Bob Dylan roll call.

[AD]

no, i think that was my 3rd show and by far the best show, and it totally exceeded all my expectations.

his voice is terrible though, he had no youthful anything that i could tell, and the meaning of elusive charisma eludes me right now.

I guess that's Armstrong's opinion. doesn't jive with mine.

good thing dylan has a smoking hot band - they made the show for me, but Armstrong made no mention of them in his review. Perhaps his deadline was rather early. Oh well. Reviews are just reviews.

(but really, who here thinks Dylan's voice / voicings / phrasing / whatever Armstrong was trying to convey is "terrific"?)

i thought dylan was totally spoken-word / hip-hop on Like A Rolling Stone, that was cool.

[Rob Not Bob]

Oh, and after the show I was making my way through the crowd, and some middle age bint in a lawn chair was saying in a smug voice, "I came in with very low expectations ... and they were just barely met." So I emptied my water bottle over her head (in my mind, which I reckon was much more satisfying than it would have been in real life.)

Side note for the lawn chair debate : at this point the show had been over for about 15 minutes and said bint was still in her chair and making no display of leaving any time soon.

[phorbesie]

well he's never had a beautiful voice, and just thinking back to the early 90s he sounded a lot worse. i guess everything's relative. and i guess i am continually impressed that he is up there at his age standing for the whole show ( ) every night and doing a little dancing even, my back was sore after the show, hehe. 'elusive charisma' eludes me too though, for sure.

[bradm]

Last night was my first time seeing Dylan, and it was pretty much what I expected. My big beef with the show wasn't with what was happening on stage, it was with the video screen (not screens; for some reason, the left-side screen wasn't on during Dylan, though it was for Jimmie Vaughan), because all it showed was a knees-to-hat shot of Dylan all the time. I wanted to see much more of the band (e.g., the guy playing those nice lead guitar lines, or the violin player), but the camera angle/viewpoint only changed when Dylan changed (from guitar to keys), and that got really boring to watch for me. (I was 'way back, almost to the sound booth/tent for the Rogers stage, so had to rely on the screens to see anything.)

Aloha,

Brad

[Rob Not Bob]

Video screen being off actively annoyed me ... camera work for Van was a lot better, although sometimes they weren't too clear on who was soloing.

[AdamH]

Great show last night, I walked in with the same "low expectations" that were borne from the last time I saw him and I was really surprised.

I too agree with the Sun reviewer because, by comparison, he WAS looking youthful and his voice was pretty good. I couldn't believe the variations on some of his songs, Girl from the North Country in particular.

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

(but really, who here thinks Dylan's voice / voicings / phrasing / whatever Armstrong was trying to convey is "terrific"?)

i thought dylan was totally spoken-word / hip-hop on Like A Rolling Stone, that was cool.

I did think his use of voice was better than the last time I saw him, which had been nothing but inaudible growl; in this case, he seemed much more deliberate about which words were to be made out, and which had been maybe so over-sung or over-heard that he seemed to want to muddy them up on purpose, just for effect. That's how I read it, anyway. And as far as phrasing, after the tightness of Van Morrison the night before, it was nice to see all the people in the band, singer included, just rolling with it, and Dylan certainly did that.

Ditto on the complaints about the video. I was kicking myself for having forgotten the binoculars in the car. There was a point towards the end where the camera angle actually shifted on to the other half of stage for a tiny bit (or a couple of tiny bits), but that show certainly won't be remembered for the camera work.

btw, was there a little Academy Award figure sitting on the edge of his amp, or was I just seeing things?

[bradm]

btw, was there a little Academy Award figure sitting on the edge of his amp, or was I just seeing things?

Note that these are not mutually exclusive conditions.

I was sitting near the back, with Brendan (the "B" of Elbeejay), and he was complaining about the video, largely because he wasn't able to tell what kind of amp(s) Dylan was using. Guitar geeks of the world, unite!

Aloha,

Brad

[ollie]

The best part about the video screen was when some yahoo standing in front of the camera started waving a white towel in the air. Little did buddy realize he was pissing off about 10,000 people.

[Velvet]

I'm glad the front screen was off. It forced the lawnchair people to stand up, and maybe some of them realised the were able to stand up for a show and enjoy it.

[Freak By Night]

Ditto on the complaints about the video. I was kicking myself for having forgotten the binoculars in the car.

btw, was there a little Academy Award figure sitting on the edge of his amp, or was I just seeing things?

Dude, I was right beside you and I didn't notice an Academy Award figure. With eyesight like that, you don't need binoculars!

Anyway, Bob did win an Oscar for his song "Things Have Changed," from the movie Wonder Boys which was about 5 or 6 years ago IIRC.

So maybe he brings the statue on tour with him!

[Northern Wish]

Dylan requested that the screens not be used.

He even tried to have security confiscate ALL cameras at the gate, which was denied by the organizers.

He also refused to participate in the Best Seats auction which goes to charity.

But he did do what I went to see.

4th Dylan show in the past 3 years and I liked it a whole lot. My only complaint is that is was a pretty cookie cutter set from someone I have come to expect the opposite from. I only got one first timer last night (Girl from the North Country) and in the past have seen at least 3 to 4 per show.

Sean

[Booche]

^^^

setlist fairy

[bouche]

I'm pretty confident in the theory that Dylan wouldn't allow any pro-style video. There's no doubt that they have more than one fuckin' camera with a full switchboard system but it was not used for dylan. Just 1 shitty camera with an idiot panning it around the stage.

I like the idea of smoking a cigar. I think I may bring one and smoke out some lawnchair idiots. If anyone says anything, I'll pull a Velvet and say "Tell it to security. They're WAAAAAAYYYYY over there. See you in an hour."