Bob Dylan 2000.04.05 in Salina, Kansas
Subject: Salina show 04-05-00 From: gduggerDate: Sat, 08 Apr 2000 23:09:48 -0500 Asleep at the Wheel started the Salina show exactly at 7:30 pm and finished their apparently scheduled 45 minute set a couple of minutes early. The crowd of 5000 ranged from (teeny) boppers to bikers to boomers along with cowboys and quad cane users and the occasional suit and slightly seedy flower child. My favorite was the psychedelic tighted male in the front row. The scariest was a shaved head character who crashed the stage temporarily and remind me a little of Robert DeNiro's character in Taxi Driver. AATW's performance was very workmanlike though we really did not need to be reminded three times of the name of their band. Their leader seemed a bit full of himself which maybe explains Dylan's alleged refusal to shake hands with him in Denver although maybe Dylan just doesn't like to shake hands. (see Omaha article) Hopefully Bob doesn't have a Howard Hughes germ phobia. The highlight of the 30 minute wait while the stage was being set for Dylan was watching a stage hand use a propane torch to light a massive amount of incense sticks which were placed in three buckets at the back of the stage. Is this aroma therapy thing a regular part of this tour? As has been previously reported on this tour, Dylan and band were quite tight. Dylan himself appeared to be a little uptight through about the first half of the show when he finally started to crack a few smiles and look like maybe he was enjoying himself a little. Dylan wore his apparent regular uniform for this tour - black on black jacket with black piped black pants and black Western tie on a white shirt. He had some kind of periodic hair problem and he ran his fingers through his hair several times after numbers as if trying to remove cobwebs. Our vantage point of 8 rows back from the extreme left side of the stage on the first level of a riser was excellent for both watcing Bob and the folks from Midwest Security who were a little heavy handed in doing their job. As there was an aisle directly in front of us, we had a first hand view of the ebb and flow of stage crashers and photo takers as the security personnel occasionally aided by the local cops repeatedly pushed them back. Interestingly security was often talking on their cell phones while making the fan tide roll away. The most distracting incident was when it took 3 rent a cops several minutes to wrestle a slight female 20 something to the ground and then away. Maybe it was the same security company that caused problems earlier on the tour. I managed to take about 20 photos (no flash) without being detected but the chances that they turned out are probably about the same as Dylan appearing again in Salina, Kansas. Dylan's lyrics were consistently intelligible through out the evening though his joke about the drummer during the band introductions was not. The sound level was high but not painful like the 1994 performance I saw in Lawrence, Kansas and did not even require earplugs. Mr. Tambourine Man was suprisingly enjoyable though for me it is Dylan's most over exposed song. Hard Rain was a highlight as it was apparently performed for the first time on this tour. The other song debuting on this tour, When I Paint My Masterpiece, was an inferior rendition compared to the commerically released version. Baby and Tangled Up in Blue were great as always and were followed with a great change of pace - This World Can't Stand Long. For my $35, County Pie could have been left uneaten (and unplayed) on the shelf. The sustained highlight of the evening for me was the triple play of Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again, Not Dark Yet and Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat. It was during this part that Dylan starting to loosen up and during an extended jam smiled at his own missed cue on a vocal. Love Sick, the first encore number was very strong and the audience participation numbers (Like a Rolling Stone and Rainy Day Women) were great as always. I was glad that Bob put away the guitar once and got out his harp on It Ain't Me Babe though I thought his vamping during the harp section was a little strange. Getting to hear Blowin' in the Wind live was a special treat. All in all, it was the best Dylan show I have seen. Thanks Bob for playing small venues with reasonable ticket prices. I am interested in any other comments on this show. I also am of course interested in any recordings of this show and have a very large quantity of MP3 and Real Audio bootleg Dylan material available for trade. Email me privately if you want to trade.
Date: Fri, 5 May 2000 12:19:34 -0700 (PDT) From: llampe78@yahoo.com (Laurie Lampe) Subject: Dylan Article Salina KS 4-5-2000 To: karlerik@monet.no Hello, This is an article that I published in my college newspaper about the concert in Salina KS. Hope it'll be good for a chuckle. Laurie Dylan Rocks Salina Laurie L Lampe Kiss have the makeup and huge fireballs. The Rolling Stones have an inflatable menagerie and fireworks. Kid Rock has strippers and a midget. Bob Dylan has a band and a harmonica. That's all he needs to light up a crowd. On April fifth Bob Dylan performed at the Bicentennial Center in Salina Kansas. The show drew 4,902 fans and reminded them why it is they love this guy. His average crowd on this tour is 4500. I sat two seats down from Will Trapp who had traveled from Nashville Tennessee to see the show. He said, "I have seen Dylan ten times. The best show I saw was in Birmingham and the next best show was Salina. I felt the tears well up when he played Not Dark yet" The whole performance had a moving, electric quality that one could feel from the soles of your feet to the hair follicles on your head. Dylan's show was amazingly energetic. His calm showmanship managed to move the audience to jam the isles and keep the security guards busy clearing the walkways and pushing the crowd back to the seats. The show was started with an acoustic set so Dylan could show off his amazingly unsung musicianship. He's an amazing guitarist. The acoustic riffs he played are reminiscent of Willie Nelson style playing. The increadible version of A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall was a definite highlight. It was the first time it was played on this tour. When Dylan introduced the band he continued a new tradition of telling a joke about his drummer David Kemper. When he introduced Kemper, the crowd came out with an enthusiastic "What'd he do?" Dylan replied, "He hurt his foot and we had to call the toe truck." Dylan was clearly enjoying himself and it reflected on the crowd. For the encore Dylan played Love Sick from his grammy winning Time Out of Mind album. There were no butts in seats after that. He followed up with the immortal Like a Rolling Stone and an acoustic version of It Ain't Me Babe in which he got out his harmonica and strutted like Chuck Berry or Mick Jagger. Speaking of the Rolling Stones, Dylan played an incredible version of Stones' classic Not Fade Away. During Blowin' In The Wind, hundreds of lighters and flashlights went in the air in tribute. Dylan closed with Rainy Day Women #12 & #35, better known as Everybody Must Get Stoned. When the first chorus came up, a man sitting in the row in front of us lit up a joint and started blowing the smoke over the heads the crowd in front of him. The only bad thing about this show was it ended too soon. The crowd was not ready to let Dylan go even after two hours of playing. ===== Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb:-D