Bob Dylan 2001.10.12 in San Jose

From: "j c"  j_w9@hotmail.com
To: webmaster@dylanite.com
Cc: billp61@earth.execpc.com
Bcc: 
Subject: san jose review by james coffey
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 09:40:37 +0000

God Bless Bob Dylan. He pours his heart out onstage and
gives us everything he has. Friday night in san jose was no
excepti

I've just returned home to san luis obispoand wanted to
take a few moments to recap the day.

First let me say that after falling from a ladder ten feet
onto concrete back in the first week of august and nearly
killing myself i was looking forward to this night.( and
sunday in Santa barbara) I was planning on seeing bob in
Lancaster on Aug. 25 but had to postpone that. i was busy
healing, and still am butturning the corner and well enough
to see our favorite performer.It was a beautiful typical
October day in california the summer fog has left, and the
air is warm and dry witha santa ana breeze blowing from the
mountains.The drive up from San luis through the Salinas
Valleywas picture postcard perfect. a clear blue sky with
scattered high clouds. right into the heart of silicon
valley technologyhome for the world.


I arrived about two hours before showtime and found a park
across from the compaq center, there i pulled into a small
but almost vacant park lot where i streched, ate something
and relaxed. about one hour before showtime i made my way
around the corner to one of the main parking lots and then
took a walk around the center. not much going on usual fare
i guess. I mulled around out front for a few minutes taking
in the vibe, and then headed inside.

Its a nice arena it was my first time there. Bob and the
band walked on at about 8:07 and they played for a good 2
Hrs. and 15 minutes. Im not going to go song by song, the
set list was fantastic. Bob deserves every award that
they can give. he was phenomenal tonight. he blew me away.
i was stunned and i still am. some special moments "times
are a changin" i dont know how to descibe it he blew the
harp with what seemed like his last breath. and "just like a
woman" no doubt the best performance any person can give -
anywhere - anytime anyhow. harp and guitar heart and
soul.

They were all special, the crowd was too, polite and
appreciative, and loving. well thats about it for now im
tired and im going to bed. i just want to say that, we need
Bob Dylan now more than ever, and im so glad that he's
around. and in closing I'd like to say that we are all New
Yorkers.

See you in beautiful santa barbara on sunday. And God bless
y'all with peace and tranquility and goodwill.

james.   j_w9@hotmail.com.




Envelope-to: webmaster@dylanite.com
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 07:51:06 -0700
From: Jeff Soldau lava@well.com
Subject: Dylan in San Jose (and Sacramento)
X-Sender: lava@mail.well.com


Hello-

Just wanted to drop a note about the show last night in San
Jose (I also attended the Weds. show in Sacramento). I
thought it last night was exceptional.

The arena folks had the top-most sections curtained off, so
the overall performance space was nicely reduced and less
"arena-like". There were a few empty seats at the opposite
end of the hall from the stage. I'd say it was 85-90% full.

The band hit the stage shortly after the announced showtime,
and were pretty much on from the very get go. Waiting For
The Light... was tighter than the performance in Sacramento
(there were a few off notes hit during the show in
Sacramento, none in San Jose). We got an extended harp break
during Times..., Desolation Row was nicely done. In fact all
the songs repeated from Sacramento seemed more focused in
San Jose. Searching...in Sacramento found the group
searching for a common starting point with the vocals, while
in San Jose the song just "fell together".

Tweedle Dee.... man what can I say? This is definitely a
rocker with lots of fine picking from Charlie and attentive
singing from Bob. Excellent. Summer Days was just OK,
Standing in The Doorway was nicely played. The
Masters/Mama/Hard Rain acoustic section worked the varying
intensities of the songs quite well, going from a direct
Masters, through lightheartedness of Mama, and then an
extremely intense and well-sung Hard Rain (with the crowd 
singing along softly during the chorus). I wouldn't have
expected these three numbers to work so well for me.

Absolutely Sweet Marie was a very nice surprise. Sugar Baby
will probably always be magical, but I felt a bit more magic
during the Sacramento rendition. :) Cold Irons Bound wasn't
quite as intense as it's been in the past, but Bob's vocals
were clearer. Leopard Skin was just as it always is. Honest
With Me kicks butt and did a bit more-so last night than in
Sacramento.

