Reviews

Nürnberg, Germany
Frankenhalle
April 24, 2002


[Tim Tolbert], [Jim Scrivener], [Markus Schrör], [Carsten Wohlfeld]

Review by Tim Tolbert



After seeing Bob here in Munich last week and then following the set-lists
the rest of the week and then hearing that Keltner was coming back (!), I 
decided it was a no-brainer to hop the train to Nurnberg last night.   
Unfortunately, I missed the quick & efficient ICE train that would have 
arrived at 7:30 and instead had to settle for a slow train putting me into 
the Nurnberg Hbf at 8:20.

Quickly hopping a cab, I was anticipating a good show but was kicking myself 
for missing the earlier train!   As the cab pulled up to the Frankenhalle 
(not a bad venue by the way thanks to its smaller size than Munich's 
Olympiahalle) a lone man approached me trying to pawn off an extra ticket.

I came into the hall and immediately heard the opening to Tweedle Dee so 
my quick review will start with that song and then continue.  Unfortunately 
I missed I'll Remember You!!   &*$%#

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum - Bob was in great form and the band really 
stretched this one out with quite a bit of guitar noodling and playing off 
of each other.   The mighty Keltner looked very comfortable and at home 
behind his kit.   The main floor where I was was definitely packed and a 
quick look around the grandstands on either side confirmed a sell-out or 
near sell-out IMO.

Can't Wait - Very, very good with Bob really enunciating well and 
concentrating.  The sound in this place was great, really looking forward 
to getting a recording soon.  Bob's expressions and body movement told me 
it appeared to be an 'on night'.  

Sub. Homesick Blues - Very nice to hear this one being brought back out but 
Bob did stumble at times with the lyric and simply didn't sing on a couple 
of verses where he had missed the lines.  He made up for this though in the 
energetic performance and really highlighted the ends of each verse for the 
crowd (…wants eleven dollars, you only got t -e-n)  (….watch the parkin' 
m -e-t-e-r-s).

Moonlight - Started rough with Bob coming in a bit late but got better 
with Charlie adding very tasty jazz licks on a nice big red Gretsch.  
Keltner had the brushes out and treated it very subtly.

Tangled Up In Blue - another concentrated performance with Keltner really 
accenting each verse break with some big bottom sounding tom toms and fills.  
Bob really seemed to want to come across to the masses tonight because this 
one was very clearly enunciated as well with some excellent acoustic play 
between the guitar trio as well.  Big response from the crowd for this one 
as usual.

Boots of Spanish Leather - STUNNING.   One of the best performances I have 
ever heard.   Sublime opening with minimal lighting coming up from the 
darkened stage following Tangled.   The guitars sounded unbelievably sweet 
and Bob really sang this one as pretty as could be.  The crowd was rapt with 
attention and you could hear a pin drop in the hall.   Beautiful, beautiful, 
beautiful.    

Masters of War - Solid performance but many people streamed in & out 
refilling beers on this one.  Bob put in some good guitar work and it was 
fun to watch as Charlie seemed to catch him in a lock-stare while mentally 
egging Bob on to play the solos well.

Summer Days - real rockabilly here in Bavaria and the crowd loved it.  Bob 
turned to Keltner on this one at least twice and also at other points 
throughout the night with a look of bemused joy on his face.  I watched the 
exchange and also noticed Tony's raised eyebrows and wide grin as well; he 
loves to see the boss enjoy himself and the sounds the band puts together.  
At times I felt a bit sorry for Larry as Bob & Charlie often traded licks, 
looks, and occasional words while Larry was kind of neglected to stage right.  
During this song I noticed several girls on the main floor on their boyfriends 
shoulders to better see the great sounding noise coming from the stage.

Standing In the Doorway - Very solid effort with heartfelt playing all around.   
Big response from the crowd at the end.

Wicked Messenger - Some excellent harp work from Bob on this and Bob really 
cut loose at the end, at one point clearing the harp off-mike and then 
really laying into it at the immediately following solo.   It was during this 
song that I felt tonight really, really had something extra going for it.   
Bob was simply red-hot and smokin' on this and really seemed to catch both 
Tony & Larry by surprise based on their wide smiles and nods!  Keltner was 
clearly loving it and added his own flourishes here and there.

Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat- a bit of a let down after the previous jam but 
a solid performance none the less.  Long extended band intros here with 
everyone hamming it up a bit but I didn't hear Bob introduce Keltner or 
perhaps he said it off-mike?

