Bob Dylan 990908 in Antioch, Tennessee

Subject: Nashville (Antioch) Review
From: Joe_Cox  mrmustardNOtdSPAM@hotmail.com 
Date: Thu, 09 Sep 1999 10:49:32 -0700

     I warned you all and here it is: another review from 
me, this time coming a little closer on the heels of the 
show I saw, specifically, last night's show just outside of 
Nashville. Nashville is just a short jaunt from home, and 
it's certainly a privilege to have Bob playing more or less 
in the back yard :) That said, it was a phenomenally 
strange show. It had some incredible ups, some subterranean 
lows, and a lot of strange moments in between. It wasn't 
the best show I've ever seen Bob give, by any stretch of 
the imagination, but it might somehow be the most 
memorable.

     Paul Simon was, well, Paul Simon. I had a little fun 
with the traveling companions by "requesting" certain songs 
which I knew Simon would play. Obviously, it didn't 
intrigue anybody who'd seen the show before, but it got a 
lot of amazed reactions from the folks around us. I thought 
Paul was somehow better than he had been the other two 
times I saw him, but in retrospect, that might be very well 
due to the quite beautiful (and mildly drunken) woman who 
sat next to me... but I guess that's a story for another 
day and place :) I enjoyed my three Paul Simon viewings, 
but I'll not be actively seeking him out anytime soon.

     Paul brought out Bob which naturally worked the crowd 
into a frenzy. As a side note, it was a very good crowd, 
which stood for the bulk of Dylan's set and was very much 
into the performance. As they always do, the two exchanged 
a few pleasantries and they got the duets rolling.

The Boxer

     Bob had some problems with the height of his 
microphone and had to adjust it a couple of times early in 
the song, but this was quite a strong performance. Bob's 
vocal was farther up in the mix than in any of the duets 
I'd previously heard and he was gamely carrying his gravel-
like voice through the song. This was quite a touching 
rendition, as Paul and Bob (or is it Bob and Paul?) 
actually seemed, for once, to be singing together instead 
of against each other. Bob broke out the harp, but got 
discouraged when his riffs were competing with one of 
Simon's horn players. But he came back with a very strong 
bit to end the song (much stronger than the poor bit he 
tried in Atlanta). 

I Walk the Line
 
     They really don't sing this one very well at all, but 
face it, appreciating Johnny Cash is a prerequisite for 
being a decent human being. For that reason, I really 
enjoyed this song. Nothing too terribly memorable here; a 
solid performance, but certainly not topping "The Boxer".

The Wanderer
 
     I more or less assumed that "I Walk the Line" would 
segue into "Blue Moon of Kentucky", but instead it abruptly 
ended. Of course, I quickly recalled that he'd done "I Walk 
the Line" and then "The Wanderer" once or twice before, and 
sure enough, that's what Bob and Paul delivered. Not as 
much clowning on this one as I'm used to; no "I tell 'em 
I'm Bob Dylan" line from Paul (which I have heard twice 
before). A solid performance.

Knockin' on Heaven's Door
     
     The pseudo-Budokan arrangement wafted out into the 
night again. I really enjoy this one and so did the rest of 
the place apparently. Bob was working on a lot of guitar 
jamming during this one, at one point even soloing in 
between vocal lines. He and Simon weren't very precise on 
this one, yet there was a good-natured attitude there which 
made it work. Back in July, it seemed like a vocal slip-up 
produced some sour feelings between the two, last night, it 
was just a good excuse to ham it up a little more. At the 
end, Paul hit the next to last chord and stayed on it for 
quite awhile (as he does with one of his own songs; Is it 
"Graceland"? My memory fails me.) while Bob riffed on it 
right beside him. When he finally switched to the ending 
chord, Bob gave a noticeable sigh of relief, maybe picking 
on Paul just a bit! After about a half-hour break, most of 
which I spent chatting with Bill and Jane Parr, we got what 
we came for.

