Reviews Paris, France La Seine Musicale October 24, 2024 |
Review by Serge Bonnery
,
At La Seine Musicale, Bob Dylan watches the river of time flow
La Seine Musicale is a place today dedicated to the performing arts, but it
wasn't always the case. Built on the site of the former Renault factory in
Boulogne-Billancourt, it would have suited Workingman's Blues #2, which
rests in the limbo of Modern Times.
But it's a completely different story that Bob Dylan tells about this Great
Seine, which he knows well because he inaugurated it during a visit to
Paris on April 21, 2017, still glowing from the Nobel Prize in Literature
he received a few months earlier. Today, winding like an uneasy river
through the songs of his album Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan, always true to
his path, moves forward with the horizon of Key West in his sights.
And if there were any doubts, It Ain't Me Babe immediately sets the record
straight, like a resounding warning from alert guitars: let no one think
to demand that he close his eyes or his heart, for real life is where no
one looks except the poet who risks venturing into the alleys of Desolation
and reminds us that the world is just a vast circus filled with circumstances.
The set is magnifient in its depth. Everything here is order and beauty, to
put it in Baudelaire's words. Bob Dylan leans on his piano to speak to us in
confiences as one would with a friend, leaning at the bar, over a last drink
as it gets late. Attentive to the slightest sign, the band watches from their
lookout tower. More focused than ever, he accompanies each song with
authority without taking away their mystery. He strikes the right notes
while Dylan's voice transforms the lyrics, making us hear them as if it were
the first time. The presence of the harmonica adds to the intimacy that
the poet establishes between himself and the audience, whom he thanks several
times.
In the audience this Thursday night, Hugues Aufray came to attend the concert
as a friend, he who has so beautifully translated and adapted Bob Dylan into
French and never misses any of his Parisian appearances. Just before Every
Grain of Sand, which closes the set, Hugues Aufray is invited to join Dylan
backstage. Watching the scene unfold right before my eyes, I think it is so
comforting to see that these two still have things to share and that, true
to what they have always wanted to become, they persist... even in dark days.
Serge Bonnery
Review by Michael Ballstav
,
What a great concert we saw tonight! The arena had great acoustics but is
located a bit far away outside of Paris city center. Bob has really
developed his RARW show and I think Mr. Keltner is a big part in it. His
drum sound was thunderous behind the bard. Anyway, the show began with an
almost anarchistic Watchtower before everything fell into place at the
third song slot as usual. Weird, but I've seen this before. The RARW songs
sounds much fresher than before and songs like Black Rider, Jimmy Reed and
Multitudes were personal favorites. His older songs, D. Row and Baby Blue
received much appreciation from the Paris audience and people really
seemed happy after the show. We'll see what happens tomorrow.
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