Updated 950414 at 1252 CET

Bob Dylan Tour Reports, April 95

The tour schedule.


Sun April 2: Birmingham, England



Mon April 3: Manchester, England

Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 09:50:07 GMT From: chris Firth (C.D.Firth@SHEF.AC.UK) Subject: MANCHESTER LABATTS APOLLO 3rd APRIL - CHRIS FIRTH Manchester Labatts Apollo 3rd April Against a backdrop of ardwick and moss-side This is not a venue at the cosy end of town A converted cinema with the seats ripped out for a standing with Seating in the balcony only. No support act 'great' (who wants to stand through the support act Even if it might have been elvis costello) 'Columbia presents Bob Dylan' Lights up and a rock show starts This is one of the best shows iv'e seen for some time And i started at the isle of wight. The truly beautiful melodies and reworked rock numbers bring A freshness to the songs and are the key to the success of this show. He held the captivated audience throughout Several songs with microphone only (left hand floats in space) Highlights for me were 'Gates Of Eden', 'It Ain't Me Babe', 'Boots of Spanish Leather', 'Tambourine Man', 'Man in a Long Black Coat'. Excellent lighting pass it on someone. With the band on form he's starting to look interesting again. All we need now is the danger in the songs. This time round the danger came from the venue Great rock show and great venue Well done bob thoroughly enjoyed it. Chris Firth. (CAPS LOCK converted by KEA. Couldn't read it otherwise. OK?)
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 13:14:52 GMT From: Craig Jamieson (rcj10@CUS.CAM.AC.UK Subject: Re: MANCHESTER LABATTS APOLLO 3rd APRIL - CHRIS FIRTH chris Firth (C.D.Firth@shef.ac.uk) wrote: : MANCHESTER LABATTS APOLLO 3rd APRIL : AGAINST A BACKDROP OF ARDWICK AND MOSS-SIDE : THIS IS NOT A VENUE AT THE COSY END OF TOWN : A CONVERTED CINEMA WITH THE SEATS RIPPED OUT FOR A STANDING WITH : SEATING IN THE BALCONY ONLY... Usually CAPS LOCK on UseNet News is interpretted as meaning shouting and usually the poster includes a lot of swearwords and general signs of dementia. For once someone is SHOUTING with good cause. I weakened and downed tools and attended Manchester's wild side on Wednesday evening. In time I will post on that but for the minute too much needs catching up. I can picture Chris standing on his chair at Sheffield Academic Computing Services, shouting madly at his screen as he types. Are we getting something across to people I wonder? [stands on chair in silent Cambridge library] NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO MISS A BOB DYLAN CONCERT. No one is in a position to say how long this level of performance can last, I hope it never fades, but the realistic among us are abandoning longstanding commitments with weak excuses and travelling some distances. Nobody has been fired or failed so far (though I left Ben Taylor in the early hours of Thursday morning outside a rather rough Irish pub near the venue mumbling about what a commitment to exam revision he was NOW going to make...) EDLIS has thought of grading Dylan performances with a mileage chart, a 10 would mean worth travelling 10 kilometres, 100 would be 100 kilometre radius, etc etc etc. A sort of guarantee of reward for effort. Ben Ryan was there Wednesday. He travelled from Hobart Tasmania. He found Mr Dylan amply rewarded him for his effort. My guess would be that gives us about a 15,000 kilometre rating. Anyone got a precise Hobart to Manchester distance so we can make this accurate? :-) Craig
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 1995 10:23:47 BST From: david lindsey (dfl1@UNIX.YORK.AC.UK) Subject: best audience recording ? I would like to put in another claim for best audience recording ever. Only last week end I recieved a tape of Manchester 3-4-1995. The sound quality is quite outstanding even in these days of considerable technical achievement. I was at that concert so I know how noisy the Manchester crowd were, but this recording sounds as though the taper was standing right next to Bob on the stage. Who are these unsung heroes ?? And how does Bucky do that thing on memphis blues, so his steel guitar sounds just like a hammond organ ? Anybody else noticed that ? Anyway to whoever he (or she) is, that manchester tape is the best ever..... bar none, all other audience recordings pale beside it, cheers dave.