I Am the Man, Thomas

    I wanted to hear this one, Bill wanted to hear it, my 
friends wanted to hear it... and he played it! And played 
it well! One of my friends commented on the way home last 
night that it was "one of the best songs ever written" and 
said that he was inspired to attend church on Sunday, based 
solely on that song. Well, I'm not sure about the best song 
ever written bit, but it's a great song and a fantastic 
performance. 
    When the lights came up, we all noticed Marty Stuart 
was right up there in the thick of things. Marty had the 
mandolin on this song, and most of the acoustic set, and 
his presence was certainly welcome. "I Am the Man, Thomas" 
got great harmony vocals from Larry and Charlie, and a 
fantastic performance from Bob. What can I say- I saw the 
first two "Somebody Touched Me"s and the first two "I Am 
The Man, Thomas"s; Bob is definitely making a statement 
these days. I'm not too sure what it is, but I know the 
gist of it, I'll say that! Excellent performance, but 
unfortunately it had to end.

Mr. Tambourine Man
     
     Bob mentioned special guest Marty Stuart, who got a 
nice hand and then launched into "Tambourine Man", which 
was quite solid. Not the greatest version ever, but 
extremely nice. Bob's vocals were a little low and growly 
on this one, and this was the first song where he was 
really hamming it up with Marty Stuart. Truth be told, I 
thought this was a good version, but nothing too 
incredible, until I saw Bob make the trek toward the back 
of the stage. The harp adds so much to this song!
     Bob proceeded to play his harp bit right into Marty 
Stuart's face and the two of them were having a great time. 
This harp bit was much different than the one I heard on 
"Tambourine Man" in July; much more melodic and pleasing. 
It really put a nice cap on the performance. As a side 
note, this made me remember that in Atlanta when Bob sang 
"Mobile", in the second verse he sang "Shakespeare, he's in 
the alley, with his tambourine and his bells." Could the 
Bard be the Tambourine Man? Probably not, but it makes one 
wonder.

It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
   
    WOW! It really doesn't get much better than this. Just 
110% dead on. Unlike reports from Charlotte, Bob knew the 
words this time, and put his soul behind this song. The 
band seemed to struggle very slightly to keep up sometimes, 
but Bob was just carrying them right through it. If I 
picked a syllable of the night "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" would 
definitely be it. This was just an absolutely brilliant 
performance, nothing more and nothing less. The crowd 
seemed to appreciate this one; at least much more than I 
would have expected. Perfect!

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
   
     I'm going to hypothesize that Bob spent all his time 
studying the lyrics to "It's Alright Ma" and thus forgot 
most of the ones for "Baby Blue". This performance was just 
flat botched. Bob screwed up pretty much the whole first 
verse and then proceeded to sing behind the music for the 
rest of the song, which more or less ruined it. He tried to 
compensate by singing with a lot of soul, but he just could 
NOT get the lyrics, culminating by ending the song with 
"Look out the saints are coming through" again. Larry was 
on the pedal steel and he gave a fine performance, but 
still this was the weakest performance of the night by a 
decent margin.

Tangled Up in Blue

      But Bob can bounce back. Oh, he can bounce back. This 
was the best "Tangled" I've seen live. Bear in mind, I 
didn't see Rolling Thunder or the '84 tour or anything, so 
that doesn't mean much, but it was extremely good. Bob was 
just dead on with his vocals, singing this song with a 
passion that I've not gotten from it before. In the third 
verse, he sang "And he drifted down to New Orleans, where 
he was lucky to be employed/ working a job on a fishing 
boat, as his mind was almost destroyed". Also in the 
Italian poet verse, he sang "handed" which is the official 
version rather than "read" which I had heard the three 
other times I've heard that verse. His harp solo was 
brilliant again. He took off the guitar, so he was fairly 
dancy again, this time bending himself at the waist a 
couple of times when he found some nice grooves with the 
harp. He was having a great time with Marty on this one and 
as the song ended, Marty pointed at Bob with this look of 
amusement and admiration. An excellent performance!

All Along the Watchtower

     No surprise here. This was much better than Saturday 
in Atlanta, but it's still pretty pedestrian. Bob was much 
more into soloing than in Atlanta and Marty kind of livened 
it up a bit. Larry Campbell was great on the pedal steel 
and Charlie nailed the intro this time. The band was really 
cooking on this one, but I don't feel like Bob sang it 
terribly well. Solid, but nothing too wonderful.

