| Reviews Brussels, Belgium BOZAR October 27, 2025 |
Review by Christof Graf
Brussels, but it's "not the same - it was a minute ago" - Bob Dylan
in Brussels 2025 - Review 2nd Night. Three Bob Dylan concert evenings
on consecutive days in one city will only take place in Swansea, Wales, and
Brussels, Belgium, on the "RARW" Europe Tour 2025. I attended the second
evening in Brussels today. The location, the stage, the band and the
setlist remained unchanged. As on the previous evening, the audience
consisted mainly of boomers. Some had already been seen yesterday evening.
But despite the unchanged setlist, the concert does not remain unchanged,
... it's "not the same - it was a minute ago", as it is aptly said in
"Black Rider". As a pilgrim to Dylan's devotions, you like to pay attention
to details and nuances. On one concert evening after the other, another
space opens up for the pilgrimage into the interior of Dylan's songs.
The "conclusion" first: "Things aren't what they were". If Dylan were one of
those many mural painters from Montreal with the order to create a mural
within 100 minutes, the workpiece would have been finished and perfect that
evening. If Dylan were a restorer for a piece of furniture from the
Swinging 60s, who has the task of repairing a damaged sideboard
within 100 minutes, the work of art would have been finished that evening
and perfect. Dylan, however, is a singer/songwriter, but also a craftsman
and artist. On day 2 of 3 in Brussels, "Dylan in concert" once again
delivered a musical and unfortunately also ephemeral masterpiece. From my
point of view, it was finished and perfect. First and foremost, the sound
was perfect from the beginning. Dylan's voice was in form. He did not reach
into the void in search of the microphone as he sometimes did the night
before. Dylan's instrumentation was once again impeccable in the
interaction with his four-piece band and for long stretches you could
understand almost every line, especially in the "spoken word" songs. On the
evening before, Dylan needed four to five songs to project a uniform
picture of his current concert format into the ears and minds of his
listeners. On day 2 of 3 in Brussels, he managed to do so from a standing
start. Sound and voice were really perfect. The opener song "I'll Be Your
Baby, Tonight" became the motto of the evening. And again, the differences
between concert formats that seem the same lie in the details. Dylan
re-enters the stage without greeting. He wears his black suit again. Again,
he doesn't look at the audience. He sits down at his piano and looks as if
he is playing only for himself at first. The second song "It Ain't Me,
Babe", - again a classic - also gets by without nostalgic attitude. Dylan
doesn't play the songs because they are classics, but because he seems to
want to play them at the moment. This joy of playing is probably also a
reflection of his form on the day. Today, after the less playful concert
the day before, she increases from song to song. His piano, guitar and
harmonica playing unfolds between blues, folk and cool jazz-like spoken
word style with a dash of bossa nova. The band supports in the background.
She remains discreet and always takes a masterly back when the master
himself is in his element. Again, "When I Paint My Masterpiece" - with Bob
on guitar for the second time this evening - becomes a "masterpiece". Worth
mentioning, but not really conducive to the concert: Dylan stays seated
until "Masterpiece",only gets up briefly for "Masterpiece" to perhaps give
the audience the feeling that he is trying not to hide behind his piano in
the darkness all the time. Dylan plays louder and faster this evening. The
stage hardly changes the light. Everything remains in dark green. The large
headlights remains witched off. The small spotlights offer a kind of
evening living room atmosphere. House music is the order of the day and
Dylan plays the impresario, whom you can listen to making music at home. If whom you can listen to making music at home. If
the hall at BOZAR wasn't sold out, you might get the impression that Dylan
and his band are doing a good-humoured warm-up home session for the next
show. - "We don't dare to miss it." - No, this concert is not like the
previous one. Dylan seems to want to prove to himself that bad playing
moods can also be followed by good playing moods. On "Watching The River
Flow", he picks up the guitar for the third time this evening.
After 100 minutes, the concert ends again with "Every Grain of Sand". Bob
Dylan appears in front of his piano for 20 seconds before disappearing
again without a word. The hall cheers and offers standing ovations and
hopes for an encore. The hall lights remain switched off for a
disproportionate amount of time. Then the light goes on and a brief moment
of hope for an "encore" disappears, just as Dylan disappeared. The evening
was different, once again different and above all "not the same", but then
Dylan was gone -"it was a minute ago" when he was still on stage. -
Tomorrow he will be there again. Again it will be: "Things aren't what they
were". - The best feeling of authenticity that Bob Dylan can give us.
(Germanversion you can find here: https://leonardcohen.de/?p=33599)
Review by Steve Haynes
Last time out I saw Bob in a very memorable concert in Wolverhampton.
This time my wife (not a great fan) agreed to come with me, largely I
think because we would also have a couple of days in Brussels and it
proved to be another memorable evening in the company of Bob. I was very
happy that the set list was largely unchanged, I love the Masterpiece
arrangement and of course the Brussels line got a special cheer. From a
box to the side of the stage had a decent view, including Bob playing the
guitar with his back to the piano and the audience! The extended intro to
Watching the River Flow really did roll along and I'd have been happy if
it had been even longer. Even my wife agreed that his voice was strong and
as ever I had a couple of personal stand out moments. This time I found
It's all over now baby blue very moving. For some reason I found myself
watching Bob's shadow cast on the curtains at the back of the stage,
moving in a somehow distinctive way, sadly at some point time in the
future it really will all be over and we will only have shadows and
memories of the great man. On a much happier note towards the end of Jimmy
Reed Bob gave both guitarists the nod and let them off the leash and they
responded with enthusiasm. Similarly at the end of Every Grain of Sand,
the crowd were similarly enthusiastic, the everyone on their feet,
pleading for the encore that inevitably didn't come. We had time for one
more Belgian beer in a small ancient bar on the short walk back to the
hotel, so civilised. Before catching the Eurostar back the following day
we had time to visit art works by Old Masters and Magritte, both felt like
a fitting way to round off the trip.
Steve Haynes
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