Tue April 4: Manchester, England

Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 12:26:02 GMT From: S Harrison (online@DAY-POST.MAIL.U-NET.COM) Subject: Manchester, April 4 Labatts Apollo, Manchester, Tuesday April 4: Down in the Flood; I Want You; Watchtower; Simple Twist of Fate; Most Likely You Go Your Way; Shooting Star; Tambourine Man; Masters of War; One Too Many Mornings; Dignity; I and I; I Remember You; Like a Rolling Stone; Times They Are...; Highway 61. Sadly I didn't get to attend this one, so I can't give any more details, but a friend who went described it as the best Dylan gig he's been to (and he's seen a couple of dozen in the '80s and '90s). - Steve
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 12:56:27 GMT From: Stopford Building (super@FS2.SCG.MAN.AC.UK) Subject: Manchester 4th April gig Set list: Down in the Flood I Want you All along the watchtower Shooting Star Most Likely you'll go your way Simple twist of fate Tambourine man Masters of war One too many mornings Dignity I&I I'll remember you end 1st encore - Rolling stone 2nd encore - Times they are a changin' 3rd encore - Highway 61 Bob was absolutely superb! This was the best Dylan performance I've seen Since '66.His voice was perfect. No problems at all. Good articulation, no mumbles, no long drawls. And no monotone stretching of tunes with crazy ups and downs at the end of lines. Here was a man completely in charge of his band, his audience and himself. The arrangements to TAMBOURINE MAN, MASTERS,TWIST OF FATE were magnificent. THE BEST EVER. I envy all of you who are yet to see him on this tour! BOB IS DEFINITELY BACK. WONDERFUL.
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 15:12:48 GMT From: Kevin FLETCHER (KEVIN.FLETCHER@MAN.AC.UK) Subject: Re: Manchester 4th April gig This was my posting. Sorry for wrong use of name etc. still new to this! Interesting choice of songs for Manchester - Most likely you'll go your way with the line "the judge he hold a grudge, watch out he don't call on you" and "I'll remember you" in the light of the last time he came to Manchester and the "Judas" call. Does he still remember/forgive the Manchester audience? Has he sung these songs at other recent dates this tour? especially at the same venue? Kev.

Wed April 5: Manchester, England

Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 14:06:58 BST From: david lindsey (dfl1@UNIX.YORK.AC.UK) Subject: the continuing tour of england. wednesday. april 5th. manchester. set list. down in the flood if not for you watchtower queen jane watching the river flow heaven's door tambourine man boots of spanish leather hard rain tombstone blues she belongs to me rainy day women thin man my back pages maggies farm I suppose most of your correspondents are still out on the road, chasing Bob around england. I have been disappointed by the lack of reports about recent concerts, but maybe most people, like me, write from terminals at work rather than home. Anyway I went to two shows this week in manchester. Standing downstairs does give you the opportunity to get a really good view if you are prepared to queue for long enough. On both nights I was within 3 feet of the stage, dead centre. There was no support band, Dylan came straight on at 8.10 p.m. and the shows finished round about 10 p.m. I've never had a better view of a show and let me say straight away that both nights were really terrific. Dylan is in complete command of the band and his material, singing with real conviction, not wrecking songs by taking them at breakneck pace but letting the lyrics work, using his full voice. It does appear that he's thinking about what he's singing unlike 4 years ago. But the shows were better than hammersmith 93 certainly the shows I saw. Over the last year Dylan seems to have re-discovered his singing voice and re-thought his material. He is looking fine, older certainly, but not alcohol flabby and his eyes are bright. You need to be close to see this because he is rarely fully lit from the front, still performing in relative gloom and standing back under the various colours. On wednesday we also got Bob the axeman. Suddenly he wanted to be a guitar hero, playing lead equally with Jackson, long solos completely self absorbed, eyes down searching for a riff, playing over 5 or 6 notes again and again. So what's the problem ?? Well nothing really, like I said they were great shows. Maybe I'd always felt that those people lucky enough to get right to the front saw something extra something special that the rest of us were denied. Now I know that isn't so. For the whole two hours he was completely impassive, a couple of 'thank you everybody's, introduce the band at the end and that was it. Perhaps I shouldn't trade tapes and read this digest. Then each tour every two years or so would be a fresh experience. I wouldn't have been expecting the hand held mike, the slowed down mr. tambourine man, the dobro and mandolin, the arrangement of watchtower, down in the flood would be staggering. But that's not what happens. I read and listen and trade so for two hours I'm briefly in the same hall with this individual whose music means so much to me, and what do I want ?? Maybe some acknowledgement that would separate this show from the 2 hundred before it and the hundreds to come. I wonder what Bob thinks about his audiences, does he think about them, is he enjoying himself ?? So many unanswered questions. And being right on the front row twice last week brought me no nearer to answering them. david lindsey