Just Like a Woman

     Keeping Larry on the pedal steel is fine with me and 
we got a nice version of "JLAW". I think Larry is still a 
little low in the mix on this one; seems like Bucky made it 
the dominant instrument on this one. Bob really fooled 
around with the vocal on this one, trying out about a new 
style every line. He was really into the guitar bit too, as 
he was much more solo oriented than I've grown accustomed 
to on the slow electric songs. A nice performance. Above 
average certainly, but I'd have rather gotten something a 
bit more obscure.

Silvio

     This is the part you're not going to believe. Bob 
Dylan, yes, Robert Allen Zimmerman, COULD NOT REMEMBER THE 
FIRST VERSE! He's only sung "Silvio" approximately 10 
billion times and he completely blew the first verse. It 
was mainly just unintelligble mumbling and he hit on a word 
or two from other verses, but he blew it so bad that I 
wondered if the song wouldn't just somehow die. 
     Thankfully, Larry and Charlie saved him by getting him 
through the chorus and from there, Bob managed to remember 
it. This performance had a lot of jamming. Tony, dressed to 
the nines in his purple suit, was really prancing around. 
Marty took a brief turn at a solo! It was a fun song, but 
once you've heard "Silvio", well, you've heard "Silvio".

Not Dark Yet

     I was happy to get this one again after the brilliant 
rendition from Atlanta. This version was almost, but not 
quite as good. Still a highlight of the show however. Marty 
started the song with an electric guitar on, but he quickly 
called for a mandolin, got one, and proceeded to play some 
nice riffs under the melody. I really have to salute his 
musicianship- he did a fine job coming in as a one-nighter 
like that. I love the sound the guitars get on this one; 
it's almost like there's a pedal steel in there, but there 
certainly isn't! Bob is right on top of the vocals for this 
one and it sounds so profoundly meaningful. An excellent 
performance of this very special song.

Highway 61 Revisited

     Bob introduced his band, without any really special 
comments, then paused at the end to introduce Marty Stuart 
again. They then kicked into "Highway" at which point we 
all rushed the stage. The vantage point was great, but I 
don't think I'll ever hear out of my left ear again. 
Charlie broke into a deep-bent duckwalk for a few seconds 
and this was the great guitar performance that it always 
is. 
    Charlie Sexton plays the greatest solo on this! It's 
never the same twice and it's always white-hot and intense.
The place was jumping, folks! "Highway 61" always sounds 
more or less the same, but it's so good that I'll take it 
any night! Marty got a big hug from Bob and the regular set 
ended with a bang.

Like a Rolling Stone

    Bob milked the ovation nicely before returning for the 
encores. This was a very straightforward version of "LARS" 
with one real exception: Marty Stuart joined in on the 
singing for the chorus. And did so quite well, I might add. 
You know, the band COULD use another member... :)
    Again, if you've heard "Rolling Stone", well, you've 
heard "Rolling Stone". Again, though both the song and the 
arrangement are so indispensable that I love them every 
time out. Red-hot guitar work from Larry and Charlie, nice 
harmony from Marty, and being a few feet from The Man 
himself certainly made it memorable.

Blowin' in the Wind

    Before this one started, Bob ran through all the chords 
for "Don't Think Twice" on his guitar, which I really 
would've enjoyed hearing. But somehow, he elected for 
"Blowin' in the Wind." Strong vocals, both from Bob, and 
from the Larry/Charlie duo highlighted this. After the 
third verse, Marty steps up and counter-solos with Bob on 
the mandolin. I was just amazed at the brilliance he 
displayed with this. Bob enjoyed it so much that instead of 
singing the chorus that fourth time through to end the 
song, he turned and mouthed "one more" to Larry and let 
Marty solo through the chorus. The band followed with the 
final chorus, framing a very solid performance.

Not Fade Away
    
      This is so much better than "Rainy Day Women"! The 
guitars always completely dominate. Plus it's a great note 
to end on, thematically. Again, lots of jamming and playing 
around with Marty, as well as nice dancing. Bob was very 
wiggly throughout the night, but in this one he showed my 
favorite move of his: he bounced to one side, then the 
other, then split his legs wider apart. It looks like a 
move a tailback would use in the open field (football 
reference, for the non sports-literate) and it's just 
hilarious. What a great closer! The performance again was 
very typical, but it's just a great song and arrangement!

