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Bob Dylan 950629 at Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway


CD: Salt for Salt.
Date:    Fri, 30 Jun 1995 10:05:11 GMT
From:    Pål Runde (pal.runde@FYS.UIO.NO)
Subject: Oslo spektrum, June 29.

About 6000 showed up to see and hear Dylan in Oslo Spektrum last night:

Setlist: (this is not 100% correct, only what I remember)

Down in the flood
The man in me
All along the watchtower
Just like a woman
You're a big girl now
Silvio
Tangled up in blue (a)
Masters of war (a)
Don't think twice it's all right (a)
Memphis blues again
I and I
Higway 61
Ballad of a thin man
It aint me babe (a)
Rainy day woman


This was my sixth Dylan show and probably the best I've been to.
His voice was better that ever, he played the electric guitar like I
have never seen before.


More details will follow later  . . . .

Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 10:33:30 GMT From: Jens Bloch Helmers (helm@DHOW.VR.DNV.NO) Subject: Setlist: Oslo 95/06/29 Bob Dylan and his team came to Oslo two days before the show. Like most stars he stayed at Grand Hotel which is located in the very center of Oslo. As usual Bob kept a very low profile before the concert. No reports on seeing Bob on the streets.... There were no warm-up bands for the opening of Dylan's summer European tour in Spectrum June 29. 1995. Bob and his gang started the show at 19.40 without any trace of jet-lag. His voice was clear and *excellent* from the very first moment. Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood) The man in me All Along The Watchtower Just Like a Woman You're a big girl now Silvio ------------------------- (ac) Tangled up in blue (ac) Masters of war Bob without guitar, marvelous performance!!! (ac) Don't think twice ------------------------- Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again I and I Highway 61 Revisited ------------------------- Ballad Of A Thin Man (ac) It Ain't Me, Babe Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 --- (Finished at 21.40) The first half including the acoustic set was brilliant!!! No mumbling from Bob. He was really into it. He enjoyed playing a lot of solos both on guitars and harmonica. The only song that I think he lost control was on "Stuck Inside...". IMHO the highlights from this show are The Man in me, Just like a woman, Big girl, Silvio, tangled, masters, I&I, 12&35... A lot of highlights :-) No Bob talk except introducing the band and "Thank youu" after the songs. Today the front page of the largest Norwegian Newspaper (Verdens Gang) said: "Genius Dylan - dice score = 6" Hope somebody made a good tape of this show.... Jens
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 14:07:13 GMT From: Sven Erick Alm (sea@BELLATRIX.TDB.UU.SE) Subject: SETLIST: Oslo June 29, 1995 Bob opened his Summer European Tour yesterday in the lovely capitol of Norway on a beautiful Scandinavian summer evening. The concert was held indoors in the Spektrum arena, with about 5000 enthusiastic fans in the audience. Here is what we got: 1 Down in the Flood 2 The Man in Me 3 Watchtower 4 Just Like a Woman 5 You're a Big Girl Now 6 Silvio 7 Tangled up in Blue (A) 8 Masters of War (A) 9 Don't Think Twice (A) 10 Stuck Inside of Mobile 11 I and I 12 Highway 61 Revisited Encores: 13 Ballad of a Thin Man 14 It Ain't Me Babe (A) 15 Rainy Day Women #12&35 Those who have not seen Bob since his last visit to Norway in 1991 and has not listened to a lot of recent tapes (and those were of course a majority in the audience) loved the show. I have rarely, if ever, seen a more enthusiastic crowd on a Dylan concert. Personally, I was very disappointed with the song selection. I saw the setlist after the show, but I don't have access to it right now (Karl Erik will post it when he gets back to Mo i Rana), and it seems that on every occasion where there was a choice, he made the "wrong" decision! He left out: Drifter's Escape, Man in the Long Black Coat, Obviously 5 Believers, Never Gonna Be the Same Again, Every Grain of Sand, etc. Not to sound too negative, let me mention that the sound was excellent, Bob's voice was clear, he seemed in a very good mood, his harmonica playing great, the handheld mike has certainly improved his harmonica playing a great deal. On the negative side, I found a lot of the guitar solos very "long" and quite uninteresting, if not pointless. I wouldn't mind Bob using handheld mike also in some of the electric songs, like he did earlier this year! Another minor remark, is that the