Thu April 6: Edinburgh, Scotland

Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 10:09:41 GMT From: Des O'Brien (dob@CEE.HW.AC.UK) Subject: Edinburgh 6.4.95 Setlist 06.04.95: 1. Crash on the levee 2. What was it you wanted? 3. Watchtower 4. Disease of conceit 5. Stuck inside of mobile... 6. Simple twist of fate 7. Mr. Tambourine Man 8. Masters of war 9. It's all over now baby blue 10. God knows 11. Lenny Bruce 12. Jokerman ----------------------- 13. Like a rolling stone 14. It ain't me babe Duration: 105 minutes gross, or 7 quarters of an hour for our friends in the Dutch press :-) Overall, a very enjoyable concert even if it did take Bob a little bit to get fully warmed up, however since this was my first show in almost two years I don't have the comparison of recent shows to go on. For the curious, he played guitar on 3-6 and 9-14, harmonica only on the others except for 14 where we got both (but not at the same time!). I have to agree with what people have been saying about Bob's guitarless mannerisms - for the first song Bob looked like a chronic myopic searching for his misplaced spectacles:-) Leads were being taken more and more by Bob as the show progressed - has this been usual of late? Highlights for me were the duel with JJ at the end of Mobile, Lenny Bruce (I think he got through it all, but am open to correction), a wonderfully eardrum-challenging God Knows, a very well done What Was It..., and even Disease sounded refreshing. Oh yes, Simple Twist was great too with its marvellously effective understated singing. LARS didn't do a whole lot for me and the acoustic numbers were pretty standard fare. To summarize, it was fantastically enjoyable and I'm looking forward to more of the same tonight. I won't be posting on tonight's show though, as I'm away tomorrow for a fortnight (happily coinciding with the tour close in Dublin next week!), but with luck I may manage to scrounge some net access from someone. There were no flowers in evidence (except my own which fell off on the way in), but I'll still keep my eyes peeled tonight. Phew - my first rmd concert report: I hope it was at least readable. Des
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 13:12:00 GMT From: David Cooper (dcoopera@CIX.COMPULINK.CO.UK) Subject: Edinburgh 6.4.95 Set list see last but one message. View from the front row...Dylan looking O.K, sounding fantastic. Wearing the blue satin shirt over a white t-shirt, and black waistcoat, sweating profusely after an hour, and black trousers with the stripe and buttons up the sides, and black cuban heels. Said nothing, other than introduced the band before the second encore. seemed to acknowledge someone seating (standing by this time, but this is the only all seater of the U.K. tour) four along from me. The highlights for me were All over now Baby Blue, and Tambourine Man, but mainly watching the concert with no-one between me and him.

Fri April 7: Edinburgh, Scotland



Sun April 9: Glasgow, Scotland

Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 14:04:55 GMT From: Rod Purcell (100344.2160@COMPUSERVE.COM) Subject: Glasgow 9 April '95 Bob and the band rolled into the Scottish Exhibition Centre on Sunday night on the back of two highly successful gigs in Edinburgh. The venue is a soulless hangar type place but small enough to feel intimate if the show is good. From the opening bars of Down in the Flood it was clear that this was going to be some night. The bad was tight, Bob was in an audience friendly mood and well in the groove. His signing, despite the chatter about his voice, was strong and clear with a full range. The growls were there as well as gentle and tender moments. The mini acoustic set was stunning; Mr Tambourine Man, Boots of Spanish Leather and Baby Blue. The second number was a new [to me anyway] version of Lay Lady Lay. A tender rendition of Shelter from the Storm and a hard rocking versions of Watchtower, Everything is Broken and Tombstone Blues showed the range and power of his delivery. The highlight of the show must was Lenny Bruce - you could feel the emotion flowing from Bob through the audience. After Rolling Stone as the first encore, My Back Pages was a fitting and triumphal climax to the gig, followed by the Bob and everyone agreeing that they 'must get stoned' as he played out with Rainy Day Women.

Mon April 10: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Date: Tue, 25 Apr 1995 10:25:40 EDT From: J.Knowles@queens-belfast.ac.uk To: karl.erik.andersen@nbr.no Subject: Belfast set list Here's the set list for Belfast (from memory): Down in the Flood I want you All along the watchtower Just like a woman Silvio What good am I? Tambourine Man Boots of Sp. leather Don't Think Twice God knows Ring them Bells Highway 61 Rolling Stone Times they are a changin Rainy day women The acoustic set, Just like a woman & Ring them bells were especially strong (the final verse repeated). What good am I? also - I'm not sure if it's been performed on this tour - the second verse was missed & lines repeated. Times they are a changin also gained an added resonance in Belfast. There was an emotional range - & a vunerability - in this concert that I haven't encountered in other Dylan concerts.