     This was a genuinely odd show. Certainly very 
entertaining, though. What a great crowd! What a great 
effort from Marty Stuart! And it was a very solid 
performance from Bob and the boys. Simon wasn't bad either.
Thanks go to Bill Pagel, Bill Parr, all you RMDers who read 
these things, Ricky Cobb, Barbara Dawson, Matt and Greg, 
the lovely woman beside me, and well, everybody who makes 
these things happen and gives me a good excuse to ramble 
about them. And thank you, Bob Dylan!

All the best,

Joe



Subject: Nashville 9.8.99
From: Paul Williams 
Date: 9 Sep 1999 13:59:41 -0700

I was not in the best of moods driving up to Nashville. Three
different people who had said they'd go had cancelled out, so I
was driving up there with an extra ticket to sell. I had to ask
myself, "are these three hour drives (and back) really worth it
for maybe a couple of hours of Bob?" When I got to the venue, I
was trying to sell my ticket, and the gestapo ran me off the
premises, saying I couldn't sell my ticket on their property. I
hoofed it a good long way back to the street, and they accosted
me again, telling me that I had to go even further out if I
wanted to sell my ticket. At this point I just said "fuck it,"
and decided to just take the loss, or just give the fucking
ticket away. Surely there can't be a law against that. On my way
back, a guy asked me if I had a ticket for sale. He didn't look
like an undercover gestapo agent or anything, so I told him I'd
sell him my $65 ticket for $50. He wound up haggling me down to
$25, so I wound up taking a $40+ bath, including the "service
charge." Ouch.

Got inside and didn't see a soul that I knew. Simon came out with
his band of very talented musicians, great players all of them. 
I'm not much of a Simon fan, but I really did try to like it. I
really did. After all, I told myself, I did really like Simon and
Garfunkle when I was a kid. But for all of the talent up there on
stage, I found myself asking, "why am I not enjoying this?" For
one thing, the light show was fairly obnoxious, all this flashing
on and off, and smoke and shit. For another, despite all the
talent in that band, I couldn't escape the fact that it was all
for the most part just exotic window dressing, and all the smoke
and mirrors in the world couldn't disguise the fact that Simon
has always been Bob Dylan Lite. There were moments that were kind
of enjoyable. I've always loved the horn section on "Late In The
Evening." But it just came across as this rich guy accumulating
all these disparate elements to dress up a bunch of fairly bland
songs. I'm not against multicultural music. Kip Hanrahan's been
doing it brilliantly for years, since way before GRACELAND came
out, as a matter of fact. But nobody knows who the fuck Kip
Hanrahan is.

Bob came out for the four song "duets" portion of the evening. He
seemed to be gamely giving it a go, but looked pretty
uncomfortable up there with Simon and his huge band. Their voices
did not blend well at all. I was beginning to see what that guy
who wrote last week about how disappointing he found these shows
to be was talking about. Ugh. They did "The Boxer," "I Walk The
Line" (which was at least kind of cool to hear in Nashville),
"The Wanderer," (the 2nd Dion song I've heard Bob do, the other
being "Abraham, Martin and John")  and "Knockin' On Heaven's
Door." Back when they first announced this tour, I said that I
wasn't too interested in hearing these two guys together, and
somebody asked me if I wasn't at least curious to hear what
they'd sound like. Well, maybe I was a little curious, but I have
to say that my mind was not changed. If anything, it was far
worse than I could have imagined.

After the first part of the show mercifully ended, I wandered
around, trying to find anybody that I might know.  The staff at
this facility is the rudest bunch of people I've run across in a
while. You can't even ask them a simple question, like, "where's
the bathroom?" or something without getting a smartass reply.
Throughout my roaming, I heard several people comment on how rude
the people who work at this place are. It's totally unnecessary.

