman), sometimes to punctuate individual lines of a song with a machine
gun rat-a-tat. It was a master class of expression. The reeds of the voice
and the reeds of the harp joining forces, united in the assault. Workingman’s
Blues was a show-stopper, jaw-dropper. With each new verse the emotion
accumulated until it was an unstoppable torrent. ‘If I told you my whole story
you’d weep,’ sang Dylan. No need, Bobby, I’m already dabbing my eyes!
The main set ended with an unfeasibly authoritative Ballad of a Thin Man. I
have heard this one sung vengefully (as I did at Barrowland in 2004) but here it
was sung as a communal sharing of a truth. The Mr Joneses (wherever they may
be) were well and truly rumbled and the beaming smiles of those around me in the
crowd bore testimony to the power of the performance (and the victory over
Philistinism contained in the message). ‘Yeaahhhhh, Bobbbbbyyyyyyyy!!!!’
Returning for a blistering Like a Rolling Stone, ably assisted by the baying
mob, Dylan just had time to offer his great communal benediction Forever Young
before standing at the line-up and filing away with the band stage right. I
won’t bore you with tales of traffic chaos in the fields as we tried to leave,
suffice it to say I could have done with a SUV and some crash bars. If you were
the Mr Jones driving the dark blue Mercedes that cut me up on leaving field 33 I
wish you good luck with your life and safe motoring.
As for Dylan at the hop farm: what a fantastic night! I was so proud that Kent
(the county of my birth) gave Bob a fantastic reception and the fact that he
reciprocated with a top-draw performance only made the day sweeter. May God
bless and keep . . . etc.
Mr Jinx
Review by Fran Scott
Magnificent. Words cannot describe what a joy it was to hear Bob singing
his heart out last night. His set was excellent from beginning to end
and Workingman's Blues was delivered with a tenderness that left me
misty-eyed. Blind Willie McTell was terrific and a sincere performance
of Forever Young closed the show.
The stage was in a large field, in front of the Hop Farm buildings which
included some eye-catching Oast-Houses overlooking the backstage area.
The afternoon leading up to the show was gloriously hot and sunny and
the festival attendees were a real mix - teenagers, parents, older
couples, kids, small groups of men in their fifties / sixties, younger
folk. The crowd for Dylan's performance were knowledgeable and
enthusiastic on the whole, from my position during the encores - around
50 yards from the stage - most people, young and old, had their hands
aloft and sang along to the chorus of Like a Rolling Stone with huge
gusto.
My impression is that Bob raises his game at the bigger venues, he seems
to sing harder and put more energy into the delivery knowing that his
voice has to reach further. While this doesn't necessarily translate
into a better overall performance (and is somewhat tempered by the
reluctance to afford those at the back a decent view of proceedings on
the giant screens if these are used at all), last night it combined with
a judicious setlist and a European Tour which by many informed accounts
has seen Dylan in wonderful form, to produce a really special concert.
Fran Scott
Review by Gordon Dow
This was the fourth time I've seen Bob in recent years. Maybe it's just
the advancing years (ie mine) but I often have difficulty making out
which song it is he's singing. It's always with grateful thanks that the
following day I access this web site to get the set list. And what do I
discover today - he sang Blind Willie McTell last night!! One of my
favourite Dylan songs and I never even knew he was singing it! I have to
say he did appear to engage more with his audience than on recent dates,
I think I even saw him smile at one point. But why oh why did he (or his
management) insist on turning off most of the cameras for the large
video screens? There was only one static camera fixed on a view of the
stage, no close-ups at all whereas with earlier acts there had been
several cameras operating. This is so unfair on people standing further
back who have paid good money to see the man. When I've attended
previous Dylan shows in large auditoria, I've always regretted the lack
of video screens and assumed this was down to penny-pinching on behalf
of Dylan or his management. But now it's clear that it must be some wish
of Dylan himself not to have any sort of active video presentation. It's
as if he goes out of his way to cock a snoop at his audience. To me, his
on-stage diction is awful and if the truth be told, all the songs tend
to sound much the same (I realise I'm out of kilter with the other
reviews on this board). Contrast a Dylan concert with one by Leonard
Cohen - the latter goes out of his way to give his audience their
money's worth - good camera work, excellent lighting, crystal-clear
delivery of the songs, interaction with the audience.
A real pity.
Gordon Dow
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