After the concert at the Hollywood Bowl, my expectations for Mountain View
were rather unspectacular.
I now know the - for me - new songs from the Outlaw Tour and was just
looking forward to enjoying another concert. After the usual musical intro
came the first surprise. Bob wore a different outfit for the first time.
Completely black, crowned (!) by a spectacular hood, which in my opinion
was due to the onset of cold weather.
Highway 61 was a spectacular start, with a cheerful Tony setting the pace.
The first surprise was the harmonica in the second song. And there were a
few more missions to come, more on that later.
I suspect that there are hardly any rehearsals before a tour leg. The band
is warming up on tour, so to speak and is now, on the 3rd show of the 2nd
leg, perfectly tied together. The whole concert was incredibly intense and
exciting. I particularly found Early Roman Kings and Can’t Wait
extremely haunting. Guest guitarist Elven Bishop was fantastic on ERK, but
barely featured on Can't Wait.
Before STOF, someone could be seen in the background of the stage making a
negative gesture. I suspect he gave the signal that Mickey Raphael wasn't
coming. Bob actually played the harmonica himself, a total of three times
between the individual verses. The first use of several harmonicas was a
highlight, at least as a rarity. I'm glad I was able to capture this on
video.
Bob plays 5 songs with harmonica, 3 of which are in a row, also something
of a rarity.
Overall, from my point of view, there was a lot of fun playing, Tony and
Bob laughed and gestured several times.
Maybe the venue plays a role, for me it was one of the best shows I've
ever seen.
It should perhaps also be mentioned that there were absolutely no
objections from security to photos and videos; the atmosphere was relaxed
and not as hectic as in Hollywood.
My personal outlaw tour ends here again, after a few days of vacation in
San Francisco it's time to see you soon in Prague.

Rechi van Lehen