| Reviews Brussels, Belgium BOZAR October 26, 2025 |
Review by Christof Graf
Bob Dylan's concerts in Europe are different from those in America. What is
the reason? You don't know? Or is it? After a few shows in the USA this
year, I dare to put forward the thesis that Europeans have dealt with the
mobile-free shows since the beginning of the "Rough And Rowdy Ways - World
Wide Tour" in 2021, no better, but just differently. The categories good,
better or best do not exist with Bob Dylan. And the only subjective
judgement, by whomever anyway, whether a Dylan concert was good or bad,
eludes any relevance in my opinion. Dylan is an artist and his art is a
craft. No two workpieces by a craftsman or even an artist are alike. That's
what a Dylan concert is all about. And where it takes place is the "place
to be", as it says in one of Dylan's "Rough And Rowdy Ways" songs ("Key
West"). On October 26, 2025, the "place to be" was in the Belgian capital
and in the heart of Europe, in Brussels, if you wanted to witness the
performance of an artistic craft by Bob Dylan.
And yes, the audience's treatment of Bob Dylan also seems a bit "different"
to me in Europe as well as in Brussels.
For many Americans, Dylan embodies the critical, independent spirit of the
nation - someone who does not allow himself to be co-opted and who
constantly questions the "American Dream". American audiences often react
with respect, but also with frustration - Dylan is more of a legend than
a darling in the U.S., which was evident this year in his solo performances
as well as in his participation in the three-part "Outlaw Festival Tour"
with Willie Nelson & Co. in the spring, summer and fall. When Americans
make a pilgrimage to Dylan's appearances on the "Outlaw Tour", Dylan -
along with Willie Nelson or Lucinda Williams, Wilco or Sheryll Crow - is
one of several who embody the spirit of "Americana". During
the performances, people sing along loudly or get beer or bite into a
pizza. There is no quiet staying in the seat. And cell phones, at least at
the "Outlaw gigs" - are not locked away either.
In Europe, Dylan is perceived more strongly as a poet and intellectual
artist. Its language, symbolism and its connection to European literature
(Rimbaud, Brecht,Shakespeare) are often highlighted. The awarding of the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016 was received very positively in Europe
- in the USA it was rather controversial.
In Europe, fans often see Dylan less as an American protest musician and
more as a universal observer of the human experience. His songs are often
understood as timeless poetry, not just as commentaries on US society. And:
At concerts in Europe, there is often an almost reverent atmosphere, as was
the case at the first of three Brussels evenings with Bob Dylan. Those who
get involved with his current oeuvre do not expect an "entertainer from the
currently trendy music business" and also not a figurehead of "Americana",
but a master who expresses himself artistically as he wants or can.
I don't know what the audience and Dylan's artistic performance were like
at the start of the European tour in Helsinki and at the previous concerts
in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg and Lingen, but I do know that the
setlist in Brussels was no different. The current concerts are very similar
to each other. The setlists are almost identical. And yet every evening is
a little different.
The Location :
It was nota sports hall or an arena that could accommodate over 10,000
visitors. The concert took place in the main hall, the Art Nouveau building
complex built between 1922 and 1929 not far from the Grand Market in the
heart of Brussels. Dylan performed in the Henry Le Boeuf Hall in front of a
sold-out 2200 seats. The concert started punctually at 8:00 p.m. and lasted
about 100 minutes. The regular ticket prices for Bob Dylan's concert at
BOZAR (Brussels) varied between € 75 (listening seats) and € 125,
€ 150 for standard seats and € 200 for the balcony. On the black market,
the tickets were even traded for € 900 per ticket. The hall is modelled
on a classical theatre. There is a ground floor and three balcony floors.
The Stage :
There has never been a stage show with Dylan. A show in the conventional
contemporary sense with video screens and technical bells and whistles is
unthinkable with Dylan anyway. He and his craft are enough for themselves.
Out of the darkness, he enters the stage, which is bathed in only dim club
light, as the last of the five musicians. It won't get much brighter. A
velvet curtain hangs in elegant strips from the stage elements. Teaser
curtains hanging across like garlands make the stage ceiling appear less
high. Sometimes the background looks dark green, sometimes dark blue,
sometimes dark yellow. Dylan's piano is set up in the middle of the stage.
