Review by Torsten
*An Evening with a Stubborn, 84-Year-Old Legend*
Quiet is the new loud?
Despite a fairly strong opening and several brilliant moments, Bob Dylan
gave quite a distant and cool impression as he kicked off his European
tour in Helsinki.
The overall experience was uncompromising. Definitely not a cavalcade of
hits. Rather, a fair amount of blues grinding (nothing wrong with that,
considering it suits Bob's current vocal range).
But at the same time, I - a devoted fan of most things Dylan has done -
occasionally felt a sense of "the emperor's new clothes" amid all this
minimalism.
Dylan seemed to convey a hidden message already with the opening tracks:
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (really?) followed by a mischievous "gotcha!":
It Ain't Me, Babe (ha, ha, I pulled your leg!).
And third up, I Contain Multitudes.
Maybe I'm overanalyzing (I do that by habit). But it felt as if Dylan
teasing the polite middle-class audience, with all our collective
expectations and hopes.
Nothing wrong with that! Challenging the audience, himself, and
conventions is something few 84-year-olds do.
I like chameleons. But sometimes even chameleons should be allowed to give
in, set aside their pride, and act as a jukebox - even if only for a
quarter of an hour. Even for a lousy encore.
But no! Not even Ballad of a Tin Man! (Here I'm grinding my teeth). Dylan
only performed a single song from entire the period 1972-2019 (Every Grain
of Sand).
"I change during the course of a day. I wake and I'm one person, and when
I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else. I don't know who I am
most of the time. It doesn't even matter to me," Dylan has said.
The old Nobel fox paraphrases a certain Walt Whitman: "Do I contradict
myself? Very well then I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain
multitudes.)"
At times, even hardened fans (like me) had to work hard to recognize which
song was being performed. Mr. Z's phrasing swings all over the place, and
nowadays often leans towards spoken word. Sometimes he nailed it, quite
brilliantly even. But some songs/phrases he just slurred or mumbled away.
Still, the overall impression was positive for me. But undeniably, the
concert sometimes felt monotonous, at worst like a sleeping pill.
"It was like sitting in church!" one audience member laughed out loud
afterwards. And it was by no means meant as a compliment.
I certainly don't regret seeing Mr. Z, now for the third time.
But third time's the charm, for me.
There probably won't be a fourth time, even if I happen to get the chance.
This will have to do.
Especially with these outrageous ticket prices. Paying over 1 euro per
minute for rather uneven music, performed in a stubborn, expressionistic
manner... and in a hockey arena where the sound was sometimes plagued by
an irritating echo, even though I had a pretty excellent seat.
All that said, I'll probably be first in line to grab a ticket next time -
if there is one.
Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself.
Gotcha! I say, and pull out Bootleg Series Volume 12 (which I'm listening
to as I write this).
I am (almost) as contrary as Dylan. (Or so I imagine). I hope I will
remain so until the day I turn 84
(Full disclosure: I'll soon turn 44, and have been listening to Dylan for
most of those years).
Torsten
Helsinki
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