Review by Martin Gayford
Tonight at the Albert Hall, Bob was in mostly great voice and blew some
fabulous harmonica. His piano playing was good too, in a Bob sort of way.
The show was identical to Wolverhampton of course and quite a few songs
were similar; All Along The Watchtower and It Ain't Me, Babe and I
Contain Multitudes. I thought False Prophet and Crossing The Rubicon were
a little less intense than at Wolverhampton but Black Rider and My Own
Version Of You were more focused; MOVOY had such a fast pace I don't
know if he could have sung it any quicker but I liked it. Desolation Row
was as good as Wolverhampton but then came a surprise; I was hoping for a
Key West as direct and show stopping as I'd seen on Saturday but it had
changed to a very laid back band arrangement that lacked the intensity of
the virtually solo performance at the weekend. It seemed like Jim Kelter
wasn't sure about his drum part as he stopped towards the end and the
song reverted to the 'solo' arrangement for the last verse or so. It
was a shame as it seemed like a experiment that hadn't really worked and
the other version was so good. However, It's All Over Now Baby Blue made
up for that and was probably the best performance of the two shows I've
seen so far. In Wolverhampton there was a bit of a breakdown in the first
verse but tonight it was strong, clear and direct were two harmonica solos
that really lifted it to another level.
It was a great evening and my seat at the back of the top circle had a
giddy view of the Albert Hall. The lady on my left, studying songwriting
in London, was seeing him for the first time and the lady on my right had
seen him at the Festival Hall in 1964. I think everyone around me enjoyed
the show. There was just one problem with the seat; the lighting was so
dark on stage that we could only just about see Bob; the lighting in
Wolverhampton was brighter than this. Maybe it was the distance but Bob or
Bob's people - if you’re reading this - PLEASE turn the lights up!
It's not fair for people who are the furthest away to not even be able
to pick him out the on stage at times.
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