"Dylan raises goosebumps"

Source: The Boston Globe
Date: Saturday, 8 October 1994.
Author: Steve Morse, Globe staff.

Hear ye, hear ye. What that *really* Bob Dylan taking a bow? Was that really
a sold-out crowd giving him one standing ovation after another? Yes, we kid
you now. It was goosebump time at the Orpheum last night. Dylan's career has
been a roller coaster even to diehard fans, but last night he rolled to his
finest, friskiest Boston show in years.

"I didn't expect it would be this *heavy*," said Gary Cherone of the band
Extreme. He was among a number of Boston rock celebrities - including an
awed Peter Wolf - who were swept away by Dylan's triumphant, slam-bang
performance.

In some past visits, Dylan looked as if he had crawled out of a crypt. But
he seemed fresh and focused last night, fronting a four-piece band that
pushed him hard. It was an important show - the first of three at the
Orpheum (tickets remain just for tomorrow night) - and he treated it that
way with a committed, high-energy performance that was a true revelation.

Many observers have talked about a Dylan renaissance since his well-received
show at Woodstock '94, but he was better last night. At Woodstock, he was
uneven, but finished strong. Last night he soared consistently. He opened
with the same two songs he did at Woodstock: "Jokerman" and "Just Like a
Woman" (though there was no moshing during the latter this time!). Then he
really took off with "All Along the Watchtower," with special emphasis on
the snarling line, "There are many here among us who think life is but a
joke." Most people think Jimi Hendrix did a better version of that song, but
they might have to revise that opinion after hearing Dylan rip through it at
the Orpheum.

Dylan pulled back briefly for the more recent "Under the Red Sky," then
launched an awesome stretch of one classic after another: "Tangled Up in
Blue" (an electric, garage-rock version with lap slid guitar from Bucky
Baxter), "Positively 4th Street" (a kiss-off song non pareil), "Mr.
Tambourine Man" (an all-acoustic version with upright bass from Tony
Garnier) and a stirring "Masters of War."

Dylan had butchered that song on the Grammy awards a few years ago with
incomprehensible lyrics, but he redeemed himself this time. The song attacks
rich old men who send the young to die on the battlefield. As the crowd
roared, Dylan charismatically snapped off these central lines, which still
ring in the ears of those who vigorously opposed the Vietnam War: "All the
money you made will never buy back your soul ... I'll stand o'er your grave
'til I'm sure that you're dead."

Dylan wasn't through. He and guitartist John Jackson, both dressed in
elegant black Western wear as though they'd just left a poker game in 1850,
rocked though "God Knows" and "I and I" (from the "Infidels album). They
finished with a liberating romp through "Maggie's Farm," which the Grateful
Dead had done so amazingly at their first Boston Garden show last week.

Dylan's encores also raised goosebumps. He tore through "Ballad of a Thin
Man" (with dreadlocked drummer Winston Watson stoking the beat) and a
slightly modified, but exhalted "It Ain't Me, babe," capped by a mouth harp
solo that was the final, rejuvenating touch before Dylan disappeared during
yet another standing ovation. He again didn't say a word to the crowd, but
who cares as long as he keeps playing like this.

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