Bob Dylan 2002.05.02 in Rotterdam

Newsgroups: rec.music.dylan
Subject: And the light shone on Rotterdam !
From: Eric Schoneveld 
Date: Thu, 02 May 2002 23:41:55 +0200
Organization: None
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.9/32.560

On 20:15 Bob took the stage, wearing a huge white cowboy hat
and gave us a wonderful rendition of Wait for the light to
shine ! Followed by what must have been the 1st acoustic I
threw it all away. And that was already the hilite of the
evening for me. Goosebumbs throughout the song, really
wonderfully done with Larry playong some excellent lap steel
guitar.

I didn't keep notes, so I don't have the entire setlist, but
it was a great show throughout, She belongs to me,
MrTambourine man and blind willie mctell were my favourites.
I thought Bob's vocals were a lot better during the somewhat
more quieter songs than when singing 'the rockers'. Also was
great to see Keltner, he did an excellent job. Also was nice
to hear Solid Rock. I don't like the arrangement of Man of
constant sorrow much though, but I am sure others do.

That;s it for now, I am sure others will provide more
details, just a few first impressions ;-).

By the way, does Larry just have a moustache now ? I was a
little too far away to see him clearly ;-). I did see
Charlie's white boots though.

Eric



Bob Dylan, Rotterdam review

IÕm a Dylan fan since 1966 and from his first concert in the
Netherlands in 1978 I attended several performances through
the years. In september 2000 I decided not to go to
Rotterdam. What a mistake! IÕm realizing that, every time I
listen to the bootleg ÒDonÕt waste your wordsÓ. So: very
high expectations this year. And, of course, a little
disappointment yesterday night. Sure: Dylan has a perfect
band, and they were playing tight. But the soundmix left
very little space to hear all the beautiful guitar work of
Larry and Charlie. DylanÕs four note improvisations became
boring after 10 songs, and so was his voice, bending to a
high note at the end of every phrase, making many songs
sound the same. I missed all the nuances I like so much in
the september 2000 recording (Tomorrow is a long time; Not
dark yet, Things have changed etc). DidnÕt I enjoy myself?
Oh, yes! The group produced some very good music and Dylan
was really co-operating with the other guys. Nice drumming
by Jim Kletner. A few surprises like Solid Rock, Blind
Willie McTell and even four songs from his last album, with
very nice playing bij Charlie in ÒSummer DaysÓ. But not one
song swept me Ð emotionally Ð off of my feet. And that is
what I expect Dylan to doÉ.

Peter Koene, De Bilt, The Netherlands
p.koene@tiscali.nl






From: "Carsten Wohlfeld"  office@carstenwohlfeld.de
To:  webmaster@expectingrain.com
Cc:  billp61@execpc.com
Subject: dylan rotterdam review
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 11:39:06 +0200

            Bob Dylan

            Rotterdam, Ahoy

            May 2, 2002

            A review by Carsten Wohlfeld



The show in Oberhausen last week was supposed to be the last
concert of my own little "Euro Bob 2002" tour. So it was sad
to see for me, that I had picked what probably was the
weakest gig of the entire tour as my "farewell show". So I
couldn't help but catching the train to Rotterdam to see yet
another show - especially since the rave reviews from
Brussels (where Bob had played one of the few songs I was
dying to hear - "When I Paint My Masterpiece", plus tons of
other rare gems) and Paris suggested that the not-so-great
Oberhausen show was indeed a one-off. Thank to Tim & Regine,
I was able to make the Rotterdam show as well. Isn't it
great if your friends are not only kind and generous, but
also divide their time between southern Germany and Holland
and are willing and able to put you up for the night at
either of the two places? Or maybe I'm just lucky?!



So I got on the train, arrived in Rotterdam some three hours
later, picked up a cheap, but shitty ticket (the show was a
near sell out despite the huge Arena-sized venue and good
tickets were very hard to come by) and made my way to the
stands. My seat was on the side of the stage, almost behind
the stage, so the only guy I could see perfectly was Keltner
(that would come in handy later on), although I managed to
walk around for a bit during the set and actually quite
liked the experience of not getting crushed in the front on
the floor. The show was an all-seated affair, although the
stage rush happened the second the intro tape kicked it -
even before the lights went down.  For all seven shows I'd
seen on this tour before, I'd hoped that they would open
with "Wait For The Light To Shine" - and they never did.
Looking at the recent setlist it seemed that only three
songs were left in the #1 rotation and "Halleluljah I'm
Ready To Go" actually looked more than likely for tonight.
Even more so in fact when Larry came out on stage his
mandolin in his hands. However, I was very pleasantly
surprised that they did:



