2 posts tagged “bob dylan”
The band are immediately electrifying. Used to playing night after night in arenas across the globe they are so powerful in a venue of this size. I am just so thrilled to be up close to the man himself, to hear him introduced as “Columbia Recording Artist, Bob Dylan!” I feel so proud. Third song in he plays “Tangled up in Blue” I can’t quite believe it, my favourie Dylan song, tossed out early in the set, like AC/DC’s “Back in Black” “Highway 61” is delivered at a breakneck pace, he sings it as “Highway 65” in case it gets too straightforward. It is so hot in there. Then he only goes and plays a killer version of “Like a Rolling Stone”. It is still good to see Bob finally face the crowd, hold his hands aloft, he does care after all
He returns to encore with a blistering version of “All Along the Watchtower” which is really special, dark and angry. We get to see him introduce the band and it is wonderful to just here him talk and joke with his fellow musicians. Then finally he ends with “Blowin’ in the Wind” delivered in a swing tempo before another salute to the audience, all of the band bowing in line and then he is gone. He did come out from behind his keys for the final number to play the harmonica and it was a wonderful moment. And that is the enigma.
I meet up with Mark Ronson before the show. His single "Stop Me" has narrowly missed being number one this week and to console ourselves we are off to see Bob Dylan perform the first of two nights at Wembley Arena. It is a great crowd in here, totally mixed, from fifteen year old kids and hipsters from Shoreditch through to the guys in their sixties who must have been with Bob on every stage of his journey. The lights go down and the sounds of Aaron Copeland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" pipe up from the stage. A stentorian voice announces the arrival of "the voice of a generation, Columbia Recording Artist Bob Dylan" as the man himself dressed in a substantial white hat leads his band out onto the stage.
I am thrilled to see Bob leading his band from the front again, playing his Fender and tearing through "It Ain't Me Babe" and "It's Alright Ma (i'm Only Bleeding)". He seems genuinely excited to be performing tonight, there is such energy coming off the stage. Even when he gets behind the keyboard he is light on his feet, throwing shapes, driving the band through classics such as "Highway 61" Revisited" and a beautiful version of "When The Deal Goes Down" from "Modern Times". There can be so few artists who can maintain such a high standard of performance and songwriting across forty years of work. He has lost precious little of his muscle either as a fire and brimstone delivery of "Like A Rolling Stone", "thunder on the Mountain" and a magnificent "All along the Watchtower" testify.
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