Finally, I ran into a friend who used to live in Memphis, who
immediately proceeded to alter my outlook on things. As we walked
up to the lawn, we ran into a friend of some of his friends, a
lovely lady from Murfreesboro named Perthany, who was both
enchanted and enchanting. We made friends immediately, and at
this point the whole world seemed brighter. Thank you, my dear,
for being so magical at a time when I needed a little magic. She
even likes NRBQ! The perfect woman! She went to find her friends,
and I went down to my seat, which was on about the twentieth row.

Dylan came out with his  band, opening with the Stanley Brothers
song, "I Am The Man, Thomas." They sounded so good, a much fuller
sound than I'd expected. This is my first show of the post-Bucky
era, and I was amazed at how good they sounded. much better than
any of the tapes of this tour that I've heard. Then, I notice
there's an extra person on stage, playing mandolin. I take a good
look through my binoculars: Marty Stuart. He played mandolin for
the entire acoustic set. "Mr Tambourine Man" was the next number.
Bob's voice sounded great, and the accompaniment was muy
simpaticio. I've always wanted to see Bob with a real bluegrass
band, and throwing Marty into the mix transformed Bob's band into
just that. Bob was talking to Marty in between songs all night
long, as much as I've ever seen him verbally communicate with
anyone on stage. An absolutely stunning "It's Alright Ma"
followed, Bob spitting out the words very clearly and
deliberately. I thought back to the first time I saw him on the
'74 tour, and the huge ovation that he got when he delivered the
line, "sometimes even the president of the United States must
have to stand naked" had gotten. Interestingly enough, it didn't
get nearly the roar of approval it had received twenty-five years
ago. "Baby Blue" was next, with Larry Campbell moving over to
pedal steel for some beautiful accompaniment. I love the
arrangement they're doing. "Tangled up In Blue" finished off the
acoustic set, and as many times as I've heard this song, I don't
know if I've ever heard it quite so beautifully rendered. Bob was
genuinely inspired by Marty's presence, and he pulled out his
harp, and played it better than I've heard him play it in a long,
long time. He and Marty were standing right next to each other,
trading off and it was quite a moment. Marty's mandolin added so
much to the sound of the band, making them sound even tighter and
more rhythmic than usual. This was absolutely the best acoustic
set I've ever heard Bob do.

The electric set opened with "Watchtower," a song I've heard too
many times,  but nevertheless one of his great songs, and
tonight's version was tighter than I'd heard it in a while, not
any pointless jamming, just cutting to the quick, not wasting a
bit. Marty switched to electric guitar, and Larry moved over to
lap steel on this one, and took a wicked solo, reminding me of
the way Al Perkins used to play in his days with the Flying
Burrito Brothers and Manassas. "Just Like A Woman," a song I
could hear Bob sing a million times and never tire of, was next.
Larry played some beautiful pedal steel on this one, and Bob sang
it beautifully, as he always does. "Silvio" was next, a
crowd-pleaser and a hypnotic incantation, not my favorite
selection, but a great version.

Marty switched back to mandolin for the next number, "Not Dark
Yet," the lone TOOM song of the evening. He weaved lovely lines
around Bob's vocals, and this made for one of the nicest musical
moments of the night. A poignant song, beautifully rendered.
Charlie Sexton had been fairly quiet up to this point, doing nice
ensemble work, and contributing backing vocals. His high voice
blends very well with Larry's, giving Bob his best male back-up
vocals since the Band. He strapped on a different beautiful
Telecaster for each of the next two numbers, Highway 61, and
"Like A Rolling Stone," which was exactly the song I needed to
hear at that moment. He ripped into both songs with a ferocity
reminscent of Jimi Hendrix. I noticed that he uses a lot of
effects to get his sound, which testifies to how much Bob thinks
of him. I don't think Bob's ever let anyone use so many effects
before, but why argue with success? During  LARS, Charlie was
quoting Bloomfield's original solo from the record, something
that Bob has rarely allowed his musicians to do. I remember
somebody (John Howells?) talking about him doing this a month or
so ago, but you really have to hear it for yourself to quite
grasp how brilliantly Charlie pulls it off. Marty leaned in and
shared the mic with Bob on the chorus. Bob kept pointing at
Charlie as the young guitarist wailed, like he was saying, "look
at him, just look at him, will ya?"

