Review
Prague, The Czech Republic
O2 universum

October 5, 2024

[Alex Wurlitzer], [Sergi Fabregat]

Review by Alex Wurlitzer


I attended my estimated 9th & 10th Bob Dylan concert with the shows in
Prague. I went the first two of the three concerts. On Friday I was
sitting with a good view from the side on Bob, Saturday I was in the back
of the hall. The sound of BobĀ“s voice was pretty sharp and piercing on
Friday due to my position, but Saturday the sound was perfect. Both were
good shows. As a musician, I think I can clearly identify some of the
band's and Bob's movements and gestures. I don't think that Bob ever
rehearses these days, at least at the moment. Jim Keltner has been on tour
with him for some time, but Tony had to guide him through some of the
songs because obviously he has never played them before because they had a
different setlist in the States. On Friday, Bob was smiling quite often
and seemed to have a good time. On Saturday he gesticulated at poor Jim
after nearly every song. It seems that he was not satisfied with the
drummer's performance. You can become Jim Keltner, one of the world's
most respected drummers, and then comes Bob and tells you that you don't
play right. Well, that's Bob, of course. Apart from that, the band and
Bob felt every musical moment and were in top form. The start with
Watchtower on Friday was really moving and great. To me it was saying
farewell to two Greats, Bob Dylan and Jim Keltner. I hope they live for
years but chances are getting slim to see them again.

Alex Wurlitzer
Germany

[TOP]

Review by Sergi Fabregat


The most important thing to me is that, as much as at this point I have no
credibility at all, I have been deeply moved by tonight's show, shaken to
the core, very personal thoughts ignited by the songs and how they have
been performed. More focus, more perseverance, more beauty. As it happened
5 years ago with the middle Prague show, tonight could belong up there in
the list. It has cast a light on profound, important questions to me.

That said, I was in front row, I could see Bob's face the whole show, all
his gestures and attitudes. In 'Watchtower', he kept looking behind at
Keltner and clearly not happy, shaking his head and signalikg his in-ears.
At the end of the opener, he has played hardly the piano, as if to
indicate the rhythm he wanted, nodding all serious while he played. Right
from the beginning of 'It Ain't Me Babe', the mood was turned around
completely, with Bob laughing big time at his back and at the end even
joking with Keltner, as if Bob himself was surprised of what his drummer
was coming up with during the song. From then onwards, albeit for a minor
gesture here or there, pretty much all smiles and even a thumbs up at the
end of one song. To me, there doesn't seem to be much of a case.

Tonight's 'Desolation Row' has been epic, witty, vibrant, effortlessly
cosmical; I would compare it to a Howard Hawks western. How Bob has sung,
shouted to the stars "Everybody is either MAKING LOVE!!!". My Catalan
friend Oriol has told me the rhythmn seems to be a borrow from Buddy
Holly's 'Peggy Sue, and now I'm over the moon because I agree.

'Key West' seems to morph with each chorus, which is an invitation to a
dance to the end of love.

'Baby Blue' has been spectacular, with amounts of focused force and a harp
for the ages.

'Made Up My Mind', I don't have words to describe how one of Bob's
greatest songs has been tonight and how has impacted me. Listen to it when
you can if recording pops, dream stuff.

'Dignity', swampier & sparser tonight? More focused, more questioning,
more earnestly asking about the word. I sometimes wonder what it's gonna
take too...

Two examples of the effect of Prague #2. In 'Multitudes', "I fuss with my
hair" has felt as if a child was exploding a balloon, a Picasso-like
moment, a doubling of reality in one same line, a door opened to worlds of
possibilities, a promise. At the end, a prove of the resolution: in 'Grain
of Sand', the harp sounded strange, one of those times Bob has dropped the
harp and just piano his way out, but not tonight. He persevered, he kept
on, the harp kept defying us, and it has bloomed and come across as a
diamond pressured on. I've gone to the rail center and, at the end of the
salute, I'm pretty sure he has done a mini reverence towards me.

Important nights, really important nights, important dreams, important
awakenings. Such is live.

[TOP]

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