Ain’t Bobby so cool
Sat Oct 09, 2010 17:20 (UTC -5)When I found out that Bob Dylan was going to be performing a concert at my own university, I knew I had to go. My friend Andrea had the same idea, so we got tickets together.
Okay, I’m not the biggest Bob Dylan fan in the world. I’ve listened to some of his albums, and obviously I think they’re good. But don’t treat this like a hardcore fan’s review. In fact, I wouldn’t even call this a review. I’ve hardly been to any concerts, so I don’t know how to review a concert. This is just a blog post, you guys.
Anyway, the concert was last night. Andrea and I got there pretty early, so we were sitting outside the O’Connell Center with a bunch of other people, most of whom were way older than us. Finally, we were allowed in and got to our seats. Andrea had been concerned because they were high up and off to the side, but I figured they would make pretty good seats. They weren’t really close, but they weren’t very far either; the O’Connell Center is rather cozy.
Of course, the concert didn’t start on time because nothing ever starts on time. In the meantime, concertgoers filed in, some of them checking out the overpriced Dylan merchandise on sale, and clips from Intolerance were projected above the stage.
Finally, the lights dimmed, and Bob Dylan and his band came out to thunderous applause. They launched right into “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” and then “Lay Lady Lay.” It was nice of them to start with songs that I knew. I didn’t know all of them, of course, but I was surprised by how many I did know.
A lot of them were from Modern Times (2006), the most recent album of his that I have. He and the band really rocked with “Thunder on the Mountain,” and people swayed their cell phones to “Workingman’s Blues #2.” In particular, I was happy to hear one of my personal favorites, “Spirit on the Water” (“I can’t go to paradise no more, I killed a man back there”).
Throughout the concert, I couldn’t help but notice that our seats were really good after all. Even though we were pretty far off to the side of the stage, Dylan played keyboards on a lot of the songs, and he actually faced us while tickling the fake ivories. (I liked the fancy footwork he employed while doing it, too.)
I had heard second- or third-hand that at one of his recent concerts, he “mumbled” the words to his songs, prompting fans to walk out en masse. I came mentally prepared not to expect singing like on the records. After all, when you sing a song you wrote 45 years ago 100 times a year for 20 years, are you really going to sing it the same every time? Plus, we are talking about Bob Dylan, a dude not quite known for his exactitude with the old pipes. In fact, Dylan practically spoke most of the words to the songs last night, but he did it in a Dylanesque way, so that was fine by me.
The musicians didn’t talk to the audience between songs; instead, the lights went out, some of the guys switched instruments, and they started the next song as soon as they could while the lights went back on. I was a little put off by it at first, but I wasn’t there for the jibba-jabba anyway.
After finishing “Ballad of a Thin Man,” Bob and the guys walked offstage, and the lights went out. I was like, This is it? That’s the end? You have to remember I don’t go to a lot of concerts. I guess it’s pretty much standard procedure for the performers to get the audience to demand an encore: “All right, twist my arm!” And twist it we did.
The crowd started making a bunch of noise for a few minutes, and finally, Bob and the band came back out for a few more songs. One of them was “Like a Rolling Stone,” which was another I had been looking forward to hearing. After the song, Dylan thanked the audience and named each of his bandmates; this was the only time any of the musicians actually spoke to the crowd. Then they played “All Along the Watchtower,” bowed, and left the stage.
I might be making it sound like I didn’t have a good time, but I really did. The music was great; it was the experience of a lifetime. When is Bob Dylan going to play a concert in my town again? He’s almost 70, after all. I’m really glad I got the chance to see him and hear his raspy, raspy voice.
In case you’re interested, here’s the set list from Bob Dylan’s official web site, and here’s Andrea’s blog post with illicit photos of the concert! And those will be your links of the day. I’ve got a football game to go to.