After these, everybody left the stage, the crowd's applause
slowly built to a thunderous ovation, and the band came back for
two more, a bluegrassy version of "Blowin' In The Wind," and a
version of "Not Fade Away" that was closer to Buddy Holly than
the Grateful Dead on this night. I left feeling totally
exhilerated. I was so glad that I made that three hour drive.
This show was magic. Life is wonderful.

I've had extraordinary good fortune/dumb luck over the years
seeing some pretty great walk-ons at Dylan shows. Tonight was my
forty-seventh show, and at eleven of them somebody's come out of
the wings to do something special. In order, I've seen the
following folks guest at Bob shows: Santana, Bloomfield, Garcia,
Maria Muldaur, Roger McGuinn, Al Kooper & Dave Stewart & Annie
Lennox (same show), Joe Walsh, Billy Lee Riley, Dicky Betts, Carl
Perkins, and now Marty Stewart. Tonight's show fell on the
seventh anniversary of the Billy Lee Riley appearance in Little
Rock. This was the first time I'd seen anyone sit in the whole
night, and as great as those other folks were, this was
definitely the finest overall contribution I've ever seen anyone
make in a walk-on role. It was night and day seeing Bob with Paul
Simon, and then with Marty Stewart. It was obvious who's company
Bob preferred, which is not to put down Simon, who the large
crowd seemed to enjoy, as it is to say how much he seemed to
immensely enjoy Marty's presence on stage. I know I did. I would
love to see him join the band, or at least make the trip down to
Memphis on Saturday. All in all, I'd have to say that this was
quite possibly the best Dylan concert I've ever seen, and I've
seen some great ones. My only quibble would be the shortage of
TOOM songs, but I'm not complaining. Last night was pure magic.
Needless to say, I'm looking for a tape.

np: THE BEST OF THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR

"No, I'm not THAT Paul Williams. I like him, too.
"Money may buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail."
                                          - Kinky Friedman


From: carsten wohlfeld  carsten.wohlfeld@ruhr-uni-bochum.de 
To: karlerik  karlerik@monet.no 
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 22:21:11 +0200
Subject: september 08, 1999 - nashville, tn - a review

= Bob Dylan
= Nashville, TN, September 08, 1999
= First American Music Center
= A review by Carsten Wohlfeld

Maybe it was just because I never have been to Nashville before,
though I wanted to go for a long time, maybe it was because this
was my first show after a break, but I had a great time today.
The city itself seems to be the perfect mix of traditional
"country" vibes and the flair of a modern big city. And there's
so much to see, especially if you are into music. First the
Skyline of course, most important thing for a real Dylan freak,
then the Grand Ole Opry (which I didn't visit cause I went to
the) Hall Of Fame Of Country Music instead and that was pretty
exciting as was the original Studio B. Lots of churches around in
Nashville, too. Big ones, small ones, old ones, new ones, fancy
ones and some that even looked like department stores. Anyways,
on to the main course.

The Music Center is as bad/good as every pavilion in this
country, you either love or hat them. The lawn seats were cheap
and you got to stretch out in the sun. Nice. The show started at
8.15, and as Paul Williams reported already, using slightly
different words, Paul Simon sucked. The concert only improved
when Bob showed up for

= The Boxer

Simon basically sang lead and Bob mumbled along. Halfway through,
he got his harmonica out of his pocket and literally held it
under Simon's nose. He remained unimpressed though, sang another
verse and then 'allowed' Bob to do the solo, which wasn't one of
his best. After the song Bob said something to Simon who seemed
to reply: "No, that's okay". Did Bob apologize for the only so-so
solo?!

= I Walk The Line

was "I Walk The Line".

= The Wanderer

Gets harder and harder every time they play it. Now even Simon's
very laidback band really rocks. Bob had a great time doing the
song, he was all smiles and was almost dancing around.

= Knockin' On Heaven's Door

the reggae arrangement. Bob had even more fun than before during
the new nonsense ending. A 45 minute intermission followed.