sound, although very good, was in some kind of "stereo" that made it very important where you were sitting. From my place, Bucky Baxter was hardly audible in the electric songs, whereas some friends on the other side of the arena heard him clearly. This also makes taping a bit of a gamble. I hope to get a tape soon that hopefully will add to what I heard live. If Bob keeps this standard, and improves the song selection somewhat, we are in for a new great tour, perhaps even better than last year's. If he comes to a place near you, don't miss the opportunity to see him! Sven Erick PS Talking of "near you", Karl Erik travelled over 1000 km just to get from his home to Oslo yesterday! Compared to that, this means that wherever you live in Europe, he will play "near you". DS
From: Karl.Erik.Andersen@nbr.no Subject: Oslo 950629 setlist - not what was played Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 21:23:19 I sat a few rows behind the soundboard, and through my binoculars I could read: DOWN IN THE FLOOD DRIFTER'S ESCAPE MAN IN ME / LONG BLACK COAT WATCHTOWER WOMAN 4TH ST / UNBELIEVABLE / BIG GIRL --- TANGLED DON'T THINK TWICE --- MEMPHIS NEVER GONNA BE THE SAME IN THE GARDEN / EVERY GRAIN HIGHWAY 61 / 5 BELIEVERS --- MR. JONES AIN'T ME BABE As you have seen from other postings, he played only 11 of these, leaving out Drifter, Never Gonna.., Garden/Every Grain. He added Silvio, Masters Of War, I and I, and gave us RDW12&35 at the end. It was the best Dylan show I have ever seen!!! When I see my next one that will double my attendance... I have no complaints about what I heard, although I was sorry not to hear Man in The Long Black Coat and Every Grain Of Sand, when they were so close to being sung. I think Highway 61 really rocked. There were some unusual guitar notes at the end of Just Like A Woman, probably never tried before and never to be repeated. The experts (Olof and Gøran) liked Masters Of War. One Oslo paper (VG) has been quoted: "Genius Dylan - dice score = 6". The competition, Dagbladet said: "Dylan can do so much better. This was disappointing". Stumbling, uninspired and unstructured were other words they used. (His Roskilde show was much better, they said today.) I was very happy and honoured to meet both Olof Bj¿rner, Sven Erick Alm and Niklas Sidmar, all people who have contributed to my slowly growing knowledge of Dylan's music, either by postings or by helping me get tapes. Please tell me of all tapes made of this concert! I want to hear it in every version in existence, especially since Sven Erick says the sound varied throughout the Spektrum. I made another acquintance, Anne of the Rust (Neil Young) list was kind enough to join me for this our first meeting with Bob. She was even more interesting in real life than by E-mail, and we extended out hypervirtual friendship by talking over a beer so long that we missed the last subway trains. I hope her taxi was not as expensive as mine... Karl Erik PS It was up early the next morning, and on the train to Stockholm, where I changed to the night train going up north in Sweden. At Lycksele I arrived after 21 hours on trains and 4 hours waiting inbetween, and spent the weekend watching my son Greg (10) and his friends play football. They ended up as no 2 out of 7 teams, which was way beyond anybody's expectations. DS
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 13:17:52 GMT From: riilai@SARA.CC.UTU.FI Subject: Oslo, Dylan and Me Hello, I'm back from my summer holiday (one week!!!). The best part of the holiday was of course Dylan's concert in Oslo. I Haven't yet read what others have written about it, or the concerts after it, I only have time to write my own review of it today. Tomorrow I'll go back to what anyone else has written. I left to Oslo inspired by the reviews of Dylan's recent concerts in this newsgroup. And I wasn't disappointed, it was worth the trip and the money (nearly half of a months salary). The only negative thing about my trip to Oslo was that I didn't meet the other rmd'rs that I was supposed to. I got stuck in traffic coming from the airport and was at the venue quite late. My place at the Spectrum was quite high on the side. I could see Dylan, almost straight from profile only, too far to see his face at all. But it didn't matter. The first song went by with me just wondering the fact that I was actually there. Then the concert got going. I loved Man in Me. Watchtower was totally amazing, really rocking. And, in my opinion, on that the band and dylan seemed to work as