Bob Dylan 2001.11.21 in Mogantown
Newsgroups: rec.music.dylan Subject: Mogantown 11/14/01 Review (Long and just a little late...) From: Mike the Pitchman ffrink@lmNOSPAM.com Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 13:19:36 GMT I've had this done once and lost half the file, so re-wrote it, finally finished it and thought I'd post it anyway. Blame it on the Editor. 'I Been Pouring Red-Hot Iron' -Woody Guthrie Every hour or so, tugs behind barges pushed along the Monongahela River, just about 25 yards outside my office window, taking coal upriver to the Clairton, PA USX works or taking coke down to the continuous casting mill in Braddock. Those are two towns that have seen some hard times since the fall of domestic steel began in the late 70's. Back in the middle 70's, I had been lucky to have seen John Hartford at a small Pittsburgh club and he was great. At the same club around this time, I had also seen Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark there, as well as Rambling' Jack Elliott. (Some Dylan connection there) The place is long now, though, like the Invisible Republic. Lately, watching the river flow has brought to mind the recent passing of both Hartford, who was also a licensed riverboat captain and, more recently, the passing of Ken Kesey, whose book "Sometime a Great Notion' set in the woods of Oregon, features a great climactic sequence describing a log-run down river. Kesey's passing was somehow different. Like the song says, 'though I'd never met him, I felt I knew just the same.' We had just gotten back from the Dylan show in Columbus the night of Saturday, November 10th. My cousin logged online and read the news. We had the acoustics out and I decided to play an Emmylou Harris song from around 25 years ago. The song was 'One Paper Kid' and contains the lines: 'he's gone to a place where its legal to dream no Camels, no coffee, no cold morning winds it was wrote on a rock one paper kid is rolling again' On the Emmylou Harris album 'Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town', the song has a great harmony vocal from Willie Nelson and a poignant harp solo by Willie's side man Mickey Raphael. The next song on the record is a Utah Phillips tune 'Green Rolling Hills' about how the 'hills of West Virginia are the nearest thing to heaven that I know' 'Got Better Things for You' On our way to Morgantown Wednesday night, we drove past the mill on the river in Clairton. My long, long-time friend, Dave, was our Intrepid Driver for the evening, steady at the wheel, just as he had been on the road to the Richfield Bob show back in '78. My brother, Mark, who now works at the mill, was riding shotgun, with me in the back, protecting the cooler. We got to the Coliseum in Morgantown around ten past seven, and since I had the floor ticket, they dropped me off before parking the car. There was a single line at the green gate and only one ticket taker at first. Then some uniforms opened two other doors and I got my wristband. The floor was already pretty crowded and soon the smell of the Nag Champa was in the air. At around 7:35, Bob and the band hit the stage, Bob in white, with the dark piping and the rest of the boys in gray, except David, in his usual attire including white hat. Larry had a nice Martin acoustic (HD-28 maybe?), Charlie a big red Gibson (J-200?) and Bob had the negative Martin with the double pickguard set up. First was a great 'Somebody Touched Me' followed by "It Ain't Me, Babe". Bob had the harp out at the end and it got the crowd going. In the three slot was "It's Alright, Ma'. A nice version and Bob got most the lyrics just fine, unlike in Columbus, where he mumbled though a couple lines early in the song. Charlie had the dobro out, but only strummed mostly and seemed content to pick an occasional lick. I'd like to see Bob feature this instrument a little more here. It could really bring some counterpoint to the vocal. 'Soldier's Grave' had a nice mandolin by Larry. Now it was time to turn on the electricity. Bob strapped on the signature white Fender Strat, Larry got the white Telecaster and Charlie had a red Gretsch hollow body. Man, it must be nice to play a bunch of great instruments every night. Larry got the signature lick to 'Tweedle-dee' going and the crowd roared recognition. Bob picked out a few notes on the Strat and those notes seemed a bit off key to me. Next up was a nice surprise to me, 'Just like a Woman'. Bob always likes his waltzes. Maybe the early influence listening to the Breaux Freres, I reckon. Charlie had a sunburst Strat and Larry was at the steel. I first heard this one live in at the Spectrum in Philly in 1978, soon after that John Hartford show in Pittsburgh. I haven't found a tape of it yet. There was a nice 'Train to Cry' that night, too. Tonight, Bob had the harp out at the end and played his heart out. "I'll Be Your Baby, Tonight' featured some nice vocal styling and as well as a little left leg shaking action. I commented to the girls dancing next to me that this song could really use a fiddle instead of the steel. Personal preference, I guess, but it would really have fit here in hill country. 'High Water' was next. This song really seems to work in concert. Dark and lyrical. Charlie played some metallic- flake electric on this one and seemed to play a lot of tapping on this, as well as the whole show, ringing out harmonics, I'd presume. Larry's intro telegraphed the next song, "Don't think twice' with some fine fingerpicking at the start then, discarded the fingerpicks and flatpicked very sweet solo near the songs end. 'Tangled Up in Blue' started with Bob and Larry in the spotlight for the first verse, then the drums and band kicked in and everyone love this. (I still need to work out the intro riff.) "John Brown' was great as was 'Summer Days'. Charlie really was having a hard time holding onto his picks. He was dropping them all night. The band was having fun on 'Summer days' as even Tony got into it, spinning his acoustic bass a couple times. Then, 'Sugar Babe' with a roar from the crowd at the 'bootlegger' line. Being West Virginia mountaineer country, I had the gut feeling they were cheering the traditional meaning of the term here. 'Drifter's Escape' had a twin Strat workout, with a driving Hendrix- like "Killing Floor' shuffle rhythm from Larry. Bob played a little solo here, just him and Charlie on backup. "Rainy Day Women" had the group of tie-dyed college-age kids a couple rows up from me and off to the right high fiving. They had been pretty much puffing up a storm all night with some pretty strong smelling weed. Maybe some recent fall 'illegal smile ' harvest. Then there was a semi -formal Formation, with some smiling, pointing and raising of the guitars. They walked off then were back after long applause and lots of upraised lighters in the crowd, and kicked off an appropriate 'Country Pie'. The big cheers as the "Like a Rolling Stone" melody began to be recognized by the crowd. The acoustic number for this encore was a very fine "Forever Young" during which Bob sang the ends of the lines in his ascending note style, hitting the highest note on the last word of each line. The song got a great response. More great electric guitars for "Honest with Me". Larry played slide on an old Kay guitar, that had an aluminum foil type pattern in the middle of the guitar in the shape of a parallelogram. Needless to say, his slide solos were very mathematical. Then they did a very sweet 'Blowin' in the Wind'. The crowd gave out a cheer at the line "how many deaths will it take....." The band did another formation and went off, but came back for one last, mid-tempo "All along the Watchtower' Larry played some great lead breaks on this one. Big crowd reaction for this song, too. Then, a last bow and they left the stage. Then, I saw Bob hanging back a bit back stage. Someone passed him his cowboy hat and, amid the enthusiastic applause that had not yet subsided, he came back out on stage, raised his hat to the crowd, acknowledging them and finally made his exit for the evening. I hadn't seen him come back alone like this before, and it was a nice touch to a ending another great evening. peace, Mike the Pitchman NP: 'Ozark Frontier'-Southern Journey Vol. 7 (Rounder)