A Foreign Sound To Your Ear: DM Leaves the Apartment for BOB DYLAN

Bob Dylan came into town last night. Well, sort of. He came to Bowie, which is sort of close. About 25 miles or so. I made a pact (with whom, I’m not sure) to go see Bob whenever he plays within 50 miles, so this fell well within that. I even extended it to 75 miles for last year’s show in Aberdeen. Anyway, since most of my concert-going experiences are with the same hundred or so people at the Black Cat, it’s quite a trip to head on out to a minor league baseball stadium in a small town with 4,000 or so folks. The people-watching – and the people-laughing-at – is certainly one of the highlights of an evening like this, but I won’t spend too much time on that, because I wouldn’t want to spoil ZR’s upcoming Bob Dylan Concert Audience Power Rankings. You will be entertained, I promise. Not as much as we were entertained – or, at times, repulsed – but you won’t want to miss it. Coming later this week! So anyway, let’s talk about the show.

Willie Nelson needs to give it up. Last year when Willie opened for Bob, it was pretty terrible but it gave me the chance to say, “Well, at least I got to see Willie Nelson.” When I found out that Willie was opening again this year, I was terribly disappointed. Not that Merle Haggard would have necessarily been any better, but at least then I would have been able to say, “Well, at least I got to see Merle Haggard.” Willie performs with a seven-piece band. Two of those seven are his sons and the rest are probably his neighbors. There’s no drum kit, just one dude playing the same beat every song on a snare. (It’s the beat to “On the Road Again,” in case you were curious.) Willie doesn’t much play guitar anymore. Willie doesn’t much sing anymore. He matter-of-factly speaks the lyrics and occasionally strums. But he does lots of waving to the audience and pointing his fingers up in the air. He zooms through all of his hits, barely giving them time to register. Then he lets his son Lucas, the lead guitarist in the band, take over lead vocals for a few songs. This was especially painful, as they were two long blues songs. I’m not sure what kind of blues Lucas has, since he gets to go around the country playing guitar in his dad’s band while on tour with Bob Dylan. Maybe they only had shwag on the bus for a few days. Now, granted, that is certainly worthy of singing the blues, but still. I found myself checking the time about every five minutes during Willie’s hour long set. Just not good times.

Being as objective as possible – which, admittedly, isn’t that objective – Bob delivered the goods. It’s not going to be “Royal Albert Hall” 1966. It’s not going to be Rolling Thunder 1975. Hell, it’s not even going to be Las Vegas 2001, the last time I saw Bob when he was playing guitar. The switch to electric piano is certainly disappointing, but by now I’m sort of used to it. Or rather, uuuuuuussssssssssed to iiiiiiiiiiit! The song selection last night was not bad at all. It’s pretty clear that he chose his songs carefully for his closest gig to D.C. as we got “Senor (Tales of Yankee Power),” “John Brown,” “Chimes of Freedom” and “Masters of War.” That’s nearly a third of his set dedicated to very political songs. He’s been playing most of those at least semi-regularly on this leg of the tour, but has rarely played even two during the same set. I was especially happy to hear “Chimes of Freedom,” although “Masters of War,” was the one with the most bite.

Other highlights included “Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again,” which was one of the few songs you could actually recognize before he started singing. Bob has rearranged his tunes so drastically as to make them all but unrecognizable until you can put together a few consecutive words of his, which might take until a few minutes into the song. That’s where the title of the post comes from, although it’s sort of a reach, I’m sorry. While we’re paused, this would probably be a good time to direct you to this article in the NY Times that talks about how he’s going about his current touring. Pretty good read. But yeah, if we had received the usual encore of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” followed by “All Along the Watchtower,” the show probably would have been a disappointment. He’s been playing those two – especially “Watchtower” – a whole lot the past few years and I really wouldn’t mind never hearing “Watchtower” again. So instead we got “Masters of War” and “Like a Rolling Stone.” Hard to go wrong with what is basically the greatest song of all time. The past few times I saw him play it that organ flourish that basically makes the song had been absent, but it was there tonight. When it kicked in tonight, the stage lights all went on and it was quite the rock and roll moment. Usually I hate rock and roll moments, especially if they involve stage lights, but not this time. It might be 40 years too late, but it still gave me chills.