one. Everything just seemed to be in the right place, and it sounded new. A lot of the songs were like that. Watchtower was one of the best and most powerful. I was amazed to read in the next day's Arbeiderbladet's review that "musicians had at times difficulties following Dylan's thoughts, and then it didn't swing so well." Maybe he was in a different place, or either me or him is deaf. I loved the electric stuff. One high point definately was Silvio. I've always liked the song, heard a couple of live performances of it but never anything like this. Absolutely the best kind of rock'n'roll!!!!!! As said, I prefered the electric parts of the concert, because it was such good rock'n'roll. But on the acoustic set was Masters of War which was totally amazing. The singing was unbelievable as was the harmonica on it and on the song before it. Don't Think Twice after Masters suffered a bit of the great performance, anything after Masters would have sounded a bit flat. ( Though a reviewer on Dagbladet wrote that Tangled up in Blue and Don't Think Twice were the high points of the concert. Another person with a different kind set of ears...) After the acoustic set a group of people ran in front of the stage, and suddenly everybody seemed to follow them. My first thought was: Oh shit, why am I so high up. The next thing: I'm glimbing over an empty seat, stepping on the toes of some annoyed lookin middle aged women who aren't civil enough to get up and give way to us more enthusiastic. Total concentration for the music was gone. Some of it went to dodging all the pushing and shoving, and streching my neck in all possible angles to see Dylan, and some of course into watching Dylan (as I really didn't see him from my seat). It was worth it, the neckpain and all. I saw Dylan wiggle, sway and swing. Who ever said Dylan just stands and sings, hasn't relly seen him ROCK!!! I&I was good, can't remember any other songs. Encores were great, and it was great to be in such an enthusiastic growd. To sum it up: I heard some best rock music I have ever heard live!! I heard Dylan sing beautifully, and in so many different ways!! I saw Dylan without a guitar!! I saw Dylan really swing it!! And one more thing. I all sounded so NEW and fresh. Like Dylan and the band had been kept in a cage for months and not allowed to play and the just let loose on the stage!! Where does this incredible energy come from??? But now, work calls, till later Riitta
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 20:14:35 +0200 From: "John G. Jensen" (johngj@OSLONETT.NO) Subject: Re: Oslo, Dylan and Me The concert in Oslo was a great one, i have been to 6 concerts with Dylan, but the Oslo-concert was the best! I had a seat on the 17 row, but after a while most of the people at the floor level got up and went forward. I guess i was 7-10 meters from Dylan, and could clearly see his face\expressions etc. Those who says that he has a "stone" face - expressionless etc, just got it wrong. I discovered that he has a lot of humour, and it was obvious that he and the band enjoyed that the crowd went a little bananas. He even said "thank you" 3 times i believe, he also threw kisses to the audience, and through the rocky parts of the show he "wiggled and waggled" and was obviously having a good time. Posing etc. There was a article in the newspaper "Dagbladet", where several Norwegians who have known Dylan talked about him. Among them a Director of "The Henie Onstad senter"(A modern museum) who had known him when Dylan used to roam among the people in the "Factory" Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, etc. When he met Dylan in Norway some years ago, Dylan was paranoid and nervous, this was just after the killing of Lennon. They talked about old friends, and Dylan later sent him some postcards etc. A Norwegian Diplomat! in New York (i believe New York Un or something?) went to a particular art class which Dylan attended. (paintings, drawings etc) this was around the creation of "Blood on the tracks" and the Diplomat (a woman) remembered that Dylan like the colour blue and used it a lot. The teacher of the class said(she said!!!) You are tangled up in blue! (something like that!) (Interesting huh?) Most interesting was though the interiew with the wife of the arranger of the concert at "Kalvoeya" - a small island outside Oslo - a concert he held some years ago. He invited her and her two children to dinner and he was very concerned that the children had enough "soda" (is that the right word?) She said that