Bob Dylan
National Indoor Arena, Birmingham
17th April 2007
Regular readers of Rockbeatsone will realise that I am a bit of a Dylan fanatic and I went to all five nights of his concerts at Brixton in 2005. This year I decided to go to glamourous places such as Amsterdam, London, Milan and... Birmingham to catch the poet laureate of rock and roll. But to be honest for the first time since I've been seeing Dylan I was a little worried. Worried that he was no longer doing it for me. Although I enjoyed the shows I caught in 2006, the band were poor, his singing was bad and I felt that the band and Bob were unravelling. I was approaching these 2007 concerts thinking that they would be the last ones where I would try and take in as many shows as I could possibly afford. My love affair with live Bob was on the wane.
But after witnessing the show in Birmingham, my faith in the old codger has been reignited. My passion for the man and his artistry rekindled. What was on display was amazing from a man in his mid to late sixties and if not as good as say seven years ago, was easily the best Dylan show I've witnessed since 2003 and possibly 2002.
Why was this Dylan show so different from the others? Well it may be for a number of reasons. The band are gelling better together as a unit after nearly two years on the road, Dylan's singing or growling or whatever is clearer and better than anything he was doing in 2004 or 2005, Bob is reinvigorated thanks to the critical and popular success of his last album, Modern Times. But even more importantly perhaps is the fact that he's playing guitar again.
The National Indoor Arena is one of those modern soulless places, although the venue did seem to do a little better than Wembley Arena in terms of food and drink. In fact the organisation at the venue was on the mark, security were present but not overbearing (unlike Wembley), and although I hate seating at a gig, if forced to, I'd prefer to sit here rather than being on a glorified industrial estate in North London.
My fourth row ticket was perfect, right in front of Bob's microphone in the centre stage. As usual Aaron Copland's fanfare announced the start of what was to be an amazing performance. The now familiar voice came over the speakers: "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the poet laureate of rock and roll, the voice of the promise of the sixties generation, the man who forced folk into bed with rock, who donned make-up in the 70s and disappeared into a haze of substance abuse, who emerged to find Jesus, who was written off as a has-been and suddenly shifted gears releasing some of the strongest music of his career beginning in the late 90s. Ladies and gentlemen, Colombia recording artist, Bob Dylan".
What a fuckin' brilliant introduction for the non-initiated. But it still always works for me, a nice short history of the man and his music - just to remind the concert goer that you are about to witness a musical legend. And also maybe Dylan's way of poking fun at himself.
‘Cat's in the Well' was the first song tonight. Dylan, playing guitar, was centre stage spitting out the nonsensical lyrics into the microphone. Next up was a wonderful dancy ‘It Ain't Me Babe', the new arrangement has a quicker tempo and a funkier groove. First surprise of the night was ‘Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues' from his landmark album, Highway 61 Revisited. Seeing Dylan again on guitar playing this song was a joy to behold. ‘It's Alright Ma (I'm only Bleeding)' is one of those songs that I will never tire of. I've always said that each rhyming couplet could be taken out and taken independently as an amazing quote and Dylan was helping us understand the song in that way. Spitting out the lyrics, he was moving his hips to a more groovy version of this song. It was during this song, that I realised that Dylan's voice was in good form tonight.
I expected Dylan to put the guitar down and turn to his keyboard but he did not do this tonight. Instead he returned centre stage a frown on his face as he tried his best to keep everything together. The tune was familiar and I knew what it was in the back of my mind, but like many a rare song at a Dylan concert it takes time to realise what it is he is playing. All of a sudden it dawned on me (and the rest of the crowd at the front) what it was he was playing. ‘Workingman's Blues'! A cheer suddenly erupted from the crowd as we had all realised at the same time. Dylan's voice was supreme, treating each line with the care and attention it deserved. This song still remains one of, if not the, highlight of Modern Times. A lovely rendition of a beautiful song that he has only played on a handful of occasions which gave me goosebumps and sent shivers down my spine.
