We saw him at the Greek Saturday night as well. You’ve captured the magic of that night, of Dylan shrouded in black casting us all in his spell. I used to sing in a Dylan band and am in awe of his lyrics, but what really hit me Saturday night was the way his music evokes a world a little more mysterious and eventful than our own, a world where the narrator talks to someone named Black Rider who happens to be sleeping with his wife, where he rides in a buggy with Miss Mary Jane, and a woman gives her heart to a man in a long black coat, etc. And he makes us all yearn to live in that world with him.
Lovely review Matthew. As you know I have long pondered Dylan's singular, extreme ability to follow the urgings of his own inner voice no matter what the response. It has given us some of the greatest art and some of the oddest. It was great to get your take.
That's so funny... I was there on Saturday as well, sitting not close, and I turned to my husband and said, "is Bob wearing a black hoodie?" That's how I saw it. But cloak much better. Thank you for this beautiful rendering. I have never been obsessed with Dylan, but I was moved by this show, he was clearly ON, and the stage was dim & elegant, a reprieve from screen-dom. P.s. I helped set up for Pavement at Amherst approx 1997. Blew my mind.
Not sure if you are talking about this show, but in October of 1994 they played Amherst College, that was the last show of the Crooked Rain tour. I was there! I remember Ibold’s bass amp kept fritzing out. There were like 40 people there, it was such a killer show.
Dude. Great piece. We saw Bob Dylan (and Willy Nelson) at the Outlaw Music Festival, and I gotta say, it was so very different that I’m not entirely convinced it was actually Bob Dylan. First off, he was obscured by a piano the entire time, which he did not play, nor a guitar, nor the harmonica. Secondly, as soon as they came on stage, the Jumbotron pulled way back into a wide shot of the entire stage, and never went in for a single close-up. But when they got off and Willy Nelson’s band came on, the Jumbotron IMMEDIATELY went in tight on Willy’s face! Highly unusual. Also, the band seemed out of step with their leader, as if Dylan were intentionally changing tempos and phrasings as a way to either mess with them, or just because he wanted to play what he felt at the moment. A lot of communication was also visibly going on between the musicians as they tried to help each other not get lost in the spontaneously changed arrangements.
I also want to give Willy Nelson some praise, who, at an incredible 93 years old somehow still had his voice, his chops, and his wits about him. I’m not comparing one to the other here. They were both amazing and very different experiences and I feel so lucky to have gotten to see them perform.
Bob played the piano the whole time, and broke out the harmonica a couple of times. The band was completely locked in. It’s true that I couldn’t see him, the stage was deliberately dim and he was wearing that cloak. But whatever. I know what he looks like. I’d love to catch Willie, I think he might be around here in the next month or so.
". . . 90 minutes of absolutely transcendent weirdness" is a wonderful invitation to the Dylan who left me behind after his folk rock days--too much work, too garbled, too much for a girl who just wanted to sing along and understand what she was singing about. Thank you for sharing the magic of what I've missed.
We saw him at the Greek Saturday night as well. You’ve captured the magic of that night, of Dylan shrouded in black casting us all in his spell. I used to sing in a Dylan band and am in awe of his lyrics, but what really hit me Saturday night was the way his music evokes a world a little more mysterious and eventful than our own, a world where the narrator talks to someone named Black Rider who happens to be sleeping with his wife, where he rides in a buggy with Miss Mary Jane, and a woman gives her heart to a man in a long black coat, etc. And he makes us all yearn to live in that world with him.
Lovely review Matthew. As you know I have long pondered Dylan's singular, extreme ability to follow the urgings of his own inner voice no matter what the response. It has given us some of the greatest art and some of the oddest. It was great to get your take.
yes, we’ve all thought so much about Bob, and he continues to wonderfully elude.
That's so funny... I was there on Saturday as well, sitting not close, and I turned to my husband and said, "is Bob wearing a black hoodie?" That's how I saw it. But cloak much better. Thank you for this beautiful rendering. I have never been obsessed with Dylan, but I was moved by this show, he was clearly ON, and the stage was dim & elegant, a reprieve from screen-dom. P.s. I helped set up for Pavement at Amherst approx 1997. Blew my mind.
Not sure if you are talking about this show, but in October of 1994 they played Amherst College, that was the last show of the Crooked Rain tour. I was there! I remember Ibold’s bass amp kept fritzing out. There were like 40 people there, it was such a killer show.
Dude. Great piece. We saw Bob Dylan (and Willy Nelson) at the Outlaw Music Festival, and I gotta say, it was so very different that I’m not entirely convinced it was actually Bob Dylan. First off, he was obscured by a piano the entire time, which he did not play, nor a guitar, nor the harmonica. Secondly, as soon as they came on stage, the Jumbotron pulled way back into a wide shot of the entire stage, and never went in for a single close-up. But when they got off and Willy Nelson’s band came on, the Jumbotron IMMEDIATELY went in tight on Willy’s face! Highly unusual. Also, the band seemed out of step with their leader, as if Dylan were intentionally changing tempos and phrasings as a way to either mess with them, or just because he wanted to play what he felt at the moment. A lot of communication was also visibly going on between the musicians as they tried to help each other not get lost in the spontaneously changed arrangements.
I also want to give Willy Nelson some praise, who, at an incredible 93 years old somehow still had his voice, his chops, and his wits about him. I’m not comparing one to the other here. They were both amazing and very different experiences and I feel so lucky to have gotten to see them perform.
Bob played the piano the whole time, and broke out the harmonica a couple of times. The band was completely locked in. It’s true that I couldn’t see him, the stage was deliberately dim and he was wearing that cloak. But whatever. I know what he looks like. I’d love to catch Willie, I think he might be around here in the next month or so.
We saw him about a year ago so maybe it was a new ensemble still getting their act together.
could have just been an off night!
". . . 90 minutes of absolutely transcendent weirdness" is a wonderful invitation to the Dylan who left me behind after his folk rock days--too much work, too garbled, too much for a girl who just wanted to sing along and understand what she was singing about. Thank you for sharing the magic of what I've missed.