he was really a nice man, innteligent, with a sense of humour etc. He allegedly said, that "Kalvoeya" was the nicest place he had been to, what he really did mean by that who knows? Its a small beautiful Island, it was summer, really summer, sun no clouds, perhaps he meant that it was a really nice place to have a concert on.! A another interview in the same article was by two men had waited for Dylan in the bar of the hotel where he had stayed, this was the year after the concert mentioned before, this concert was at the same place!, he came and they bought him drinks and talked for several hours, he was very open, and they talked about politics (he didnt like Reagan very much), his music, and had a good time. (imagine being there!) Some people later said that he was drunk at the concert but he wasn't drunk when he left the bar! This was a long posting, but i thought that i should write something from the Oslo concert that the others who have been writing didnt. if i remembered something wrong from the article, excuse me! The concert was so great, i had to take the day of from work next day and spent the day with my 15 month old son playing Dylan songs and having it nice. May all your wishes come through And may you always Stay forever young
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 1995 15:34:40 +0200 From: Hallvard Oestrem (hostrem@OSLONETT.NO) Subject: Re: SETLIST: Oslo June 29, 1995 In article (3t7nn9$ahl@ankh.iia.org), Keith Levenberg wrote: > > Sven Erick Alm (sea@bellatrix.tdb.uu.se) wrote: > : Personally, I was very disappointed with the song selection. > : I saw the setlist after the show, but I don't have access to it right now > : (Karl Erik will post it when he gets back to Mo i Rana), and it seems that > : on every occasion where there was a choice, he made the "wrong" decision! > > : He left out: Drifter's Escape, Man in the Long Black Coat, Obviously 5 > : Believers, Never Gonna Be the Same Again, Every Grain of Sand, etc. > > Just because Mr. Dylan did not play the songs that happen to be /your/ > favourites does not mean that his setlist was poor or that he had made > "wrong" decisions. > > I'm sure most people would disagree with your assessment that he made > poor choices in what songs to play. > I agree. There are a lot of songs I would have liked him to do in Oslo, but it really doesn't matter much when he is as good as he was. But then again, I think the reportoire was quite OK after all. I've heard him play most of the songs live before, but feel that he is more than capable of renewing them. I've almost never seen him as good as this, "almost" because the second of two concerts in Circus, Stockholm in 1992 for me may have been the optimal Dylan-concert - maybe... One of the things that fascinated me the most this time, from my seat on third row, was his switching of personalities. At first, shy and somewhat clumsy, hiding his face in shadow. Then, after a crowd have gathered in front of the stage, obviously encouraged, he lifted his face enough to let us see him. From my POV, the shyness was replaced by overwhelming masterliness. His fumbling guitar-solos became a lot more potent, and he sang even better than he did at first. He was prancing on the stage, hanging in the balance - from Oslo to the Milky Way, that's a lot of territory indeed... I've never seen him as "flirtatious" as this, and I've never had the privilege to really see his wolfe-like glares at us which stirs you up just like the glare of any wolf. He really is a great performer, highly capable of touching his audience when he allows himself to let all this energy out. I found the whole thing to be magical, which was a lot more than I dared expect. So why groan and pick on the setlist? By the way, I haven't seen anyone report Dylans jokes when he introduced Jackson. He told us he really would have had Eric Clapton on guitar, but that he was too expensive. Then he presented Jackson and added that he wouldn't tell how old he is... After the concert Dylan and his people sat a few hours on a sidewalk restaurant on Oslos main street, Karl Johan, at the corner of Grand. Dylan may have been aware of the fact that this restaurant was one of the cafes that artists like Ibsen and Munch used to frequent a long time ago. Norwegian newspaper VG reported that he was left quite undisturbed and was the last to leave the restaurant after being told by the waiter the restaurant was closed. "Something is happening here, but you don't know what it is. Do you Mr. Jones?"
Dates 1995
Tour