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Bob Dylan 2001.04.29 in Blacksburg

Newsgroups: rec.music.dylan
Subject: Blacksburg Review
From: Doug Evans tramfan3@MailAndNews.com
Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 11:15:40 -0400

All in all, this was a very "professional" show for Bob.  It did
not have the same set list highlights or knockout vocal
performances of my 2000 shows at Columbia and Towson.  The crowd
was very high energy and the venue very nice (and relatively
small), but Bob either was not or could not quite respond to the

The most extraordinary occurrence that I noticed on this
particular leg of the Neverending Tour is the ferocity and
invention that Charlie Sexton is putting into his guitar solos. 
I haven't seen a sideman play like this in Bob's band during the
12 years that I've been attending shows.  His solo on "Down in
the Flood" was brilliant, and he pulled Larry and Bob into
guitar duels on more than one occasion.  This is what I hoped to
see when Charlie joined the band two summers ago, and it looks
like we're finally getting some of his truly amazing guitar
work.  I hope that it continues.

Highlights for me included the aforementioned "Down In the
Flood," "Drifter's Escape," "If Dogs Run Free" (which was much
better than the Towson version, in my opinion), a wonderful
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (with backing vocals! Bob flubbed it
at the beginning of the second verse, but quickly caught
himself) and÷surprisingly enough÷"Tangled Up in Blue".  I've
gotten very tired of this song live, but the performance Sunday
night was quite inspired, and definitely brought the crowd to a
very high excitement level.

I've now heard the jazzy version of "Tryin' to Get to Heaven"
twice in person, and it still doesn't do much for me.  Charlie
played some nice guitar on it, but I just don't like the
arrangement.  It makes it sound less weighty than the lyrics
suggest.

Best,
Doug Evans


2001: February - March - April -

Tour