Bob Dylan 961023 in Albuquerque, NM

Subject: Albuquerque review
From: Bob Clasen (clasen@gnn.com)
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 05:01:29
Organization: GNN
X-Mailer: GNNmessenger 1.3

I just got back from a butt-numbing six-hour drive from 
Albuquerque, so if any of this is incoherent, please cut me some 
slack.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
-  All in all, no surprises, but another high-quality show.
-  I thought the band might have a different sound with the new 
drummer, but they pretty much sound the same.  There's a slight 
difference, but nothing significant.  One change was having Kemper 
play on all the acoustic songs.
-  The only surprise in the set list (a mild one) was "The Man in 
Me."
-  On each of the acoustic songs, there was a stage backdrop that 
changed for each song.  One song had yellow birdlike figures on the 
backdrop, and another had human figures that looked like they were 
drawn in the styles of Rembrandt and DaVinci.  Other backdrops were 
just weird light patterns on differently colored backgrounds.  
There was no backdrop for the electric songs.
-  The concert lasted exactly two hours (to the minute).

THE SONGS
1.  Crash on the Levee.  Dylan seemed to take care to enunciate the 
lyrics.
2.  The Man in Me.  A nice little surprise.  The song rocked out at 
the end.
3.  All Along the Watchtower.  During the first instrumental, the 
drums seemed to dominate the mix (very little guitar).  Then on the 
following instrumentals, the guitars roared like a thunderstorm.  
JJ really took off after "the wind began to howl..."
4.  Just Like a Woman.  Dylan's vocals were kind of subdued.  It 
seemed like he was 'speaking' the lyrics instead of singing them 
like he normally does.  It had an interesting effect on the song.
5.  Most Likely You Go Your Way.  Bucky cranked out some nice 
organ-like sounds from his steel guitar.  By the way, Bucky's 
goatee is getting so long that he now looks like a Civil War 
general (or else Colonel Sanders of fried chicken fame).  The song 
ended kind of funny.  Not sure if it was intentional or just 
growing pains for the new band.
6.  Silvio.  Lots of cool cymbal action during JJ's Garcia 
imitation.
7.  My Back Pages @.  Like all the acoustic songs, this one had the 
full band.
8.  Gates of Eden @.  This was the highlight of the show for me.  
Dylan's vocals were fantastic.  At first Kemper wasn't on drums, 
then about halfway through, he kicked in.  Some smoking guitar 
solos by both Dylan and JJ.
9.  Don't Think Twice, It's All Right @.  Dylan played around with 
his word phrasing a bit, singing "It's allllllllllllll right."  
Nice touch.
10.  Seeing the Real You at Last.  The band really caught a groove 
about halfway through this one, and the crowd/dancers surged 
forward.  Everyone was on their feet for the rest of the show.  
11.  Like a Rolling Stone.  The dance party continued with an 
inspired version of this one.
12.  Maggie's Farm.  Again Dylan played around with his phrasing.  
He and JJ emphasized the 'no' as in "I ain't gonna work for Maggie's 
ma nooooooooo more."  More smoking guitar at the end.
13.  I Shall Be Released.  Again Dylan had some nice guitar leads on this one.
14.  The Times They Are A-Changin' @.  Finally, Dylan breaks out 
the harmonica at the end of the song, but it wasn't a fantastic solo.  
The drums sounded really nice.
15.  Rainy Day Women.  Security let the crowd on the stage, and soon 
it was so crowded you couldn't even see the band.  There must have 
been about fifty people on the stage.  Dylan had to stop singing 
halfway through the song, and they ended up cutting it short.

Well, that's it for now.  I have to teach class in a couple hours.  
For once, I'll be more tired than my students in the classroom.

Keep on keepin' on,
Bob



Subject: Set List 10.23.96 Alb NM
From: Tom Baecher 
Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 00:31:45 -0700

Albuquerque, New Mexico
October 23, 1996
Kiva Auditorium

1.    Crash On The Levee (Down In The Flood)
2.    Seeing The Real You At Last.
3.    All Along The Watchtower.
4.    Just Like A Woman.
5.    Most Likely You Go Your Way.
6.    Silvio.
7.    My Back Pages.  (acoustic)
8.    Gates Of Eden.  (acoustic)
9.    Donāt Think Twice.  (acoustic)
10.   Seeing The Real You At Last.
11    Like A Rolling Stone.
12.   Maggieās Farm.
(Encore)
13.   I Shall Be Released.
14.   The Times They Are A-Changing.  (acoustic) (short harmonica solo)
15.   Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.

	For those of you that haven't been to the Kiva Auditorium it is a 
relative small and comfortable place that seats about a thousand people. 
 Dylan started out kinda rough on the first three songs, and it appeared 
that his guitarist (not the base or the steel guitarist) wasn't able to 
follow his lead or that possible they hadn't rehearsed those songs to 
well.  On his acoustic sets the audience kinda sang along with "My Back 
Pages" and Dylan seemed to put his hart into "Don't Think Twice".  

Things really picked up on "Seeing the Real You At Last" with some dancing down 
by the stage.  Dylan played this song extra, extra long, and when the 
stage hands started to run people off the guitarist encouraged the people 
to come on down.  At this point most of the people in the back started to 
come down toward the stage to stand or dance.  

During the last song a couple of the girls in the crowd jumped up on stage 
and started dancing, and then a whole mob of people got on the stage 
to the point that things were very out of hand.  Dylan tried to continue, 
but ended up leaving before he was mobbed.  

	All in All it was a good show, with the exception of the last 
song.  I personally would have liked to hear "Shooting Star".


Tom