I always feel like a get a little gypped on the set list and looking at what he played the next night, I feel that way again. (“To Be Alone With You,” “She Belongs to Me,” “Ballad of a Thin Man,” and two of my absolute favorites, “It’s Alright Ma” and “Queen Jane Approximately.”) And some of the songs he plays are just extended too long. If Bob’s not playing guitar and his keyboard is barely audible, then we’re just standing there watching his band play. Granted, his band is filled with some super-solid musicians, and while I appreciate their talents, I didn’t pay my $50 to see some dudes in bowling shirts jam on barely recognizable instrumental passages of Dylan songs. But the point is that he’s doing exactly what he wants to do. When watching Willie, you knew you were watching someone well past his prime just giving the people what they want (or at least a close approximation). But Bob, while obviously past his prime, is doing his best to remain relevant in today’s musical landscape, which is more than you can say for most 64 year olds.

Bob Dylan is like The Pope to me. I think CH mentioned something similar to this at the show (don’t worry, CH, I won’t dare type out your full name, I wouldn’t want prospective employers of yours to think you were associated with such a rogue Web site as this one) and it’s pretty much true. Whenever The Pope came over, even if he was old and frail and you couldn’t really understand what he was saying, the faithful flocked to him. Some people believe in god; I’ll go with Dylan. God created the earth in seven days, apparently. Well, Bob created Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde in 18 months. I think that’s about even. Sure, Bob also created Self Portrait and Saved. But god created Republicans and traffic. Advantage: Dylan. So that’s about it. If Bob’s in town, I’m there. I just feel an overwhelming sense of well-being while standing there watching him. It really is the closest I’ll probably come to understanding how religious people feel. OK, that about does it, hopefully ZR will have his much more entertaining Audience Power Rankings up within the next day or two. Throw those peace signs while shimmying in the arms of your disgustingly fat, twice-your-age boyfriend, hippie girl!

--DM--

Comments

[CH]

So, you didn't go with the lead-in about God creating the world and Dylan creating those albums he created. Oh well.

I was actually leaning the other way in comparing Willie Nelson to Dylan. I was thinking "Willie is more true...He hasn't changed. Hey, it's my old pal Willie. He still does it like he used to. That's great."

I've now changed my mind and think you're right in arguing that Dylan is superior because he has tried to stay relevant (even though it's the relevance of a lizard--and not no Jim Morrisson lizard either--singing through an escalating dementia in a world increasingly difficult to apply the 1960s to). Let's be honest with ourselves: Dylan may be able to say things like (I'm paraphrasing) "I was a soldier on the battlefield and saw the eyes of my enemy and they were just like mine," but for real, his slang is so dated that it's no longer relevant. He's not REALLY contributing anything to music.

So, I think that's how I got to the point of agreeing with Nelson's fogeyism over Dylan's effort to stay contemporary. I almost salute Willie for saying "my productive days are long over and i don't feel like carrying some stupid claim to artistic importance around. it's not like anyone would take me seriously anyway...well, maybe more seriously than Neil Diamond working with fuggin Rick Rubin."

So, maybe I've changed my mind again and now think that Nelson's complacency is superior. Yeah, I have. Nevermind that thing about agreeing with you on Dylan.

And, yes, I would easily have traded "Like a Rolling Stone" for "It's Alright Ma"...even rasped out by a vague lizard bluesman entity with hands too fucking mangled and presumably arthritic to properly play a fucking guitar. Dylan is better, but not because of his relevance to modern times.

But, yes, he is like the Pope for many music listeners...and certainly an accomplished man.

[CH]

plus, Willie Nelson performed "Bridge Over Troubled Water" at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City...on the ice...and it was sad and beautiful at the same time.

[DM]

Whatever, CH. That Willie set was almost Demolition Dollrods bad. And yeah, Dylan is better not because of his relevance to modern times but because he wrote dozens and dozens of songs better than anything Willie -- or anyone else, really -- ever wrote.

Anyway, that was the point of the NY Times article. Most old dudes are content to simply not try anymore and collect their money the easiest way possible. Bob doesn't do that, and that's what makes him Bob.

Also, Willie just did a duet with Jessica Simpson.

[CH]

point taken, defeat conceded

[CH]

Bowie, Maryland
Prince George's Stadium
June 14, 2005

Drifter's Escape
Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
Lonesome Day Blues
Shooting Star
Highway 61 Revisited
This Wheel's On Fire
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
John Brown
Bye And Bye
Chimes Of Freedom
Summer Days

encore
Masters Of War
Like A Rolling Stone

[DM]

Hey, ZR, if you ever get around to doing those Audience Power Rankings, looks like you might have to create a new category. I am so, so disappointed we didn't bump into her...

"I should also note that as I left to take a needed breather during the encore with a friend of mine, we noticed none other than Jenna Bush
standing right next to us up along the stadium's main concourse, accompanied by an entourage of friends (and a couple secret service agents hanging back, in plainclothes but nonetheless easily identifiable)." From here.