Wait For The Light To Shine  (acoustic)



It was actually a pretty good version, that was faster and
seemed to have a more driving rhythm  than some renditions
I'd heard on tape. Nice backing vocals from Larry and
Charlie as usual. By the way: In Oberhausen they had worn
matching olive-coloured suits (interestingly enough, Larry
didn't get his extra-long jacket) but tonight they
apparently had - temporarily - abondoned the idea of
matching outfits. But enough of that, because number two was
a real treat. Bob started the song with a harp solo and
while I expected a surprise in this slot, I didn't even dare
to think it would be this - one  of my all time favourite
Dylan tunes - but it was.



I Threw It All Away (acoustic)



Played approx. 10 times since 1978, and the first time ever
acoustic  - if my memory serves me well. In any case, it was
GRRRRREAT! Bob's harp solo at the beginning was of the "one
size fits all" variety, but his singing and phrasing was
surprsingly good considering it was still very early in the
show and Larry's perfect pedal steel guitar took the song to
a whole new level. The acoustic arrangement actually worked
very well, it was in fact closer to the "Nashville Skyline"
original (minus the organ) than recent electric outings. The
fact that the band played quiter also meant that Bob could
concentrate on the beautiful lyrics and didn't have to worry
about being louder than the instruments which seemed to have
been the case on earlier electric renditions. This song
alone was worth my time & money! Wow! (by the way: If you
haven't heard it, check out Yo LaTengo's great version of
this tune as well!)



It's Alright, Ma (acoustic)



Bob delivered a killer first verse: Fast, clean and sharp.
The rest of it wasn't too bad either, but you couldn't help
but noticing that the show featured several songs that were
just "too long" and while Bob was great on the first verses,
trying out new phrasings etc., he went back to the "regular"
(not to say boring) phrasings for the last part of the
song(s). If the songs would've been over by halftime, they
actually would've been a lot better or definitely more
interesting at least. More of that later.



Love Minus Zero (acoustic)



Again starting with a harp solo, this song featured the best
singing of the night. Sweet and gentle, the song reached the
same high level that "Boots" has reached in NŸrnberg or
"Every Grain Of Sand" in Stuttgart. Larry provided what was
probably the nicest pedal steel solo that I heard him play
ever since he took over from Bucky. Bob was visibly
impressed as well, and actually refrained from adding his
own two-note-solo on top of Larry's. A wise choice! Got the
biggest cheer of the night so far. Next: my second big
moment of the night, after "I Threw It All Away".



Solid Rock



I guess I first got the "Saved" album about ten years ago
and the stand-out track for me always has been "Solid Rock"
- mostly because of the drumming, which I think is unlike
anything else on any other Dylan record (bar maybe "Series
Of Dreams"). When they finally started playing the song
again in Stockholm last month, my first reaction was: "I
wonder if Receli can do the drum part justice". Okay, by now
we know he kinda could, but still: The second the hit the
first chord, my shitty seat on the side of the stage made
sense all of a sudden: Because I could quite perfectly see
THE ORIGINAL DRUMMER play the song: Jim Keltner! It was
stunning to see him play all the little things that make the
drum part so interesting, so I didn't care that Bob's
singing definitely has been stronger on other renditions of
the song before. I was over the moon already. Now even
"River Flow" wouldn't have managed to ge in the way of my
staggeringly good mood.



Watching The River Flow



Hey Bob! You know as well as I, that I wasn't entirely
serious when I said that!!! But there it was: One of my
least favourite tracks in the Dylan catalog, AGAIN Bob added
a harp solo and Larry  (on lap steel guitar) and Charlie on
6-strng played some pretty cool solos, so  and in the end it
wasn 't the worst version I've ever heard, but still. If
this meant that I would leave the tour with "High Water", I
could've done without it!



Sugar Baby



Nice choice, as well done as in Strasbourg. My buddy Tim
wanted to hear this song, so I was happy that Bob played it
"for him".



Lonesome Day Blues



The usual bluesy, but rocking arrangement, got a -somewhat
surprisingly - good response from the crowd.