Last night the main set was 1 hour 35 mins. The encore was
typical and clocked in at 30 mins. Bob seems to have had 5
or so additional minutes of inspiration during the show.
Perhaps it was those two extended harp breaks.

Looking forward to #3 in San Francisco tonight.




Newsgroups: rec.music.dylan
Subject: Re: October 12, 2001 - San Jose, California - setlist
From:  spjohnny@earthlink.net
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 19:59:37 GMT
Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net
X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300

Just a couple of random and perhaps inaccurate observations.

Bob was wearing an ivory or cream-colored suit with a long
coat. Charlie and Larry seemed to have on matching olive
suits with black piping, and Tony was wearing something
similar.

Nearly the whole show was strong, and the harmonica at the
end of "Just Like a Woman" was some of the best I've heard.
The other highlight for me was "Hard Rain," especially the
last verse, where the music and singing grew more and more
intense, leading up to an explosive chorus. After it was
over, there was a lot of applause, and Dylan bowed.

On the less successful side, I'm pretty sure Bob mixed up
the lyrics to "Tweedle Dee" more than once, and "Cold Irons
Bound" didn't have quite the mixture of mania and precision
that I remember from a year or so ago. That also seemed to
be lacking at the Oregon performance last week. I think the
arrangement may be somewhat different, or maybe I just miss
the synchronized lighting.

Also, in the first few shows of this tour, on "Masters of
War" they seemed to be really emphasizing a Mannish
Boy/Hard-Workin' Man type beat-- da-dah da-DUM, da-dah
da-DUM. But it seems like they were downplaying that aspect
last night (though it may just have been the mix where I was
sitting).

Finally, I think Bob said something more than usual after
introducing David Kemper, but I couldn't catch even a single
word of it.

Pointless "security" measure: As you entered the arena, they
stuck a small green paper dot on whatever bags you were
carrying in -- the sort of paper dot that anyone can buy at
the market.




Newsgroups: rec.music.dylan
Subject: Re: October 12, 2001 - San Jose, California - setlist
From: John Howells  howells@best.com
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 05:11:49 GMT

I must be the only one who thought this show was awful. The
sound at the arena was the worst I have ever heard at any
show. From where I was sitting, I could barely hear Bob sing
and heard, above all, his guitar above all other instruments
and horribly out of tune. Plus Bob played absolute crap
throughout some great songs and ruined them entirely. Never
again any show at the San Jose Arena (or Compaq Center, or
whatever the hell they're calling it) and very likely never
again Bob Dylan in concert for me.

I can't wait for everybody to flame me for this, but I
thought Bob's performance this night was very substandard. I
finally got to hear a live version of "Standing In the
Doorway" and it was ruined by Bob's constant noodling on a
VERY LOUD guitar. The music lacked definition, very little
bottom from where I was sitting (the expensive seats, I
should add) and whenever Larry or Charlie were allowed to
play anything I couldn't hear them, just a shrill noise.

I came away from this concert very depressed. I am hoping
that the sound was more balanced elsewhere in the stadium,
judging from some of the comments here, and I would very
much like to hear a tape to see if the problem I was
experiencing was just my shitty position in the hall. You'd
think they'd do a decent soundcheck before putting on a show
at a major venue like this. I know I am not tone deaf, but
judging from the reaction of those around me, I believe I
was surrounded by a large number of people with tin ears.

Sorry to vent, but I wasted $100 on what has to be the
absolute worst concert experience I've ever had. Grumble.

--

                                                John Howells
                                        howells@punkhart.com
                                     http://www.punkhart.com



Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 07:42:51 +0200
From: Sven Lewandowski  Sven.Lewandowski@stud.uni-hannover.de
To: billp61@execpc.com, webmaster@dylanite.com
Subject: San Jose review

Dylan at San Jose, Oct 12, 2001

I will never get the correct pronounciation of San Jose ! I
don't seem to be able to speak a sentence in English and
than switching to a Spanish prononounciation. Therefore I'm
quite glad that you don't hear me speak but only have the
read what I write.

The day in between the shows at Sacramento and San Jose I
spend in San Francisco and on the day of the show I visited
Alcatraz island (among other places) and it made me think of
the "penitentery" and the "six white horses" -. and "Sweet
Marie" is one of those songs I waited a long time to hear
again.

But first of all I want to thank Billy - the nicest security
guy I ever met. He led me to the lockers inside the arean
before people were let in, so that I could leave my camera
and all my other tourist equipment there (!).

