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Bob Dylan 2000.03.08 in Stuttgart


From:   mail@carstenwohlfeld.de (Carsten Wohlfeld)
To: Billp61@earth.execpc.com
Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 01:12:41 +0200
Subject: stuttgart review
CC: Karlerik@monet.no

	Bob Dylan
Stuttgart, Germany, May 8, 2000
	Hanns Martin Schleyerhalle
	A Review By Carsten Wohlfeld

After spending a lovely (and very sunny) day at Lake Constance, doing
all the thing you tend to do on a day off, like getting drunk and watching
the ãHard Rainä video...) Gunter and I drove off to Stuttgart, to meet our
host Peter (thanks!) and to see the show at the Schleyerhalle, last visited
by Bob in 1987 on the tour with Tom Petty. The venue was about 4/4 full,
which was more than I expected and the security did a very bad job at
pushing back people to their seats, so the stage rush happened even
before the lights went down.

	Roving Gambler (acoustic)

Was the song they kicked off the show with at 8.15 and it was apparent
from the start that Bob was determined to show that he still can play
acoustic guitar, so he looked very concentrated and his soloing was
actually quite good.

	The Times They Are A-ChanginÎ (acoustic)

A pretty lame choice for the #2 slot, most of us wouldâve prefered
ãTomorrow Is A Long Timeä or even ãSong To Woodyä I guess. Bobâs
guitarplaying was excellent again, but he missed quite a few lines, most
the firsts of the verses, actually.

	Desolation Row (acoustic)

Was very well done, with a new improved drum opening (David really
deserves a special mentioning on this tour ö his playing has gotten much
better again compared to last year and heâs actually playing a lot more
breaks and stuff and heâs much more inventive.) Bob sang quite a few
verses and together with a rather spendid solo it was a very fine rendtion
indeed.

	Girl From The North Country (acoustic)

Another fine version, sung with his low ãTOOMä voice. Wouldâve
prefered the cuesheet alternate ãOne Too Many Morningsä though.

	Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)

This was where Bobâs guitarplaying seemed to get slighty worse. Maybe
he thought he kinda proved his point with his really excellent playing on
the first few songs. Anyways, in exchange we got a pretty long harp solo
at the end and some nice phrasing.

	Gates Of Eden (acoustic)

The song that totally made the night. Bob sang all the verses and sang
them very, very well, too. Larry on bouzouki and Tony on electric (!)
bass. What a performance. Itâs hard to describe what was so good about
is, but it just seemed to be perfect.

	Country Pie

Was a lot of fun again, everybody smiling on and in front of the stage.
Itâs good to see that Larry and Charlie seem to get on really well, cause
thereâs a lot of ãcommunicationä between the two on stage, they take
turns at the solos and stuff and really seem to enjoy themselves without
trying to be better than ãthe other guyä. Bob introduced Charlie after the
song, guess he liked his solo, too.

	Canât Wait

Not as convincing as Zurich, althiugh done in the same bluesy, even a
little jazzy arrangement I first heard at the Hallensatdion two days before.

	Maggieâs Farm

Average, country-ish version with some nice licks from Larry that remind
me of early Johnny Cash. Bob seemed to try really hard, but the song
didnât go anywhere.

	Iâll Be Your Baby Tonight

One of my least favorite Dylan tunes, badly done, despite a nice pedal
steel solo by Larry at the start. I just wish heâd drop the song from the
setlist ö permanently.

	Not Dark Yet

Yet another splendid version, probably because it seems to be the
perfect song for this current voice I guess. If I said before that Charlie
played a red Gretsch guitar on this song, I was wrong. He plays it on
ãNot fade Awayä, the guitar he uses on this one is actually a beautiful
black Gibson.

	Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat

The band intros were followed by yet anothers amshing version of this
rather bad song. Pretty cool soloing, some funny faces from Bob  - a fun
way to end the set.

	(encore)
	Love Sick

One of the few songs I never get bored of. It sounded especially nice
today and DavidÎs playing is really good on this now these days. Bob
also introduced a minor change to the lyrics, he now rhymes ãploughed
underä with ãwonderä. Great stuff!

	Like A Rolling Stone

Another oustanding version of this song I usually donât need to hear
again. Forget what other people said in previous reviews, Charlie Sexton
is doing a great, great job, especially on this song. Not only is he a very
good looking guy, he also is an amazing guitar player and if onereviwer
said he played ãearly punkä, itâs really raw blues....

	It Ainât Me Babe (acoustic)

As weâve heard it many times before ö tonight complete with harp solo.

	Not Fade Away

... we know that one, too by now.

	Forever Young

Another semi-surprise. A very welcome change and the song was
beautifully done, too. Actually Charlie Sexton went over to Tony before
the song and he seemed to say (tried to read his lips): ãI canât sing this
[song]ä. Donât know if he really said that, but he hardly sang on this one,
thatâs fore sure. So it was mostly Larry who handled he back-up vocals.

	Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35

More smiles, lights and solos. The End.

This show was probably better performance-wise than Zurich, because
Bob tried really hard to play guitar better than saturday night, but the set
was low on surprises and thatâs why a lot of people said afterwards that
they enjoyed Zurich more. One way or the other, this means that
Oberhausen will be an interesting one.... Goodnight and thanks for
reading!

Carsten Wohlfeld
--
http://carstenwohlfeld.de
"i can't be everything to everybody, can i at least be
something to you?" (the posies)


2000: March - April - May

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