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Bob Dylan 990909 in Noblesville, Indiana


Subject: mini Indy review
From: david michael fanning  d-fanni@students.uiuc.edu 
Date: 10 Sep 1999 19:18:02 GMT

Just some thoughts on the Deer Creek show.  

It started about 15 or 20 minutes late, and the lower pavilion
was still about 1/3 empty.  People were still filing in and it
was quite strange to see Bob up there playing with very little
crowd response.  As a result, I don't think he really got into it
as I've seen at other shows. We didn't mind though as we snuck up
to the 5th row for the rest of the show. Also, I think opening
with an unknown song and several acoustic songs makes for a very
slow beginning.  The highlight for me was It's all right ma, but
the crowd didn't seem really into it.

The seats did eventually fill up but according to that newspaper
review, there were only 8000 people out of a possible 20000. 
Makes you wonder what either one of these songwriting greats
would draw.

Another highlight was Not Dark Yet which was sung most clearly. 
The vocal mix was strong and Bob's singing was quite good
throughout.  I don't agree with the reviewer's butchery of the
duets.  They may not have been in perfect harmony, but it didn't
sound awkward or forced.  It actually sounded just like what I
thought a Dylan/Simon duet would sound like.  Bob carefully
watched paul throughout the Boxer.  on the next 2, they weren't
so careful and were laughing quite a bit.

Finally, another ticketmaster complaint.  After following their
website for a week or so before the concert, I noticed they were
only selling the absolute worst tickets in the highest price
category.  Then, a few days before the concert, they were selling
slightly better upper level pavilion seats.  The day before, they
start selling entire rows in the lower pavilion...getting
slightly closer as the day went on all the way up to row L.  On
the day of the show row O and higher were being offered. By the
way, this is all after the best seats that I could get via web
and phone were lousy upper pavilion tickets just 2 minutes after
they first went on sale!

My theory is that ticketmaster is doubling as a ticket broker by
offering good seats to brokers and then taking a cut of the
inflated prices. whatever seats are not sold through brokers can
then be returned to ticketmaster right before the concert.  So,
they've solved the problem of being able to only sell tickets at
their face value (as if the ridiculous "service" charges weren't
enough).  Also, the brokers avoid any risk.  Maybe this is
already common knowledge....

- Dave Fanning


From: carsten wohlfeld To: karlerik Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1999 23:03:02 +0200 Subject: september 09, 1999 - noblesville, in - a review = Bob Dylan = Noblesville, IN, September 09, 1999 = Deer Creek Music Center = A review by Carsten Wohlfeld At first I wasn't too impressed with Indianapolis. The downtown district where the Hoosier Dome (now RCA Dome) and the bus station are located seemed to be very artificial, all new, tall buildings but no people. Later I noticed all the old and often very beautiful buildings hidden between the skyscrapers and with some nice parks just a few minutes from downtown away it's actually a pretty nice city I guess. The Deer Creek Center, yet another Amphitheater, was 15 miles north of Indy, in the middle of nowhere and it was actually surprising to see that everybody showed up for the very early 7pm showtime. So instead of a half empty pavilion Dylan already played to a packed crowd when he opened with = I Am The Man Thomas (acoustic) Just as good as the night before, even though Bob seemed less animated as the previous day, maybe because it was "just" his band tonight and no special guests. = Mr. Tambourine Man (acoustic) was still okay but not as good as in Nashville. Interestingly enough it didn't feature a harp solo, which seems to be a sure sign of Bob not caring too much about the song (I mean if he usually plays harp on it and then skips the solo every now and then)… = It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (acoustic) every bit as good as the night before, which means that it ranks among the very best performances I've ever seen at a Dylan show. Simply stunning. = One Too Many Mornings (acoustic) Larry on pedal steel. I've often said that he never gets this song wrong, but tonight it didn't seem to be quite right. The band played not only VERY slow, but also very soft and because of that Bob's not very smooth vocals were (too) high in the mix. Please bare in mind that it was still very good, just not as spectacular as usual. = Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic) was "Tangled", very well done, including a closing harp solo. = All Along The Watchtower Much better performance than the one from Nashville. Unfortunately the sound engineer forgot to set the levels right and so my favorite part of the tune - Charlie's three chord intro - was almost inaudible. Larry on lap steel, this time with a pretty hot solo. = Lay Lady Lay was "Lay Lady Lay" with Larry on pedal steel. Okay, but nowhere near as good as "Just Like A Woman." = Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again Charlie on acoustic. A very good performance that leaves little to be commented on. Wonder if he's gonna do it again in Memphis on Saturday. He better does, or Simon will beat him with his line "I'm going to Graceland, Gracelaned, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee". Watch out, Bob! = Not Dark Yet As gorgeous as the night before, even though Bob should realize that soft guitar solos are best left to Charlie or Larry. Band intros followed. = Highway 61 Revisited for the people in the "bleachers in the sun". = (encore) = Like A Rolling Stone Crowd: nuts. Bob: having a great time. = Don't Think Twice (acoustic) A very welcome change to the usual "Blowin"/"Ain't Me Babe" routine. I think it just works better in this spot cause it's a bit faster and while the others might have certain lullaby qualities, to end the show this works a lot better, in my humble opinion. And it did have a harmonica solo. Then Bob welcomed "one of the greatest writer's of this century really and I'm not kidding" (his words, maybe slightly paraphrased) and Simon shuffled out on stage. = The Boxer Dylan's band had ABSOLUTELY NO idea what they were doing. Larry on pedal steel, Charlie on electric guitar, Tony on acoustic bass, David having trouble with the everchanging drum parts - great musicians each and every one of them, but NO CLUE how to do this properly. Bob wanted to do a harp solo, but couldn't cause he didn't find a way to join in his Larry's pedal steel solo. A pretty ramshackle version indeed. = I Walk The Line Larry on fiddle. Simon took the lead and it was actually quite enjoyable. I think Dylan's band does a better job on this song that Simon's. = The Wanderer There was supposed to be a bigger gap inbetween songs to allow Larry to switch from fiddle to geetar, but Simon forced Kemper to start the song and so Campbell looked both a little irritated and lost as the others started without him. And all that on a night where Bob played most leads by himself as well. = Knockin' On Heaven's Door The "big" news is, Larry is now playing an inaudible bouzouki on this song. Other than that it stays the same, Bob sings two verses, Simon one and the band supplies the still great to hear backing vocals. And then the lights came back on and the show was over, as least as far as I was concerned. In no way it was as good as Nashville, though it was still good value for money. Bob didn't mess up any songs, he just didn't do the 150% versions he did the night before. Maybe they where saving the surprises, more guests and all for Memphis? I surely hope so. Thanks for reading and goodnight. carsten wohlfeld -- http://wohlfeld.yi.org "satan is real" (the louvin brothers)
1999: January - February - March - April - May - June - July September -

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