October 24, 2017
Review by Jim B.
This was my 8th show and different from any I’ve experienced before.
Folks looking for a raucous Dylanfest will be disappointed. Truth is,
it’s hard to describe what the show was like. Best word I can come up
with is Faustian. It’s like Bob’s putting on an apocalyptic lounge
show in the bar at the top of the Empire State Building. On one side
there are four songs from Tempest (Pay in Blood, Early Roman Kings, Soon
After Midnight, and Long and Wasted Years) – all apocalyptic and dark.
On the other side you get crooner songs (Why Try to Change Me Now,
Melancholy Mood, Once Upon a Time, September of My Years, and Autumn
Leaves) – all filled with heartache and loss. Interspersed are new and
totally unrecognizable arrangements of concert standbys (Highway 61,
Summer Days, Honest With Me, Trying to Get to Heaven, Desolation, Tangled,
Thunder on the Mountain). What happens is the unfamiliar arrangements
push the standbys into the crooner/tempest songs that come before or
after. It’s really strange but once you’re in, it becomes more and
more seductive. It feels like Steven Sondheim and the Ventures are
collaborating to great effect while you are standing between the two and
pulled toward each at the same time.
Other thoughts:
- Things Have Changed is the perfect opening song
- Best arrangement/performance Early Roman Kings
- Best sustained moment Autumn Leaves and Long and Wasted Years. (a great
end to the show) - The non crooner arrangements are very percussive. - No
guitar solos. The band is very restrained. - Bob is unrestrained on
Piano. Never seen him so animated. - No Harp. - Bob wears a white dinner
jacket. Very nice. - Not one word spoken. No Hello, no introduction of
the band, no Thanks Everybody, no Goodbye. Just Bob.
I’m really, really glad I got to go. Thanks Bob for making my year
….. AGAIN!!!
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