Saturday, October 21, 2006

"Look Into My Heart And You Will Sort of Understand"

Random thoughts from my first Bob Dylan concert:

- The oldest concert crowd I've ever seen. Around me there were several couples that had to be well into their 60s, if not their 70s. It wasn't the most energetic group I've been a part of, but you could see that people were moving and definitely into it for the entire night.

- At 65 , the man still has it. Though this was my first, I knew from reading about Dylan concerts over the past decade that what keeps the songs fresh is their reinvention - the titles and the lyrics of the old classics may be the same, but for all intents and purposes, these are new songs. Part of the fun is to listen intently at the beginning, and then realize at some point, "oh yeah, this is "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)!" This could easily turn into a joke, but at the hands of Dylan and his magnificent touring band, the "updated, revised versions" of chestnuts like "To Ramona," "Tangled Up in Blue," and "Maggie's Farm" leaves them sounding just as vital today as the eras in which they were originally recorded.

- Did I mention that the band was magnificent? Denny Freeman and Stu Kimball on guitar eased the pain of not being able to hear Dylan himself strumming (he sticks with the organ exclusively these days), Donnie Herron on a variety of stringed instruments (from mandolin to steel to violin) may have been the MVP, and Tony Garnier and George Recile on bass and drums leave one thinking "oh, that must have been what Danko and Helm sounded like 30 years ago). If any band in existence is rocking harder right now than this one did on "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Summer Days," I definitely want to be there to hear it.

Overall, a terrific show.

No comments: