Bob Dylan 980615 in Rotterdam, Holland
Subject: June 15, 1998 - Rotterdam, Holland - a review
From: Carsten Wohlfeld (happyjaq@confetti.ruhr.de)
Date: 16 Jun 1998 03:53:00 +0100
Bob Dylan
Rotterdam, Holland, June 15, 1998
Ahoy
A Review By Carsten Wohlfeld
I guess we all knew that a double headlining show in a huge venue like the
Ahoy (a sellout with close to 10.000 attending) would be sort of a letdown
after the fantastic show in Bremen, but it was still a solid set. Van
Morrison came out first at 8.00pm, fortunately without Brian Kennedy! We
did a 85 minute set, well paced, started out with a few very jazzy songs,
"That's Life", then a few of his own '90s song plus some well received
classics like "Cleaning Windows", "Vanlose Stairway/Trans Euro Train", my
personal favourite "Tupelo Honey" and a sweet "Summertime In England" as
the only encore. Only twenty minutes after Van left, at 9.50pm, Bob took
to the stage, starting again with:
> Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat
Better version than last night, much better sound right from the start and
Larry discovered a fine little riff I never heard him do before as well.
> You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
A surprise so early in the set, nicely done, great singalong with the a-
capella ending being the highlight - of course!
> Cold Irons Bound
Very hard and edgy, but very powerful too. Hasn't changed all that much
during this tour. Always solid.
> Just Like A Woman
Well, it wasn't half as good as the "Rock Am Ring" version, even though
Bob saved the song after a falt start with a killer last verse. The
phrasing was just too cool! You'll love it once you get the tapes!
> Silvio
Rocked a usual. Still everybody in the venue was in their seats due to the
very, very tight security on the floor.
> Desolation Row (acoustic)
Bob didn't plug in his guitar properly, which didn't improve the
performance of this song. A great choice of course, even though this
version was sort of a letdown because it only featured six verses as
opposed to seven earlier this year ("Orphelia" was missing) and it didn't
feature the "Neptune" verse either that had made it's comeback in Sweden
last week.
> The Times They Are A-Changin' (acoustic)
Well, one more greatest hit for the Van crowd. Solid performance without
any major high- or lowpoints. I expected him to play harp on this one,
especially since Van had played more harp than usual during his set, but
Bob didn't even came close to playing harmonica all evening. Bucky, who
had played his hand-held steel guitar for "Desolation" moved back to the
pedal steel for this song. I assume technical difficulties have bee the
reason for that.
> Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)
Yet another new substitute for the "lucky just to be employed" line. When
he first did it, I thought he just had forgotten the words, but now it
seems to be his special joke of the evening to invent new lines... The
usual jam-o-rama with Bob hopping around the stage (something he did at
every European show I've seen this year).
> Can't Wait
Solid. Without the minor mistakes that had occured in Bremen, but still
not reaching it's alltime high from the Miami Beach shows in March.
> Make You Feel My Love
Yet again. Nicely done, beautifully sung, with alot of emotion. Bob's
singing was quite good all evening actually, only the lack of surprises in
the setlist made this show a somewhat dull experience. Band intros
followed. Bob sounded as if he was in a hurry, even only mentioned the
mandolin for Bucky even though Mr. Baxter played pedal steel on about 12
songs as usual. Strange.
> Highway 61 Revisited
As I mentioned before, there was no stage rush during "Tangled" due to the
tight security, but Bob wanted to have the people on the fllor right under
his nose, so he took this songs, to heights it normally never reaches. He
and Larry played som e very, very hot endless solos and the only stopped
as everybody in the venue was basically standing on their seats. I can't
believe I'm gonna say this, but "Highway" was by far the highlight of the
show. Oh my god, I really said that!
> (encores)
> It Ain't Me Babe (acoustic)
Another solid performance, much appreciated by the crowd.
> Love Sick
Was actually very nice, featured a somewhat drawn-out ending that I
thought sounded pretty cool. Can't do much wrong with a song like this.
> Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35
Yup, this one as well, and even though they tried hard, it's still no
"Wiggle Wiggle". :-) 90 solid minutes, no surprises, no duets, no
"Blowin'" - that was it.
Thanks to Henk for getting me tickets. See you in Essen at my hopefully
very special hometown show!
Carsten Wohlfeld
--
"what once you called home is a minefield" (damon & naomi)
