DownInAlabama wrote:
Just joined this discussion board, but this is a great list, thanks for putting it together.
2/16/02 - Birmingham, AL - my first Dylan show, had front row seats, he played 21 (!) songs including 6 for the encore and I swear, he sang about half of "Summer Days" right to me! This is my second favorite concert, would be my first, but see below...
5/16/03 - Birmingham, AL - thrilled to hear him do "Blind Willie McTell"
8/20/04 - Jackson, TN - outdoors at the ballpark, started raining during finale of "All Along The Watchtower" I think about the time he sang, "the wind began to howl..."
6/5/05 - Birmingham, AL
4/30/06 - Birmingham, AL - the concert itself has become a blur as I met Bob himself on the sidewalk afterward as he headed toward his bus. He talked to my husband first, I got a huge smile and a handshake from him, thus making this my favorite concert experience...and one of my favorite memories.
9/22/07 - Duluth, GA
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First of all Down, my apologies for referring to you as "Dude" in a previous post.
2ndly I agree with most all yer Birmingham posts except for any points included below
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the 2/16/02 show was great - but God help me if the crowd did not SUCK! sometime you should hear about what goes on in the stands of the BJCC when you aren't looking.
5/16/03 - That was a thrill to hear "Blind Willie McTell" but the City Stages festival could very well be a sub reference from above. The crowd sucked, once again, only this time by "sucked" I mean a guy was ready to fight me for a space of terra firma I just happened to be standing on. "I've been here all day, Man!" was the reasoning for his aggression. I'm always willing to be cool if I unintentionally intrude on someone's obvious space - but the fact that 100,000 other people had "been there all day" too seemed to escape him. Plus we were in a GA area standing area shoulder to shoulder. MORON!
6/5/05 - two views.
1. It (Hoover Mets Ball Park) was a weird place for a Dylan show. Brought out plenty of folks who couldn't be converted if Bob would've stripped naked and had sex with them all one at a time.
2. He played "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine". I couldn't believe the friends I was with could not believe the fact I was totally freaking out at the fact he was playing "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine".
4/30/06 was amazing and beautiful. Someone gave me two tix close to the last minute cuz I was gonna skip it (Me:"Aw, I saw Dylan last year and everytime I see him now the crowd SUCKS!") But that gig was something else -and "Visions of Johanna" totally conquered my mind.
And actually, the crowd didn't suck that bad for that show.
Am I obsessing on my less-than-concientious-neighbors at shows? Yep, sure am! It's so expensive to attend shows now that once you get past a sound system which may or may not work well for the venue, your specific placement in the building which may or may not lend itself to really seeing what's happening on stage very well, and the fact that every artist can have an "off night" making any show a proverbial roll of the dice, the LAST thing I want is to have to listen to a bunch of idiots talk through the whole show or have to be "that guy" and tell them to shut the hell up! Have some respect, people, PLEASE! These are the same rubes who will sit in stone silence after paying 12 bucks to see Rambo 12 at the movies-and yet when a real event happens and someone with as much to offer as Dylan tries to lay something on 'em, they don't know how to act!!!!
Maybe it's all about the "I was there" mentality (bragging rights dominating over actually caring anything about a show you attend) or the mass dumbing down of people in general. I'll leave that call to someone else and put me in any category you see fit. I understand the whole thing behind the machinery of setting up a show, bad sound, mediocre seats, or just one of them nights - I have no control over that. I can and will, however, mace someone talking loudly on a cell phone during a show - and I really don't wanna HAVE to do that!!!!
...however I digress.
Back to the thread:
I also saw Atlanta GA at the Fox in 10/89. G.E. Smith band - different sound and dynamic, but cool show.
And was on the front row after winning two tickets to a "Dylan sing a like contest" on the radio in mid 1991 at the old Oak Mtn Amphitheater. If there was anything to complain about I can't remember, cuz I was on the front row.
I'm T-Bone Frank and I approved this message.
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Yes. . .I'm jealous since I've only been to a couple shows. I suppose I could give up my day job and start busking my way on route with his tour schedule. 
