See copyright notice at
 http://www.expectingrain.com/dok/div/copyright.html

Bob Dylan 980615 in Rotterdam, Holland


Subject: June 15, 1998 - Rotterdam, Holland - a review
From: Carsten Wohlfeld (happyjaq@confetti.ruhr.de)
Date: 16 Jun 1998 03:53:00 +0100

          Bob Dylan
          Rotterdam, Holland, June 15, 1998
          Ahoy
          A Review By Carsten Wohlfeld

I guess we all knew that a double headlining show in a huge venue like the  
Ahoy (a sellout with close to 10.000 attending) would be sort of a letdown  
after the fantastic show in Bremen, but it was still a solid set. Van  
Morrison came out first at 8.00pm, fortunately without Brian Kennedy! We  
did a 85 minute set, well paced, started out with a few very jazzy songs,  
"That's Life", then a few of his own '90s song plus some well received  
classics like "Cleaning Windows", "Vanlose Stairway/Trans Euro Train", my  
personal favourite "Tupelo Honey" and a sweet "Summertime In England" as  
the only encore. Only twenty minutes after Van left, at 9.50pm, Bob took  
to the stage, starting again with:

>         Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat

Better version than last night, much better sound right from the start and  
Larry discovered a fine little riff I never heard him do before as well.

>         You Ain't Goin' Nowhere

A surprise so early in the set, nicely done, great singalong with the a- 
capella ending being the highlight - of course!

>         Cold Irons Bound

Very hard and edgy, but very powerful too. Hasn't changed all that much  
during this tour. Always solid.

>         Just Like A Woman

Well, it wasn't half as good as the "Rock Am Ring" version, even though  
Bob saved the song after a falt start with a killer last verse. The  
phrasing was just too cool! You'll love it once you get the tapes!

>         Silvio

Rocked a usual. Still everybody in the venue was in their seats due to the  
very, very tight security on the floor.

>         Desolation Row (acoustic)

Bob didn't plug in his guitar properly, which didn't improve the  
performance of this song. A great choice of course, even though this  
version was sort of a letdown because it only featured six verses as  
opposed to seven earlier this year ("Orphelia" was missing) and it didn't  
feature the "Neptune" verse either that had made it's comeback in Sweden  
last week.

>         The Times They Are A-Changin' (acoustic)

Well, one more greatest hit for the Van crowd. Solid performance without  
any major high- or lowpoints. I expected him to play harp on this one,  
especially since Van had played more harp than usual during his set, but  
Bob didn't even came close to playing harmonica all evening. Bucky, who  
had played his hand-held steel guitar for "Desolation" moved back to the  
pedal steel for this song. I assume technical difficulties have bee the  
reason for that.

>         Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)

Yet another new substitute for the "lucky just to be employed" line. When  
he first did it, I thought he just had forgotten the words, but now it  
seems to be his special joke of the evening to invent new lines... The  
usual jam-o-rama with Bob hopping around the stage (something he did at  
every European show I've seen this year).

>         Can't Wait

Solid. Without the minor mistakes that had occured in Bremen, but still  
not reaching it's alltime high from the Miami Beach shows in March.

>         Make You Feel My Love

Yet again. Nicely done, beautifully sung, with alot of emotion. Bob's  
singing was quite good all evening actually, only the lack of surprises in  
the setlist made this show a somewhat dull experience. Band intros  
followed. Bob sounded as if he was in a hurry, even only mentioned the  
mandolin for Bucky even though Mr. Baxter played pedal steel on about 12  
songs as usual. Strange.

>         Highway 61 Revisited

As I mentioned before, there was no stage rush during "Tangled" due to the  
tight security, but Bob wanted to have the people on the fllor right under  
his nose, so he took this songs, to heights it normally never reaches. He  
and Larry played som e very, very hot endless solos and the only stopped  
as everybody in the venue was basically standing on their seats. I can't  
believe I'm gonna say this, but "Highway" was by far the highlight of the  
show. Oh my god, I really said that!

>         (encores)
>         It Ain't Me Babe (acoustic)

Another solid performance, much appreciated by the crowd.

>         Love Sick

Was actually very nice, featured a somewhat drawn-out ending that I  
thought sounded pretty cool. Can't do much wrong with a song like this.

>         Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35

Yup, this one as well, and even though they tried hard, it's still no  
"Wiggle Wiggle". :-) 90 solid minutes, no surprises, no duets, no  
"Blowin'" - that was it.

Thanks to Henk for getting me tickets. See you in Essen at my hopefully  
very special hometown show!

Carsten Wohlfeld
--
"what once you called home is a minefield" (damon & naomi)

June 1998 Setlists Tour