Expecting Rain

Me neither, after Hannover.

I can't quite believe that, what was the deciding factor? Was it just the Sinatra era songs or a bad performance in particular. Were you at le Zenith?

I was at Hamburg, Düsseldorf and the first two Amsterdam. Too much repetitive emptiness.
Out of habit, I might go if Dylan plays nearby in the future, but unless there are massive changes, no more traveling far and wide and much for this.

That's refreshingly honest and we should respect you for that viewpoint. I've only seen one show so far this tour - the Zenith, Paris and wasn't very enthusiastic in my review. However, it wasn't the worst Dylan show I've been to and I hope for improvements when I see him at the London Palladium and Bournemouth.

problem with such decisions is: where to spend all the money…?

Other moms and dads raised artists, too...

Following any artists has its peaks and troughs. I didn't see Dylan live for several years after stopping in 2009 (prior to that at I'd seen Dylan at a minimum of once on every UK tour, but after years defending Dylan's vocals the upbarking was the breaking point. Although there were other reasons (the price, Dylan's insistence on playing large venues without ANY kind of screen, the rubbish band (2005-2009), the organ 'playing' etc etc. There are lots of artists I follow live so it really didn't feel like any kind of loss. I went to the RAH in 2015 as a sort of last hurrah and enjoyed the concert to an extent, but it does seem like you have to make an awful lot of allowances for Bob, and perhaps even lower your expectations to an unreasonable extent.
I saw John Prine at the Palladium on Friday; he played for two hours, songs from all over his career, great band, engaged with the audience and I'm wondering how Dylan will compare. Actually, I'm not; I know exactly what to expect at Bob's concert. The venue's great, and it will be nice to see Bob upclose and personal but the one gig will be more than enough for me. After that Bob goes his way, and I go mine...

I'm also looking forward to the Palladium show and would hope that he uses the intimate nature of the venue to do something different. He probably won't and I'll end up being disappointed but if the performance is better than the Paris show I saw it will be a positive to take away. I just get the feeling that some of the songs in the set are just there as 'fillers' and it is a shame that they can't rotate them with other lesser played originals.

To add a two-penneth;

I took my non-Dylan fan girlfriend to the Paris and Esche shows. We both thought Zenith was a fine performance, that the Seine Musicale didn't work because of the different crowd, and that Luxembourg was back on a par with the Zenith.

Her highlight each night; TOBM.

And she enjoyed the shows, as a neophyte being subjected to hours of TGV and Eurostar, and three consecutive nights in three different venues.

One of the most frustrating things of following Dylan live is just how much he restricts his song choices. Even from '97 onward there's a wealth of material to draw from. He also five albums of standards to add to the mix!

So I attended this show. Moments of brilliance moments of amateurism.

THC weak. Took him 3/4 to get into it
Don't Think Twice saw the return of the sing-song voice

The jazz covers he absolutely nailed.
Autumn Leaves stole the show for me as did Stormy Weather, but then I'm on of the few who love the crooners.

Tangled was superb, Long and Wasted superb, Thin Man superb, Duquesne was great, Black Magic too.
Charlie played some amazing solos too. A great one on Tangled and also on Lovesick.


Soon After Midnight crap, Spirit on the Water crap. Though listening back to them on my audio recording they both sound good.

His piano playing was shocking, but maybe where I was standing meant I had too much of it coming through the speakers. He was just bashing it as far as I'm concerned apart from a few wonderful moments in Desolation.

He laughed and joked with Charlie most of the night in the shadows between songs. Great to see him smiling.

Desolation Row has an amazing bit at the end where he totally changes the melody, last time it was the Casanova verse but this time it's the next verse.

It seemed like his interactions with Donnie have lessened.

I will say one thing. I felt underwhelmed at times during the show. Then listening back later I realized how great much of it was.

It's funny how that can happen. I was hearing too much of his piano and it annoyed me, Also where I was standing wasn't ideal. But on reflection I saw a very strong show

I've only bought 2 shows for June. 435 face value for frankenbob shitnatrash. I'll be thrilled to see him but I can't take the standards. Now his GA shows are filled with them. I thought at least there was a chance he'd give it a rest. My shows are seated anyway. I refuse to wait in line all day for his shows anymore and get run over on the way in.

They are both songs I don't particularly like, as is That Old Black Magic - however in Paris they were all played well. Things Have Changed was the big disaster there, as I said before it was probably the worst version I've seen him do of a song I really quite like. For an opener it was a real let down. I thought all the songs from Tempest were performed superbly as was Love Sick.

Listening to the recording I think this gig is pretty good actually.

Yes, I agree, this gig was actually quite good. Much better than I had expected.
I'm not a big fan of the standards, but they all worked fine to me that evening. My favorite performance was TUIB, Duquesne was great, too.
Bob seemed to enjoy himself, there was a lot of joking and laughing between the songs.

The biggest downpoint: those over ambitious security guys with their flashlights, lighting randomly into the audience, hoping to catch somebody taking pictures. Ridiculous.

Ok - I've only listened once to the soundcloud link on the front page but it seems immediately apparent to me that this is an outstanding performance by 2017 standards. I'd have no hesitation recommending all to dive in. Bob sounds razor sharp and fully focused from the off and it's as if the band sense this and manage to raise their already accomplished game accordingly.

I'll be keeping a watchful and hopeful eye on the recordings page for this one to surface. Luxembourg is one of those venues where multiple recordings tend to emerge and I hope that's the case again. I don't know who captured the version available on Soundcloud but it's no slouch.

What also encourages me here is that this was the 3rd consecutive night in different venues and yet no sign of fatigue whatsoever.

Fair play Bob - that performance level has given me an unexpected Monday afternoon shot in the arm...

I was there and I really enjoyed the show. But I will see only one.

Here is a link to the RTL news:
http://tele.rtl.lu/emissiounen/de-journal/3091889.html
(click on the link and then on the video)

It starts at 10:31. They have filmed the queue with the first few people in the line. I guess some of you will recognize yourselves

And special thanks to Joe for the music!

charlie's work on tangled is fantastic. Pretty good version as well. It is above 2017 standards...but still Hamburg for me.

Very true, I saw John Prine about a month ago. He put on a great show. The next week I saw Richard Thompson. He always seems to engage his audience. Going to see Arlo Guthrie later this year...The thing is, there is always plenty of artists out there doing fine work, worth hearing. I love seeing Bob in person, but don't too hang up on any one of them.