Tue April 11 Dublin, Southern Ireland

Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 12:57:29 GMT From: Dennis Clarke (eeidce@EEI.ERICSSON.SE) Subject: DUBLIN 11th APRIL SETLIST 1. Crash on the Levee (Dylan sans Guitar) 2. Where Teardrops Fall 3. All Along the Watchtower 4. Just Like a Woman 5. Tombstone Blues 6. Ring Them Bells 7. Mr Tamborine Man (Dylan sans Guitar) 8. Boots of Spanish Leather (Dylan sans Guitar) 9. Love Minus Zero/No Limit (Dylan sans Guitar) 10. Highway 61 11. In the Garden 12. Ballad of a Thin Man 13. Like a Rolling Stone (Carole King on Keyboards) 14. Times They are a-changin' 15. Real Real Gone (with Van Morrison) 16. I Shall Be Released (with Carole King, Van and Elvis Costello) 17. Rainy Day Woman (Elvis Costello) BOB was brilliant. I've seen him 4 times and this was the best. He played for 1 hour 45 minutes. He was in good form. Great show, very positive reaction all round. Dennis
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1995 10:53:23 BST From: Colm (oriordan_w@CSVAX1.UCC.IE) Subject: Set list for Dublin, april 11 Set list for Dublin concert april 11 ( i haven't seen it posted, if it has then I'm sorry for wasting bandwidth) 1) Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood) 2) Where teardrops fall 3) All along the watchtower 4) Just like a woman 5) Tombstone blues 6) Ring them bells 7) Tambourine Man (A) 8) Boots of spanish leather (A) 9) Love minus zero / No-limit (A) 10) Ballad of a thin man 11) In the garden 12) highway61 revisited ------------------------------------------------------------------- 13) The times, they are a changin' (first encore) 14) Like a rolling stone 15) Real Real Gone ( duet with Van Morrison) (2nd encore) 16) Rainy Day Nos ( with Van Morrison) (3rd encore) 17) I shall be released (with Elvis Costello and Van Morrison) (4th) This is all from memory. I could be mixed up with the positions of 10) and 12) and 13) and 14). Carole Kind (sp?) came on stage too for the second electric set on. On the final number Van Morrison played harmonica, while Elvis Costello and Dylan did every second line. All joined in for the chorus. This was only my second Dylan concert so i can't really compare it to many others...but it was way beyond my expectations. The recent reviews of all the concerts were very positive, but this was absolutely amazing, imho. Dylan came on just before 9:15 and played until after 11:00. Highlights for me were Ring them bells, acoustic set, and the final encores. Most the tracks were excellent really, except the opener, where I could hardly hear Dylan above the band. But after that the mix was excellent. All the reviews, that i read in the local papers were extremely positive as well. Elvis Costello played support (45 mins). Most of the tracks were new (to me anyway). The only three i recognised were Indoor Fireworks, Shipbuilding and Tramp the dirt down as the encore. Btw, if anybody has a tape of this, I would be very interested in trading. Take care, Colm. ------------------------------
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 22:38:49 +0000 From: Matthew Hudson (matt@MJHSERVE.DEMON.CO.UK) Subject: Re: what would you say? I was buying some cigarettes at Heathrow Airport, heading for New York. When I was paying, I was looking for change and the cashier started serving the person behind me....when that person began to speak I couldn't believe it! Bob was standing right next to me. I didn't know what to say so I didn't say anything. As it turned out he was on the same flight and he was just sitting there in the departure lounge. Even with time to think, I didn't know what to say!! ___________ Matt Hudson matt@mjhserve.demon.co.uk
ray@rothley.win-uk.net (Ray Webster) wrote: Dublin 11 April 95 Yes, I saw the show (***** rating) from the first row standing directly opposite Carole King who was playing keyboard stage right for the final encore. She definitely did not fall off the front of the stage, in fact she was escorted off by Dylan who had already taken his bows and was almost off stage when he appeared to remember that he had left her behind. Bob came back, put his arm around Carole's shoulders and they walked off together. Although I didn't see it I heard later from a crew member that she had stumbled off the back of the stage, which was just as high as the front, causing a serious injury to her arm. Ray Andreas Wohlfeld (wocket@supersonic.ruhr.de) writes:  > >> Probably not Moe - since she fell off the back of the stage after the show >> and had to be taken to the local hospital with a suspected fractured arm. >> Bob is reported to have visited her there the next day. >> >> Ray >> > >Funnily enough, the New Musical Express reported sometime in early May, >that King fell off stage DURING the show, when Dylan tried to throw his >arms around her in a show of affection... Is there any thruth to this >story. Did anyone on rmd see the Dublin gig in person????