Chillin' on Dylan

I had the unexpected opportunity to go see Bob Dylan in concert recently, when buddy Tim scored two tickets and then found out his wife couldn't go. This all happened the day of the concert, so only a few hours ahead of time I found myself in a position to go see an artist whose music I've enjoyed immensely over the years but never expected to see live and in person. So how could I turn down the chance?

Well, as we strolled out of the venue at the end of the show, I wondered if maybe I'd have been better off if I'd gone my whole life and never been to a Bob Dylan concert. Not that it was any great hardship, as it wasn't. But I was so let down by the show compared to the incredible Dylan music I've enjoyed most of my life. Part of the problem, I'm sure, is that I'm a fan of the early, accoustic Dylan, and that entity doesn't exist anymore, despite the amplified backing group and mumbling old man that are currently touring under the name of "Bob Dylan". And judging by many of the audience members, I was in the minority in this regard, as several people around us went nuts as each new song began.

But here's the acid test: The encore featured Like a Rolling Stone and All Along the Watchtower, two of my favourite Dylan songs (and just plain favourite songs!) and each was unrecognizable. I don't know that I've ever had the experience of seeing a live performance where I couldn't sing along with a tune that I knew really well, and here it was repeated again and again (Maggie's Farm and Highway 61 Revisited were almost as foreign-sounding to me). The cadence Dylan used on All Along the Watchtower, for example, sounded like it belonged with another of his songs, maybe Gotta Serve Somebody? As I remarked to Tim, I love three different versions of Watchtower: Dylan's very lyrical masterpiece, Hendrix's head trip with the material, and U2's hard-driving cover. So my heart's big enough to allow for variety there, but I couldn't find it in me to embrace what was assailing my ears in that concert.

And I know it's petty of me, but the fact that Mr Dylan never once deigned to acknowledge the crowd, even to the extent of saying, "Thank you very much" after the applause died down, left me kind of cold. Sure, he's probably done literally thousands of shows in his life, but people still paid a good chunk of change to be there, and were screaming and clapping like crazy at times, so isn't it just plain rude to act like we're not even there? Foo Fighters, who opened, were at the other end of the spectrum, almost to the point of fawning; possibly because they're trying to compensate for what they know follows them every night of the tour. And when I think back to some of the amazing or amusing little stories that someone like Peter Gabriel will tell, in between songs, then the behaviour of legendary folk artist Bob Dylan just seems... prima donna-like.

But you gotta give the man credit for having written some incredible stuff in his life. And I do. I'd just never want to see him in concert again.