Reviews

When the summer of 2007 tour was announced and I realized that Bob
was playing at Red Rocks I knew I had to be there.  Fearlessly, I
got online, got the Pre sale Password, used the credit card, paid
the service fees and got tickets in the mail.

What did it matter if the show here at the Fillmore last Oct was not what
I anticipated. If Bob was coming to The Rocks then I was willing to take
another flyer on the Cowboy Band.

Besides I've been looking for a Rock show to take my son Tom, the 13
year old to and what better show to cut his rock and roll teeth on than
Bob Dylan.

About Red Rocks,  Red Rocks is one of the reason we live in Co.  It is
a venue that takes you breath away, literally. The Rocks has existed
for over 100 million years.  True, the seats were just put in during
the 1930s, but dinosaur's bones and Ute's Indians vibes still  exists.
As Kerouac said of the mountains" At First you get drunk on the
altitude, then you get tired and there a fever in your soul".

The day of the show finally came and even if we had only gotten 00.01 of
an inch of rain this month the warning for heavy rain and flash flooding 
were  being scrolled by the TVs.  I will spare you the ontheroad part of
the story suffice to say we got into Red Rocks just as My Morning Jacket
hit the stage and the lighting flashed .

The Opening act:
At the Oct. Fillmore show there was no opening act. Perhaps that is
why we got Morning Jacket as a bit of a make up. I've never hear of
MMJ before they were announced as the opener but thanks to youtube
and the Denver Public Library I've  gotten to know their songs. With
my $7.00 beer in hand we made out way towards the stage. The first
thing I notice was the lead guitar player/screamer Jim James's had
cut his long hair. Despite the lack of long hair (drummer still has
his) this band rocks. Sounding like a heavy metal lynard syknard on
"One Big Holiday" MMJ got the night off to a howling successful
start.

Thunder on the Mountain :
As the clock approached 9pm and with the sold out crowd waiting, the
long threating skies final open up and the rain came down.
Just as suddley Bob and the Cowboy Band hit the stage with Rainy Day
Women. Just then my cellphone rang and even thought I should  know
better I answered it. It was my Wife and the only words I could make out 
over the band was "I'll leave You" What? I asked "I'll leave YOU" was the 
only words I could make out. What could I do ?  I said "we are fine and
I see you after the show".

All to soon it seemed Bob was finshing up  I paint my masterpiece and 
putting down down his guitar. which ment no "IT's alright MA" About this
time Bob hit the Keyboard it seem the rain had stopped. Not only were 
the skies clearing up  so was Bob's voice as he was singing clear enough
to be under stood with his  voice just right in the mix. Starting with
Working Man Blues the night kicked into 2nd gear.

Next was  "Cry A While"  a song I don't know that well but could still
catch the words "Feel like a fighting rooster -feel better than I ever
felt But the Pennsylvania line's in an awful mess and the Denver road is
about to melt I went to the church house, every day I go an extra mile
Well, I cried for you - now it's your turn, you can cry awhile"

That led to the bit surpise with "Friend of the Devil" Bob's tip of his
Nacho Hat to the Dead, Red Rocks was the Dead's favorite place to play .
This songs seems to get the crowd more into it and the band really seems
to losing up and start to swing  into over drive on this song, which led
straight into on a rockin blues version of Highway 61.

From this point on all the songs were all good to great. I  got the
goose bumps on "Nettie Moore". With most of the crowd sitting for 
the first time all night you get really feel the crowd hanging on 
Dylan's every word.  "Oh Yeeaah" !

When I hear Summer Days Tom and I headed  down towards the stage
to make a quick get away only to find ourselves up close for a
memeorizing "Master of War". Again The Bob was singing and the band
was playing and it was coming out better than I ever hoped or 
anticipated. 

In closing I must say after hearing Bob sing "You that never done
nothin' But build to destroyYou play with my world Like it's your little
toy"; there is no doubt left in my mind that  Bob Dylan and the Band 
are still vital and a must see, and besides it's a rocking good time.
Special ThankYou to Bob Links for making being a Dylan fan even
more fun. If you have a chance to see Bob don't you miss it!I 
See you next time Bob !  Oh by the way my Wife did not leave me .

Thanks 
Storch
(for more of my thoughts Dylan and Rock&Roll check out my blog thing)                              
http://rockandrollforgets.blogspot.com/

"By the standards of our human existence, the mountains and stars are a
model of majestic changelessness.  Now we discover that, observed over a
sufficiently great duration of time, the earth's crust changes ceaselessly
under our feet, while the heavens sweep us along in a cyclone of stars." 
From chapter two of Teilhard de Chardin's The Phenomenon of Man, first
published in 1955, the year of the French priest's death and the year of
my birth.  (He was prevented from publishing his writings while he was
alive).  De Chardin's words haunt me as a delightfully metaphysical Bob
sweeps us through his setlist, moving us through time from 1962's "Blowin'
In The Wind" to 2006's "Thunder On The Mountain."  He even chooses those
two bookends of his still-aflame career as his two encores.