Country Pie - excellent performance with Charlie really nailing the 
countrified guitar lead on this.  Good response from the crowd as well.  
Great start to the encores!

Rolling Stone - solid performance with good theatrics with the lights.  
Solo spot on Bob at the beginning and then the crowd reaction sing-along 
parts.   Big crowd pleaser.

I Shall Be Released - very moving & powerful with excellent strong harmonies 
& sometimes lead vocals! From Charlie & Larry.   Keltner really amazes me 
and I think he really pushed Bob over the edge tonight in a great way.   I 
like Receli also but Keltner adds something more to the mix, be it emotion 
or lots of water under the bridge with Dylan.   

Honest With Me - Rockin' throughout with great electric guitar from everyone.   
Tony moved up front between Bob & Charlie for most of the tune.

Blowin' in the Wind - emotional and powerful with Chalrie & Larry again on 
co-vocals.   Bob played with his phrasing so that his voice was heard in 
between Charlie & Larry's.  Keltner & Tony are solid as a rock.
Huge applause from the crowd as the band comes center stage again with Bob 
really seeming to feel the mass adulation.   The ovation went on for at least 
3 minutes with Bob bending down several times and then shrugging and catching 
Charlie & Tony's eye and exchanging some words together.   Obviously, this 
crowd had passed the audition!   The house lights went dark but we soon heard 
two or three guitars being tuned and then:

2nd Encore:  All Along the Watchtower- Muscular guitars and really heavy 
hitting by Keltner.   Bob seemed to drawl most of the lyrics but that was 
OK;  he had given more than enough on this remarkable evening.

[TOP]

Review by Jim Scrivener



After the superb Innsbruck show, an interesting show but nowhere near the
power of that. 

The band were very much less tight - lots of cues lost and endings
muddled. Dylan's voice was significantly worse than the night before -
croaky and often tuneless. Some songs seemed to be purely token efforts -
e.g. "Subterranean Homesick Blues" in which Bob often seemed to be simply
making random noises that sound something like the lyric. 

He compensated for the weak singing by really getting into the humorous
leg movements and comic walks. When this was applauded he seemed to play
it for laughs and tried to please the audience by doing more. 

Only one song in the main set was repeated from the night before -
amazing!  Many unexpected ones ("I'll remember you"; "Standing in the
Doorway"). And, amid all this, some songs were really well done - such as
Moonlight and I Shall Be Released - and one total perfect gem - "Boots of
Spanish Leather" done with great care and attention and immensely
beautiful. It's almost as if he had decided not to bother too much with
some of the set, but to really give everything to a handful of songs.

At the end, the odd "riding a motorbike" gesture - and the tapping a watch
(don't you want to go home?") that preceded a second encore. And then he
threw a rose back into the crowd. 

Jim Scrivener

Budapest

[TOP]

Review by Markus Schrör



Arriving in the Frankenhalle, Nürnberg, first impression was a quite sharp
control at the entrance and also during the concert in search of cameras,
might be the effort of what happend in Milano. Entering the arena, which
seems to be normally used for sports-events I first recognized the funny
way, they build the tribunes. The tribunes started aside in the middle  of
the arena, far away from the stage, really not a pleasant way to watch a
concert, poor guys. 

The concert itself: it was one of the weaker performances I saw in the
last years, some highs but a lot of really week played songs and Bobs
voice in the beginning, wherever, but not on the stage !

Despite that, the crowd was really happy with the performance and the band
seem to have fun, even Larry I saw laughing a lot, first time on this
tour. 

You have to look at the songs, to get a impression of this evening:

Halleluljah:
nice opener, but Bobs voice sounded really tortured.In the first 4 - 5
songs, he didn`t meet the tone and one single note, it really sounded very
strange. 

Ill remember you:
great surprise for me, I was glad to hear something else than Times on
this place, but the band-performance was bad on this song. No connecting,
one point it seemed like Bob want to stop, Keltner didnt get it and
everybody was confused. 

Ma:
ok., but I liked the drums of Recelli in München and Stuttgart much more
than the performance of this evening. The drums and Dylans voice in these
two concerts last week worked much better and more agressive together than
in Nürnberg

Its all over now:
The beginning was a big mess, the problem with his voice was really big in
the beginning of this song, the song was played so slow, that I just
thought "man wake up" but than in the middle of the song, Bob seemed to
notice this and started to hit his guitar like he want to push the whole
band. The singing was still bad but the performance of the band was good
in the end of the song. Bob started to work out with Charlie and the first
time I got the feeling, that the evening is not completly lost. 