Masters Of War (acoustic)



I had put on the "Masterpieces" album a few days prior to
the show and I was completely stunned when I heard the
original of this song for the first time in ages. What a
great performance. So I listened with extra care when this
came on, and it was kinda disappointing. He almost sang the
song in an almost sympathetic voice and it just didn't work.
Keltner (who did a decent job on most of the songs), didn't
really seem to know what he was supposed to do on this track
either and his quiet drumming seemed kinda un-inspired and
not fitting the song.



Mr. Tamborine Man (acoustic)



With harp. It was an odd version, with Bob singing a
different "ascending" melody and he also streched the last
word of every line, at least in the first half (cf. "It's
Alright Ma"). Weird.



Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)



Again, Bob seemingly invented a whole new melody line on the
spot and that made the song acutally quite enjoyable until
he returned to the regular arrangement/phrasing for the last
few verses. The usual soloing made sure that the crowd went
completely mad! Next up: "Summer Days" - or so I thought,
but it took them longer than usual to start the song and
when I heard Larry play a chord on the cittern, I knew
something was different!



Blind WillieMcTell



And what a great version it was! Stunningly well sung,
played quite perfectly by the band with the added bonus of
two extended laid back Charlie Sexton solos that fitted the
mood of the song very well. Don't think I've heard a better
live version yet!



Summer Days



Was missing some of the fun and excitement of previous
versions, especially when compared to the very first
renditions on this tour. The triple solo at the end included
some bad noodleing and Keltner's drumming isn't half as good
as Recelis's on this track. Charlie put in an awesome solo
in themiddle, that unfortunately was way too short!



Wicked Messenger



Keltner completely butchered the song. They had played it
before and it worked fine, but tonight Jim's drumming was
mostly unconnected to the song. He missed all of his cues,
and messed things up so badly that Larry had to go back a
few bars twice and restart his guitar part to make the song
halfway recognizable. Even Bob turned around once as if he
wanted to help Keltner to get back into the arrangement. A
mess. Bob put some extra energy into the closing harp solo,
but it didn't help much. The light show (the guys as giant
shadows on the curtain) looked terrific - even better from
the stands, actually.



Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35



One of the highlights of the night, for the same reasons the
extended "Cat's In The Well" from Munich was so good. The  
soloing was acutally enjoyable and not at all of the "let's
get out of here" variety. In fact Bob and Charlie seemed to
have played a completely different tune altogether for most
of the time. Or was it just a really cool and inventive twin
solo they made up on the spot?! Great stuff! Band intros,
the by now common short solos from each band member,
formation, the end.



(encore)

Man Of Constant Sorrow



Well, the encores were a bit of a let down. Not that they
were bad, but after the excellent main set (probably the
best and most enjoayble I've seen this year), the encores
were just Bob-by-numbers for the best part. This song worked
as well as before musically, but Bob's vocal delivery
sounded a bit tired.



Like A Rolling Stone



Again, the energy from the mainset was gone, Keltner messed
up the ending and underlined that this was a sub-standard
version.



If Dogs Run Free                          (acoustic)



With an odd harp solo at the start. They only used pink
lights on stage for this song (is that new or did I just
miss it before?) and that looked quite specatular in a
loungy kind of way. Bob's singing was bettert han I would
have expected and they had a fade out ending that actually
was an accident (judging from the smiles on the band
member's faces), but it worked quite well.



Honest With Me



One of my favorites from "Love And Theft", but live (and
especially in this non changing slot in the encores) I find
it a bit tiring, despite the fact that it rocked like no
other song tonight.



Blowin' In The Wind (acoustic)



Same as it ever was. Unlike at previous shows, they didn't
even leave the stage after this song. They only went back
behind the backline, waited for about 15 seconds and then
returned for:



All Along The Watchtower



Is there a better way to end "my" tour? I guess not! Well,
actually, they could have rocked a lot more! With Keltner's
laid back drumming (only using hi-hat and bass drum during
the verses), this weird un-rock version was kinda
reminiscent of the spring 1998 version, but not quite as
good. Without wanting to sound like a broken record: I am
not complaining!



It was, after all, a fine end for my personal "Euro 2002"
tour. I don't think I ever got to hear more different songs
in just eight shows (a solid 66, I think) and when you see
as many shows as I usually attend, that's all you could
possibly hope for. Thanks for joining me on my little trip,
thanks again also to all my riends helping me out along the
way and please excuse my bad english once again. See y'all
next year!?



Carsten Wohlfeld
--
http://carstenwohlfeld.de
"your girlfriend can leave you, but the rolling stones are there forever" ~
alan mcgee