How can I not feel such a strong sense of the purposeful passing of time
(toward de Chardin's "Omega Point?") on this night.  It is my ninth Dylan
show and my wife's eighth.  From our seats in the center of row 48, we can
literally see over Dylan's head, over the entire stage area, and over one
of the dinosaur ridges (where there are real dinosaur footprints) to the
Christ On The Mountain Church at Alameda and Utah where we were married 25
years ago next month.  My hair was a dark blonde back then.  Now it's
white along the sides.

It was 21 years ago this very month when I saw my first Dylan show--at Red
Rocks.  Tom Petty opened for him.  Bob was 45 then, and I was 31. His
setlist that night (courtesy of Bob Links) was: Shake A Hand / All Along
The Watchtower / Clean-Cut Kid / I'll Remember You / Shot Of Love / We Had
It All / Masters Of War / To Ramona (acoustic) / One Too Many Mornings
(acoustic) / A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (acoustic) / I Forgot More Than
You'll Ever Know / Band Of The Hand / When The Night Comes Falling From
The Sky / Lonesome Town / Ballad Of A Thin Man / Seeing The Real You At
Last / Across The Borderline / I And I / Like A Rolling Stone / In The
Garden / Blowin' In The Wind / Uranium Rock / Knockin' On Heaven's Door.

This night, it is warm but we can see thunderstorms to the south with
occasional flashes of lightning.  Jean and I are joined by our good
friends Ladia and Jane for their first-ever Dylan show.  What would a
Dylan show be without communion with good friends?  Just before Bob takes
the stage, the sky opens above us.  Everyone huddles together under their
umbrellas and rain gear.  The shower is light and lasts for all of 4
minutes.  Then, the stage lights dim, and here he is before us again,
always faithful, always prepared to stir our hearts and souls.

RAINY DAY WOMAN #12 & 35.  Appropriate for the rain, but also for the
massive red stones that cup us on both sides like hands.  "Everybody must
get stoned!"  WHEN I PAINT MY MASTERPIECE.  "Oh, the streets of Rome are
filled with rubble / Ancient footprints are everywhere." WATCHING THE
RIVER FLOW.  "To sit here on this bank of sand / And watch the river
flow."  Surely Bob knows that the foothills, where Red Rocks Amphitheatre
now rises, was a sandy beach millions of years ago when the basin that
Denver now sits in was the nearby floor of a shallow ocean. That's why
there are ancient dinosaur tracks still visible around here. WORKINGMAN'S
BLUES #2 (appropriate since I will have to go to work tomorrow morning
with less than four hours of sleep).  "There's an evening haze settling
over town / Starlight by the edge of the creek." ROLLIN' AND TUMBLIN'. 
"Let's put our heads together now, let's put all old matters to an end." 
EVERY GRAIN OF SAND.  "I hear the ancient footsteps, like the motion of
the sea / Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only
me."  CRY A WHILE.  "Some people they ain't human, they got no heart or
soul / Well, I'm crying to the Lord--I'm tryin' to be meek and mild." 
SPIRIT ON THE WATER.  "I'm as pale as a ghost / Holding a blossom on a
stem / You ever seen a ghost? No / But you have heard of them."  A nice
twist follows with Bob's rendition of The Grateful Dead's FRIEND OF THE
DEVIL.  "I set out running but I take my time. / A friend of the devil is
a friend of mine."  HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED.  "God say, 'You can do what you
want Abe, but / The next time you see me comin' you better run."  SHOOTING
STAR. "Listen to the engine, listen to the bell / As the last fire truck
from hell / Goes rolling by / All good people are praying."  MOST LIKELY
YOU GO YOUR WAY (AND I'LL GO MINE).  "Then time will tell who fell / And
who's been left behind."  NETTIE MOORE.  "Winter's gone. / The river's on
the rise."  SUMMER DAYS.  "Standing by God's river, my soul is beginnin'
to shake."  MASTERS OF WAR!  "There's one thing I know / Though I'm
younger than you / Even Jesus would never / Forgive what you do."  THUNDER
ON THE MOUNTAIN, "Feel like my soul is beginning to expand / Look into my
heart and you will sort of understand."  BLOWIN' IN THE WIND.  "How many
years can a mountain exist / Before it's washed to the sea?"

Dylan is essential.  He's the master.  All other modern musicians pale in
comparison.  For his entire career, many have turned--and still
turn--their noses up and their ears away from his voice.  All I can say is
that this world has no shortage of idiots.  Like de Chardin, tragically,
Dylan's due respect will mostly come after his passing (let's all hope
that day is far away).

Out of the nine Dylan shows I've been to, this was one of my two
favorites.   His Pueblo, CO show from the summer of 2001 still vies for
first place.  Dylan is at the top of the list of reasons why it's good to
be alive today.  For as long as I can look forward to Bob gracing us with
his presence and his voice--and, I shout it to the mountains: "Thank God
for Bob's VOICE!"--I can smile and sleep at night knowing there's balance
in this crazy world.

Steve Bort
Bailey, CO