Bob Dylan 2001.11.02 in Terre Haute
From: "paul morris" pmorris64@hotmail.com To: webmaster@dylanite.com Subject: Terre Haute Date: Sat, 03 Nov 2001 20:27:28 +0000 Having experienced the highs of Chicago just a week ago, I left for Terre Haute with lowered expectations, prepared to accept whatever came my way. It was a mad dash from my temporary student residence in Illinois, and I arrived hungry and beer-less with the concert already started (no one told me that Indiana is an hour ahead of Illinois). Seated myself right at the back balcony, facing the stage, and noticed quite a few empty seats and a continually moving, restless audience:- my perceptions of the concert are therefore subject to my mental (and physical state at the time). First thing to be said, is that I was lucky to witness something like fouteen different songs from the week before, which is more than anyone can rightly deserve. Second, the acoustics didn't seem quite as good, and, although Bob's singing is still very crisp and clear, I thought there was a tendency towards shouting that hadn't been so in evidence before. Indeed, if I had to file this concert under a particular label, it would probably be B for "blistering" and "barnstorming." Lots of guitar and blazing harmonica, perhaps slightly less of the subtlety and sublimation of Chicago--certainly nothing as majestic as the Sugar Baby I witnessed there last week. Still, Indiana had its own glories. Mississippi was more alive than I remember it from last week, with a vocal that recalled the raging glory of One Too Many Mornings from 1966, building to a fervent crescendo. Drifter's Escape was likewise a heavy metal master work with some superb harmonica towards the end. Harmonica also raised the audience at the end of Tangled to near state of frenzy; to be fair to the audience, despite the milling around, they were highly responsive all night. Of course, it was great too to hear Floater, one of the more carefully delivered songs of the evening, as well as Cry Awhile, neither performed at Chicago. (Interesting how you notice things in concert that you don't on record: for the first time I realised that last line of Floater is also its subtitle!! Must have been something about the "dismissive" way he delivered the line last night, that made it seem more poignant and affecting, as if the whole song is building up to this one line). On a par with Mississippi was Things Have Changed, possibly the highlight for me. The way Bob spat at words in songs like Mississippi and interacted with the band made me think of what '66 might have been like--certainly "noise" was a feature of this concert. Bob seems to interact with this band like no other I have witnessed. During Blowin' a few comments from the lead guitarist drew a clear shake of the head from Bob--I knew then there would be no extra encore. The week before, the same guitarist seemed to lead the band through the encores. It's good to see Bob playing with such an exuberant group, prepared to push as well as follow. Paul Morris
Newsgroups: rec.music.dylan Subject: Re: November 2, 2001 - Terre Haute, Indiana - setlist From: Andy Klueber Cigar2@webtv.net Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 14:16:22 -0500 (EST) Being a total newbie to Bob and I'll have no bases for this show and also this is my home town. But it was a Great Show IMHO. The show itself lasted 2:25 and it wasn't a total sale out. Their where some seat's left on the second tier Hulman Center can hold 10,000 people or so for concert's. So I'd say there were about 8,000 to 9,000 people there at the show. For I was on the floor. The crowd itself was a pretty good mix of people. And they were pretty much into the show itself there where a couple shout's out the crowd for Sugar Baby. But Bob didn't do it. But it's his show he can do whatever he wanted to do. All I can say is hopefully he'll come back some day and and do another show. And if he wanted to a small venue there are two here in Terre Haute. One of them is Tilson Music Hall it seat around 2,000 or so people. And second is the Indiana Theatre it's a old duel purpose theatre built in the 1922 in the Spanish baroque style. It can hold about 3,000 or so people. Or I probably go to where ever he decides to play next in Indiana. Yours I Hope This Made Some Sense, A.D.K.
Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2001 11:22:39 -0500 From: john Haas haasj@bethelcollege.edu To: webmaster@dylanite.com Subject: terra haute I would add some comments to the competent reviews already up. 1. The acoustics of the venue were fine from where I was (near floor on left side). Things were crystal clear. The music was incredibly LOUD, especially towards the end (Honest, Watchtower) but vocals were clearly enunciated. 2. Setlist: does anyone recall the days of "greatest hits" shows? This one was far from that, eh? Besides Hummingbird (which seems to be about a train?) we got the first Rank Strangers in quite a few years (best I've ever heard, by the way--can these guys get a hymnic quality from their harmonies or what?) The fella I was with turned and said "I want to go up there and hug him" after that. Then the second Tears of Rage I've ever heard live, gorgeous, just a notch below Boulder, I would say. And Mama, You Been On My Mind and a perfectly spellbinding John Brown on top. On John Brown the man was PREACHING, I kid you not. Wow! 3. Bob: great voice, the word is strong and confident. Looks great too--very often his profile takes you right back to 1966. It's a sight, believe me. Lyric changes not many that I could hear, though on Tears of Rage he sang "I myself was among the one's calling back to you" (or thereabouts). Strongest, most compelling singing of the night was on TUIB, of all things--it's amazing the energy he pours into this old warhorse! Also, his vocals on Things Have Changed just cut so deep, tears were welling up in my eyes, and I was thinking, well, hundreds of years from now when all is lost under a sea of rubble and it's another dark ages and archeologists start to recover our times, perhaps they'll dig up a disc of this performance of this song, and our whole worthless century will be validated. That's how I felt. He also did some amazingly rich and deep and note-perfect singing on John Brown--when he sang "his face looked just like mine" the crowd went nuts. 4. L&T songs: All were competent, but none really outdid the album. My theory is that in the beginning, new songs have their effect just by their innate power as new songs, and it's only over time that extra energies get poured into them. (But I haven't heard Highwater yet, either.) Floater did seem weird--not bad, just, perhaps, too complex for such a large venue? The rhythm is hard to get a hold of, and there's lots of space in it. I think it's a wonderful song, and I'd like to hear these live performances on tape to really assess them, but I agree it's a bit ornery and awkward in concert (which we want from our man anyway, right?) Vocals on Honest With Me were drenched in echo, or so it seemed. 5. Guitars: lots, all good, Larry a real standout at times. I noted that it's Larry that does the trmelo, mandolin-like playing on Desolation Row. Bob did great work at times, especially at end of TUIB. 6. Incidentals: JB deliberately fell apart, just collapsed at the end, startling and appropriate. Watchtower saw the repetition of the first verse at the end, got slower and slower as he spat out "NONE--OF--THEM--know--what--ANY--of--it--IS--WORTH." Maggie's Farm was unusual, funky and complex--a little weird to my ears. LARS also was strangely compelling; "how does it feel?" is a different question now, as we're all different after 9/11. The chords seemed so momentous--might be a little subjective, that. I'm a bit tired of Forever Young and Blowin' (just a bit), but, again, these songs were both very compelling, the singing, the harmonies, was SO GOOD--again, very hymnal. Forever Young was hopeful, wistful, a bit sad. During Blowin', I recalled that RFK said this was his favorite song, and I recalled how he made such an important speech in Indianapolis after MLK was killed, and I wondered if Bob was recalling this too. Probably not. AATW has a wild-west-like opening I first hear at Springfield. Neat. As they went off stage Tony was talking to Bob and had his right hand on Bob's left shoulder; then he put his arm around him! Who wouldn't wonder what they were saying? Great, great concert. Will sound wonderful on cdr or tape, I bet. OH, the crowd was very attentive, but hard to read how informed--didn't get the cheers one would expect for the rarities. In front of us were two nice ladies in their 60s, neither were big Dylan fans. One was coming because her brother who recently passed away was a huge fan (she prefers folk music of the Bill Morrisey sort), the other (who told me "I don't know much about him, but I don't think I like his voice") was looking forward to the blues and swing. Well, they went nuts--best gals in the house, hanging on every word, pounding their knees in rhythm, turning to me after every song and shouting in amazement and glee "WHAT was THAT?!!" Classic moments. God bless, John Haas .