Then it was time for the real thing and you couldn't help but
notice a lot of changes straight away: There's a new member of
the road crew for example. The guy who used to work for Patti
Smith has now replaced the guy who used to look after Tony's and
Charlie's instruments. Larry now plays a crème-colored Fender
Tele for all the electric songs, instead of changing from Fender
to Gibson and back various times. He also doesn't play his red
slide anymore, it was been replaced by a lap steel on a couple of
songs.

= I Am The Man Thomas (acoustic)

A great way to kickstart the show. A very fast tune, kinda
similar to "O Babe It Ain't No Lie" and "Roving Gambler", just
more powerful, with Larry and Charlie joining in on backing
vocals for the chorus. And: There was a guest on stage for the
whole night, playing mandolin for almost every song during the
acoustic set and electric guitar for the rest (unless otherwise
noted): Marty Stuart, who was introduced by Bob after the song.

= Mr. Tambourine Man (acoustic)

Pretty good version (did I really say that?) cause Bob put a lot
of effort into the vocals delivery. Stuart's presense really
seemed to fire him up, he seemed a lot more animated than usual
and talked to Marty after almost every song. He almost played
lead guitar on every song tonight, too. A harp solo closed the
song. But it was what followed, that completelz made the night
(for me and without a doubt for many, many others)

= It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (acoustic)

Crystal clear singing, Bob was spitting out the words just like
on every great performance of this song you've ever heard.
Sounded as if they did it 500 times already, not only once with
this band. Pretty good arrangement too, with some nice loud/fast
vs. slow/quiet changes by David.

= It's All Over Now Baby Blue (acoustic)

had Marty on electric guitar, interestingly enough and not on
acoustic as reported elsewhere. The song started with Larry's
gorgeous pedal steel solo and it could've been a once in a
lifetime performance if Bob hadn't been distracted by something
that caused him to have some troubles with the words. Halfway
through it got much better again though and Bob switched to
crooner-mode, putting in his best Sinatra impression.

= Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)

was a tremendous performance, probably the most enjoyable one
I've heard in four years or so. Bob was toying around with the
words a lot, still watching Marty's every move. The harp solo at
the end was pretty damn good, too, with Bob doing a little call
and reponse thing with Marty, now back on mandolin.

= All Along The Watchtower

Finally its all electric again, with Charlie starting it off
almost as loud and hard as JJ used to do. Larry moved over to the
lap steel, which made for a very "violent" sound, especially
since one of the guitars seemed to be out of tune. Bob played
lead and pretty loud he did it, too.

= Just Like A Woman

crooner approach, part two. Yet another song that I thought I'd
never want to hear again that due to Bob's great mood and
on-the-spot vocal delivery was a highlight.

= Silvio

The usual rock workout, tonight with a new solo courtesy of guest
Marty.

= Not Dark Yet

Sung to perfection in his low voice and - "It's All Right Ma"
aside -, most definitely the highlight of the night. Marty played
the mandolin on this song and it fitted very well with the
darkish mood of the song.  Band intros and a quick thank you to
Marty Stuart followed. As did:

= Highway 61 Revisited

Larry on lap steel again and with the three other guitarists
trading off leads the whole thing was a gigantic excuse to rock
even harder than on Silvio.

= (encore) = Like A Rolling Stone

pretty nice version, with Marty joining Bob on vocals during the
chorus. It was great to see the two together and see Bob having
so much fun. I don't think I ever saw him interacting with a
guest that much before.

= Blowin' In The Wind (acoustic)

The answer is blowin' in the wind and I still don't know what the
question was: Mabe it was: "Why do I keep playing this song" if
it changes so little and it always sounds tired and dated"?

= Not Fade Away

Four guitarist on stage - do I need to say more? Soloing the
night away.

A very, very strong show thanks mainly to Marty Stuart to
brought a whol enw feel to the band and obviously had a big
impact on Bob's perfect mood. The show was so good indeed, I'd
probably place it among the Top 10 if not Top 5 Dylan shows I've
ever seen. Though you need to ask me again in four weeks… Glad I
could make it, thanks Bob.

carsten wohlfeld
--
http://wohlfeld.yi.org
"love is just a lie made to make you blue" (boudeleaux bryant)