‘Till I Fell in Love With You' saw Dylan on the keyboards. Here he moved to stage left and must have had his back to half the crowd for the rest of the concert. A Dylan concert is unlike many others, you need to do your homework in buying the seats and in the way he plays nowadays. I'm sure there are still many people who expect him to come out with an acoustic and start singing ‘Blowing in the Wind'! ‘Till I Fell in Love with You' was delivered as a raunchy blues. Here Dylan's face had a scowl and he sang the words with venom. Totally hating the woman who mucked up his life and taking himself back to the place where he had written the song, it was mesmerising to see the look on Dylan's face for this one.
A nice return for ‘Tangled Up in Blue', still one of Dylan's best songs in my opinion and one which I never tire of. We then had the two slow songs from Modern Times sandwiching ‘Highway 61 Revisited'. I still maintain that ‘When the Deal Goes Down' is one of Bob's poorer songs and perhaps one that I can't get because I'm yet to find that special person who will be with me, when the deal does indeed go down. 'Highway 61' was a rollocking version as always and faithful to how he has been playing the song over the last few years. ‘Spirit of the Water' was the other waltzy ballad from Modern Times. This song is another one which just doesn't interest me. However, the crescendo of the song is excellent and well on its way to becoming a fan-favourite (more on that later).
Next came perhaps the most poignant ‘Ballad of Hollis Brown' that I have ever witnessed. Dylan's singing was clear on this, he even repeated lines in order to emphasise certain aspects of the song and his lyrics. Perhaps this was Dylan's response to the Virginia university massacre? Dylan is always able to deliver his message through song better than any of his peers can.
‘Stuck Inside of Moblie with the Memphis Blues Again' has been played regularly this year and as always fails to live up to the recorded version (has he ever done a live version which betters the recording? Probably not). We then had the closer from Modern Times, ‘Aint Talkin' which once more was a powerful performance. The song is menacing in the right way and this was transferred to the live arena. I've seen this three times live now and have hugely enjoyed every single one.
The final five songs have been the same all tour. ‘Summer Days' is still the great dance along that it has been for a long while and one which non-fans always seem to enjoy. However, I can't help feeling that if Dylan let the band loose with it, it could return to being one hell of a rocker. Final song, ‘Like a Rolling Stone' has lost some of its power now it has been relegated to the main set. To be honest, Dylan didn't seem particularly bothered by it tonight.
The encore came in the form of ‘Thunder on the Mountain' which was greeted by cheers from the crowd, many of who may have had their interest in the old man reawakened by Modern Times. It certainly worked well tonight and was a lot quicker and tighter than on the record. Dylan injected some energy into this performance and the crowd responded well. Final song, ‘All Along the Watchtower' was as usual inspired by Jimi Hendrix's version and, as usual, loved by the majority of the crowd.
Perhaps the best way to sum up this concert is to remark on the final couplets of ‘Spirit on the Water'. I thought that maybe Dylan had lost it, that I wouldn't see a concert which would enthral me again, that perhaps he was past anything resembling his best. But as Dylan sang, "You think I'm over the hill, think I'm past my prime, let me see what you got, we can have a whopping good time" to mass cheers and hysterical whooting, it is hard not agree with the mob. There's life in the old dog yet and I for one want to see which direction Dylan takes next. See you there in 2008?
‘Cat's In The Well'
‘It Ain't Me, Babe'
‘Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues'
‘It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)'
‘Workingman's Blues #2'
''Til I Fell In Love With You'
‘Tangled Up In Blue'
‘When The Deal Goes Down'
‘Highway 61 Revisited'
‘Spirit On The Water‘
‘Ballad Of Hollis Brown'
‘Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again'
‘Ain't Talkin'
‘Summer Days'
‘Like A Rolling Stone'
encore:
‘Thunder On The Mountain'
‘All Along The Watchtower'
by James Ketchell
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