| Reviews Brighton, England Brighton Centre November 7, 2025 |
Review by Martin Nichols
The word we kept coming back to afterwards was "authority". We both felt -
me very clearly for the first time, after at least 30+ previous Dylan gigs
- that we'd just watched genuine, indisputable greatness. We cast around
for equals but couldn't think of one - except, for me, Shakespeare but I
never got the chance to see him in the flesh, doing his thing. So Mr.
Dylan is out there on his own. I walked out of the last gig in the UK at
the Albert Hall half way through - the seats were way back, so nothing
reached me. I was much closer this time and the sound was excellent, got
under your skin from the start. I bopped in my seat throughout. Loved the
way it started. Bob had his back to us, the band in a circle. I recalled
that was how the STC rehearsals got back their groove after having lost it
at the beginning, and that seemed to be going on here: they were finding a
way to lock into where they were, what they were going to do tonight. I
started smiling - the pleasure you get when a band really starts to cook.
One of the great joys of life.
I think Ezra Pound had this motto: "keep it new." We all know that Mr.
Dylan has always done that, so it was no surprise to see him doing what
he's always done. But the freshness, playfulness, daring - it's just
amazing to be there for that. His commitment or need to discover, or
rediscover, or remake his own work is completely admirable, inspiring and
- I dunno - democratic? Anti-authoritarian? Masterful? Generous?
Liberating?
There were many stand outs. My Own Version Of You was a tour de force. The
weird cul de sacs, digressions, chopped up narrative perspectives were
held together by a kind of intense, cracked, stadium-clear articulacy that
was breathtaking. Baby Blue's innate compassion was kept astringent
without taking anything away from the depth of feeling. Dylan's piano
playing combined hard strict attention to pauses and tempo changes with
the anarchic thumpings of a kid who's just discovered a key board for the
first time. So obviously: multitudes.
Something I need to think about. EGOS is beautiful & "works" as a closer.
But the R&RW songs are wilder and cheek by jowl up against each other -
Black Rider & KW(PP) were just THE THING ITSELF tonight - they SHOW us
all about hanging in the balance (of a perfect finished plan, tonight).
EGOS sort of spells this out for the kids at the back, and I'm not sure
they need it. Maybe WIPMM would work better?
But yea. You can bury the rest. Such is life. Such is happiness.
Delorean Grooves
Review by Graham Cole
Ever since the RARW album came out, Key West, initially I felt a weaker track
on the album, has grown and grown on me, and now it may well be the place to
be. But, Brighton, coastally located like Key West, was the place to be
yestereve with the start of the UK leg of the 2025 RARW tour.
It was a wondrous opening show, though sadly, Loraine, in post hospital-op
tiredness, would not be with me. So it was great to meet up again with
Paul M, exactly a year and a week on from our all seeing Bob in a great show
in Bournemouth. Happily, we are now celebrating 25 years since our first
meeting, in the queue for tickets for the fabulous two Portsmouth Guildhall
shows in 2000!
And for me, last night's show was definitely one to remember, with It's All
Over Now, Baby Blue, sung almost a capella, worth the price of admission
alone, a lovely gem in amongst many from the well-known setlist (see
elsewhere for details). Early on, his "No, no, no" in It Ain't Me Babe, two
songs in, rang clearly and defiantly around the venue, whilst the latter-
day treatment of Desolation Row rendered the song as powerfully as ever it
was. On my way to and from the Portsmouth Bob Dylan weekend events organised
by the venerable John Roberts a few years ago, I used to play that tune at
loud volume in the car, and voila, who should be sitting next to us but the
gent himself, now excitedly looking forward to the Glasgow, Killarney and
Dublin shows as well.
Alongside those older classics, the RARW numbers were uniformly powerful
too, albeit with the louder songs being very much bar/blues band treatments
of familiar songs. As well as the aforementioned Key West, I've Made Up My
Mind to Give Myself to You, long my favourite sentiment from the l.p., was
a standout, perhaps showing my preference for the quieter arrangements in
the setlist. The band members are in a semi-circle, attentively facing into
the Man in the middle, as would be an orchestra to their conductor. If I'm
honest they're not my favourite line-up; I miss Donnie and his range of
instruments, Charlie Sexton with that lovely flick of his head as he plays,
George Recile of course on the drum riser, though I also loved the short-
lived Charley Drayton era, splaying his brushes stage left and front a few
years ago. But Bob, Doug, Anton and the extraordinarily faithful right-hand
man that is Tony G do great things with the arrangements, and the whole
show is a wonder of varied and intricate playing that reflects the
incredible hard work that goes into the performance.
Could I see Bob behind his baby grand, angled on from our excellent seats
(a big thank you to the brilliant Derek and Tracy at ISIS for enabling
this)? No, not easily, though he did stand after several songs to take the
applause. Did it matter? Not really, especially after I realised a
floor-placed spotlight to Bob's left threw a huge marvellous shadow onto
the back drape, the outline reminding me of the many 1965 (Daniel Kramer)
photos of him playing an upright in the studio. On this night the
performance, the words, the music, perfectly showed why Bob is as relevant
an artist in 2025 as he was all those years ago at the start of his long
and idiosyncratic career. And Tony did urge Bob to stand forward at the
end to take the marvellous and thoroughly deserved audience applause, even
if he remained wordless throughout the evening.
Paul will now move on with the show in the other Dylan's Swansea, but my
conversations with strangers/fellow travellers at the bus stop and on the
bus back to the car inevitably asked Will we see Bob again "in show &
concert", or were the closing notes of the ever gorgeous Every Grain of
Sand the last we will hear live from him? Who can tell with this enigmatic
master of modern song, but for now, at least, once again Bob, thank you
for another fabulous show.
Review by Fran Scott
BRINGING IT ALL BACK (CLOSE TO) HOME
Bob sang with tremendous feeling tonight. If his half-chuckle before
delivering a line is a sign of focus and intent, he was dialled-in
throughout. The blasts of harmonica on Desolation Row and Every Grain of
Sand were wonderful.
The first couple of songs rumbled unsteadily into life, musically coughing
and spluttering before finding a groove midway through It Ain't Me Babe.
Rather than a flow of instrumentation complementary to the lyrics, I found
the band sometimes too jarring.
The musical highlight was When I Paint My Masterpiece, with Anton Fig's
percussion providing the playful structure and texture on which the rest
of the band built. Black Rider featured some lovely Spanish guitar fills
by Bob Britt. My Own Version of You continued the haunted vibes of London
night 3 last year.
In Clinton Heylin's Double Life Vol. 1 book, he describes the challenge of
studio recording Dylan's vocals in 1965 using only one microphone, due to
his head "jerking around". The challenge was evident again tonight, with
several lines delivered off-mike. Three microphones were employed during
the Highway 61 Sessions - might be too much live.
I thought the crowd were a little subdued, apart from the "get on with it"
Key West heckler. A philistine in Brighton!
The venue lacked the theatricality of the Royal Albert Hall or the
Palladium (I am reliably informed that neither is nearby), and the
anticipatory crackle in the air of those venues was noticeably absent
here.
Fran Scott
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