And when I lined up at the entrance I met Jeff whom I
already met in Scotland last year. So everything was
prepared for a great show. And Dylan didn't disappoint us at
all. It was rather one of the best shows of the six shows in
California.

But before the show began and even before the people were
let in I had the chance to listen to the sound check
(through closed doors only), where they did "Floater" and
"Stone Walls And Steel Bars" (the latter in a version that
sounded quite new to me). Thanks again to Billy !

The show once again began with "Wait For The Light To Shine"
 - a song that everybody is able to sing along with after
the first verse-

In the second slot Dylan chose "The Times They Are
A-Changin'" and it's definitely not one of my favourite
choices. But the performance was really good and in contrast
to last year's performances Dylan was able to remember the
lyrics correctly. The song also featured Dylan on his
harmonica and his solo made the performance a really special
one. Once again he did not only use the harmonica to please
the audience by blowing a few notes but instead did a quite
long and well done solo.

The fact that Dylan once again chose "Desolation Row" and
"Searching For A Soldier's Grave" was a little bit of a
disapointment. But on both songs Dylan's phrasing was very
good.

Forget about "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum" like it was
recorded for the album. The live version is much better !!!
When I listened to album version for the first time my
impression was that Dylan should forget about the Nobel
Prize for Literature- And my second tought was that it's a
poor song to open an album. But performed live one stage the
song is really great ! For sure they don't have bongos on
the stage, but David Kemper creates a terrific sound on his
normal drums.

"Just Like A Women" once again featured the harmonica and
again Dylan chose to play a whole verse on it. The songs was
sung in a very concentrated and fine way. Dylan's phrasing
also proofed to be very good. It's a pity that this can't be
said for "Summer Days" too. Like at Sacramento Dylan's voice
was rather weak on the song and it didn't came out like it
should. But anyways the sound was good and a lot of people
liked the song and danced to it.

While the songs performed so far weren't much of a surprise,
I didn't expect to hear "Standing In The Doorway" again. I
thought that TOOM songs would become quite rare in these
days (and I was right after all - but I didn't know it at
that time). "Standing In The Doorway" sounded a little
different than last year, but I can't yet tell in what way.
It was - like almost all songs - sung with commitment and
concentration and in a quite smooth and tender voice.

The second acoustic set began with "Masters Of War" - a
predictable choice we have to get used to. The performance
was good, but I didn't really care.

I Know that "Mama You Been On My Mind" is a song a lot of
people don't like to hear anymore. But that's not true for
me ! Maybe it's like with "Boots Of Spanish Leather": I
might like these two songs (as I mentioned before) just
because Dylan performed them at my first show that was
really good (actually it was my third Dylan show). So I just
loved the performance like I always love it - at least when
Dylan has his voice "under control" like at tonight's show.

A less expected or rather unexpected choice was "A Hard
Rain's A-Gonna Fall". We got a nice performance with Larry
on bouzouki and I was (like in Braunschweig in July 2001)
glad that there were no background vocals provided by
Charlie and Larry like last year. So it was a very good
performance and a nice choice (nobody knew that we would
hear the song at three consequitive shows-).

The second electric set opend with one of my favorite songs
and also one I had to wait for four years to hear it again -
no it was not a song performed at my first good show- - but
it was "Absoultely Sweet Marie". This song will always
remind me of my first trip to a series of Dylan shows abroad
(U.K. 1997). For sure "Absolutely Sweet Marie" didn't sound
like in those days. In 1997 it was a hard-rocking opening
song, but now it got longer and the music sounds more
sophisticated. At least there are more solos - provided by
Charlie.

"Sugar Baby" was to follow and the performance was even
better than two days before.

"Cold Irons Bound" was a quite predictible choice because
Dylan still switches between his harmonica driven
start-and-stop songs for the song before the last. Like the
other songs it was the performance was good but the song is
nothing special to me anymore.

"Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" closed the set and the band was
introduced at the end of the song - while they played.

The encores were pretty much the usual ones but all
performances were really good. I especially liked "Honest
With Me" which seems once again the best performance of the
new songs.

So all in all we got a quite perfect show that was much
better than the Sacramento show.

Cheers

Sven

comments are welcome, please email to:
Sven.Lewandowski@stud.uni-hannover.de