Expecting Rain

I just want to say THANK YOU! to all the people involved in making the live-set lists and making every show a special one.

Still Go Barefoot - You've done an excellent job this year. You deserve alot of gratitude! Thank you!
Reporters - I can't say how happy I am to be able to get the set-list live. Every time you write a song and it's posted here, I can't help but smile when I know Bob is out there playing somewhere.
And a special thank you for Bill Pagel for keeping up your website and posting them here on the forum every show.


Today has been a great year, with the new album, live debuts and rarities! Thank you!



Viktor

.... one day closer to death and the inevitable armageddon. the end is nigh.

In the Dylan community ... the year ends not on December 31st, but when Bob plays his last show of the year.

And it begins when the first show of the new tour kicks off... Or if there is a release between tours.

so, in between, are we all on a ride on the rivers of Hades? it sure feels that way.

A minor miracle of an album. The move to piano. And despite some really bad reviews from the last leg, from what I can hear from boots, an improvement in the vocal dept. that's a more than decent year all things considered.

^ yes, and it was a far less than decent year for the media and critics. absolutely awful this year. the worst since the China 'controversy'.

Luckily, Bob and many of us don't really give a hoot about what the press says...

If Bob had cared what they said the entire venture would have ended in the mid-'60s...

hey i'm not worried for us or Bob, I'm worried for them!

among 'them' are the lawmakers and the rulers of the land too. so it does concern us a little...

Very true, rimbaud. I'm already waiting for news on the next tour.
I never said I wasn't pathetic.

thanks to all and to all a good new year to come full of the bobness

Re: "Another year passed and gone"
Oh, but this is one of those years that will never be passed and be gone-It's full of things that will not only go on, but will grow in importance, not the least of, Tempest, or the New Exhibit coming soon. Maybe some years have nothing to say for themselves and should pack it up, and turn it in- but definitely not this one.

If i didnt know better I would find this very scary - one step away from heavens gate. dont follow leaders.

The whole critics thing this year is interesting. I work as a newspaper reporter, and often review shows. I know how this business works. One reporter writes a review, another looks it up during his/her research and gets an idea about the way things are. It perpetuates itself, and becomes this big ball of nothing. I think that's what happened this year. A few people wrote some bad reviews and the momentum just carried itself.

I saw two shows this years, in Connecticut and in Boston. I was prepared for some real mediocrity, based on what I read. But both shows were fine. Connecticut less so, because of horrid acoustics. But I thought Boston was a great show. I've seen him 70-plus times over the years, and I know a good Bob show from a bad Bob show. These were good shows. He was into them, the set lists were interesting, the band spry. The mirrors might have been an irritant, and I definitely think the shows suffered from the venues. The hockey rinks take away any chance at intimacy.

I also think casual fans and unintelligent (or ignorant) critics were offended that he did not promote the new record at all. They saw that as a slight, and slammed him for it.

Far as I'm concerned, I would love to see Bob plays 3,000-seat theaters and never have another critic review another show. What's the point? What hasn't been written about him? The reviews have become so cliched ....

Can't wait for 2013.

State Theater was a good place for shows.

Reflecting back over a year where Dylan seemed a bit more into the guitar at the very start. I think there were a few shows in South America where he played guitar on five or six songs?
In Europe the acoustic baby grand came to the fore with a couple songs reserved for the organ and guitar. On to the U.S. and the guitar almost vanished. I'm still looking for the Blues instrumental from Chicago?
I felt the piano playing was great to listen to. Dylan obviously is not close to being a virtuoso but he's got touch, taste, imagination, and most important rhythm. His playing absolutely has a jazz feel despite it's limitations.
The lack of guitar playing will no doubt be linked again to supposed arthritis. This has been cropping up for years now with no evidence to support the idea. Here's something from Europe with Dylan deftly moving around the fretboard. He's playing ALL the nice bits, not the vaguely annoying repeated simple figure which stands out on this arrangement. Seeing this makes me wish he'd play the guitar more, although I do enjoy the piano. As I recall he'd mentioned in a couple of interviews back in the '90s he would like a keyboard player in the band, but couldn't find anyone who had the sound he was looking for, I'm pretty sure he even said he might have to play those parts himself to get what he had in mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHPKI1G4M90

Beautifully said. Like the great Jonathan Richman said Bob " gave us the wine to taste it not to waste it, try a drop dont criticize and waste it". Try a drop.

That's a great video! I've heard the song live, but that particular performance was beautiful to behold, and it looked like one of those pin-drop moments- for him, for the band- & with the audience so tuned in. As you've said, in a way, it would be nice to hear guitar more, but the way he plays such imaginative piano, it seems very involved with the songs, like he makes a guitar "do".

Yes, that's a nice series. I think they are Scandinavian shows, correct?

Patford, that is the best vid, priceless!

That performance of Simple Twist of Fate is wonderful. Lucky people that were there to witness that. In the three shows I have attended, he only played guitar on one song, and not gentle and beautiful playing like that. Lovely.

Any audio of Shadows yet?

That's a good description of it, and so lovely. A good illustration of one of the reasons I like his guitar playing so much- and the latest piano playing- On some songs, he involves the meaning of the song into the music, so that the performance is more like you're reading something and can go in all different directions with it, because you're the one reading it- at times, he doesn't just play the instrument, there's something more going on.

My lasting and fond impression of final show I saw in 2012 in Boston is of Bob prancing and dancing and whipping the mic stand to him as he snarled the opening words to THC.

A snarling darling enjoying every second stage when I saw him 4 times this year.

Hope to break my 6 shows in one year record next year; 4 is not enough Bob to hold me until I see him the next year.