Well I finally fulfilled one of my life-long musical goals last night when my wife and I made our way down to Bloomington to see Bob Dylan at IU’s Auditorium. It’s kind of remarkable that it’s taken me so many years to actually see him, but it’s just never quite worked out before. Well this time everything fell into place, so my wife and I used our Ticketmaster giftcard that a very good friend gave us as a wedding present (awesome, I know), and $70 I earned for being a guinea pig for a clinical trial, and got ourselves some sweet balcony seats. The auditorium wasn’t too big, so there really wasn’t a bad seat in the house – and even though we were up near the top, I never felt too far away from the action.
I won’t bore you with details – especially since you can get them on any number of Dylan fan-sites – but I just wanted to say how great it was to see someone at Bob’s age (68, I think) rocking out like he was last night. Seriously. He rocked. Like when his band was ripping through “Highway 61 Revisited” I thought I was hearing some Zeppelin-style thunder on that stage. Simply put – this was a ROCK SHOW. And it was fun, because ROCK SHOWS are fun. It’s in the rules or something. I kept thinking of my friends that don’t listen to a lick of Dylan, but who would’ve probably loved last nights set – you know, because it was rockin!
Anyway, I also loved hearing how much liberty Bob took with his songs – turning “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” into a riffed-out bluesy rocker and “Cold Irons Bound” into an even more haunting affair than it already was, with plenty of organ and rumbling percussion. “Ballad of a Thin Man” was especially incredible, with floor lights casting long shadows across the back wall and ceiling every time Bob raised his arms ominously, singing “Because something is happening here!”
So, short version: it was amazing. Thanks for reading.
mp3: Bob Dylan – It’s All Good
from the album Together Through Life (Amazon/iTunes)
The set list is after the jump…
Watching The River Flow
The Man In Me
Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
It’s All Good
If You Ever Go To Houston
The Levee’s Gonna Break
San Diego Serenade (1 verse – Tom Waits cover)
This Dream of You
Cold Irons Bound
Tryin’ To Get To Heaven
Highway 61 Revisited
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Thunder On The Mountain
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Encore:
Like A Rolling Stone
Jolene
All Along The Watchtower
Tags: Bob Dylan
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It’s inspirational when old-timers like Dylan still rock into their sixties. You’re never too old to feel good and feeling good is why we have rock n’ roll. I wish I’d gone to the Saltair show he did last month. It was high energy I hear.
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I generally don’t buy live albums, but Dylan is the exception given his penchant for re-working and even re-inventing his songs in concert.
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I went to see Dylan a couple of years ago, but I didn’t know he tends to start his shows early, so my girlfriend and I rocked up at 9pm (as we tend to do), to find not a soul outside the arena. Yeah, everyone was inside already, and we’d missed well over an hour.
Luckily the sound was terrible in there, and we got bored with the 40 minutes we did get. I still feel mostly disappointed with myself.
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