To the left behind him are Anton Fig's drums and Tony Garnier's stand-up
bass. Guitarists Bob Britt (right) and Doug Lancia (left) with flat caps on
the left and right in the front. Two of the often seen large Hollywood
spotlights, two smaller ones each on the left and right and three floor
lamps project darkness rather than light onto the stage floor. Dylan
barricades himself behind his black piano. New in Brussels: since he has
been performing exclusively in jogging suit mode with a hoody at the
beginning of the third part of the "Outlaw Tour" in Bangor/ Maine/ USA,
including the first concerts in Europe, he is wearing a suit again on the
first evening in Brussels. Black with a dark shirt, no hat. The four others
are also dressed in dark clothes. Almost every song, Dylan gets up briefly
at least once. He spends the rest of the time sitting on 17 songs. The band
is not introduced. A word to the audience, even if only in the form of a
"Well, thank you", as heard in Hamburg, is not addressed either. Words are
enough in his songs. After the last song "Every Grain Of Sand", in which
Dylan then picks up the harmonica again after "To Be Alone With You",
"Watching The River Flow", "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and "Goodbye Jimmy
Reed", Dylan stands up one last time, faces a slightly brighter light with
his musicians for a moment of almost 20 seconds and makes a hint of a small
artistic bow. Then, with the slow steps of an old craftsman, Dylan
goes back to where he came from: into the darkness of the backstage area.
The hall lights go on. The audience leaves the hall politely, probably also
impressed by having witnessed a musical work. Whether it was a good or a
bad concert is completely irrelevant. What is relevant is that it took
place and that one was once again a contemporary witness.
The audience :
It consists of almost 2000 younger and older boomers. Some of Generation Z
are also there. There were hardly any younger ones. Everyone seems to have
somehow made their own journey. In addition to Dylan maniacs, Dylanologists,
Dylanians and Dylan travel companions from Brussels, Belgium, I also hear
Germans, Americans, French, Dutch, English and Luxembourgers exchanging
previous concert memories in the anteroom, while queuing to have the
cellphone locked in the Yondrpockets.
The Band :
Bob Dylan - guitar, baby grand piano, harp
Tony Garnier - electric and standup bass
Anton Fig - drums
Bob Britt - coustic guitar, electric guitar
Doug Lancio - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
The concert:
The setlist is unchanged. It is identical to the previous European setlists
this year. It took three to four songs until the hall was acoustically
controlled.
The "opener" "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" comes across as a bit unlucky.
Sometimes Bob mumbles the song, sometimes the microphone seems too
faraway. The rest of the somewhat unsuccessful concert start is at the
expense of the sound engineer. "It Ain't Me, Babe," Bob says in the second
song, grabbing the guitar and turning his back to the audience while
sitting. It doesn't look pretty, but Bob doesn't care. Seems a bit rude,
too, as he seems to be almost away from the action and yet in the middle of
it. But Bob doesn't seem to care about that either. To compensate, you have
the honor of hearing him play the guitar. Mind you: to be heard. Only a few
of the 2200 get to see Bob Dylan live on stage. Those sitting in the front
rows of the ground floor only look at the black of the piano back wall for
100 minutes anyway. The back rows don't even have the chance to experience
that. Dylan stages the compulsion to listen without sight par excellence.
The "RARW" songs "I Contain Multitudes" and "False Prophet", "Black
Rider"and later also "Key West" sound quiet, seem like lectures with
some sound. They are spoken-words with sparse piano tones. There is hardly
a solo by the guitarists. Anton Fig's highly concentrated drumming is
perfectly attuned to Dylan's speech singing.
He plays nine of the ten "RARW" songs. The 17-minute "Murder Most Foul" is
still waiting to be performed live. But there are at least reminiscences of
the 1960s. But those songs are only recognizable as such after one or two
minutes of playing time in Brussels. Songs like "It Ain't Me, Babe",
"Desolation Row" and "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" are downright dearranged
too much. Musically, Dylan likes to cross genre boundaries and offers
something bossa nova-like and free jazz-like between rock, blues and folk.
"To Be Alone With You" even becomes dance music and in "Watching The River
Flow" Dylan celebrates the blues with harmonica. The musical highlight of
this evening was already to be heard in the first third with "When I paint
My Masterpiece". It sounded unusually light swinging and delightfully
playful and Dylan drove it to the guitar again, even if only sitting.
The first of three concert evenings in Brussels ends with the tribute
"Goodbye Jimmy Reed" and the final "Every Grain of Sand", which Dylan
once again staged with a harmonica solo. - Conclusion: Not a good, but
not a bad concert either, but Brussels was "the place to be" that evening.
Germanversion you find here : https://leonardcohen.de/?p=33582
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