Tweedle Dee:
First time for me on the tour, I was glad about the song. But also the
first time I noticed on this tour a sound-problem in the beginning of this
electric set. It sounded very dark but was better in the end of the song. 

Cant Wait and Subterranean:

Yeah the voice started to be back: Bob started to sing much clearer.
Although he seemed to get messed up with some text-parts of Subterranean
the singing-performance was much better now

Moonlight:
I love this song, the "club version" in Frankfurt was one of the
highlights of the evening. Good start, but a harp-solo in this song is
definitly not my taste, it was much better without

Tangled:
standard, nothing special

Boots of spanish letter:
Thats Bob: I think, he wrote nicer love-songs in this time-aerea like for
example Girl from the north country, but this performance was incredible.
Nobody in the world can performe a song like that like Dylan and this very
special band. Incredible guitar-play, great voice and he was singing it
like just yesterday he went through this love-story, with a lot of
feeling, love and sensibility . The audience was completly calm , I closed
my eyes and was very near to tears.To hear him performing a song like that
in this way, I would fly through the whole world just for this one song !

Masters of war:
I love this acoustic arangement, heard it better but it was nice

Summer days:
one of crowed -pleaser in all the days. Great song, well played

Standing in the doorway:
Very nice surprise, well played, one of the highlights of the show, the
crowd was happy with this song also, and after the bad beginning of the
concert, Bob did here and also in the rest of the electric set and the
encores a lot of dancing, smiling and searched the connecton to the first
lines in the audience

Wicked messenger:
Well played, good harp-performance and very good work of the band,
followed by   

Leopard-skin, which was substandard in comparisson to what I heard as last
songs of the first set  during the last week like Cats in the well and #12
&35

The encores:

Country Pie:
week beginn of the encores in my opinion, not a good place for the song
and the performance was not able, to save it. 

Rolling Stone, I shall be released and Honest:
Standard performance with good harp on Released


Blowin'
same again nearly like boots: theres a song, I never liked it too much,
you heard it a thousand times and than he starts it with a very nice harp
intro and sings and performce it with the band, like just yesterday he
wrote  this song and he is happy, to present it here the first time in his
carreer. Played with a lot of feeling and expression, when you expect it
last, he is always on his best!

Watchtower:
Great and well played finisher of the show. 

Finally: I remember last year in Bad Reichenhall, it was similar: you
think the concert is lost and than he saves it  from one moment to another
with a incredible played song,  a good performance with this band in the
rest and some absolut outstanding played songs, which you remember in the
end more than the week parts of the evening !

See you in Oberhausen, Bob!

Markus Schrör
Comments welcome to: Irontravel.Schroer@t-online.de  

[TOP]

Review by Carsten Wohlfeld


 
Don't you hate it when people look at you like a freak when you tell 
them that you went to see Dylan more once? Well, I certainly do. 
I've travelled far and wide to see Bob play, but on the train to 
Nürnberg (well, Würzburg actually, where Gunter picked me up at 
the station and we travelled to the venue together in the car)
I kinda realized: 'Yeah, you are sort of a freak', when I hit
Frankfurt - a town roughly 200 miles from where I live - for the third
time in just nine days! Anyway, we had a nice and easy drive to Nürnberg,
arrived early and secured a free parking space just a few meters away from
the offical car park of the Frankenhalle (situated in a  Convention Center
complex), where they were charging you six bucks - wahey! We didn't care
to be right in the front, so we enjoyed meetingsome of the regulars before
the show and even had a quick walk through the neighbourhood (probably
named Bronx). The venue looked as if they only built it a few years ago
from the outside, but once you were inside you noticed that only the
marquee outside was indeed new and the rest of the 7 000 capacity venue
still had its original 70s flair. Not the nicest venue on the tour, but
since about 5 000 people turned up, it didn't look too bad by the time the
show started at 8.10pm.                Halleluljah I 'm Ready To go
(acoustic) I spend most of the song looking at Jim Keltner. wow, it was
really him! I hadn't seen him play live in almost nine years (when he
toured Europe with Neil Young And Booker T & the MGs), but he still looked
the same. With that beard and those huge glasses he still looks like as if
he's auditioning for a leading role in a shabby 70s porn movie. Sorry, it
had to be said : -) His drumming was pretty unremarkable on this song
(well, there's not much to do for ANY drummer here really) as was the song
itself. A typical warm up number. I guess we all had high hopes of hearing
ANYTHING but "Times" next, after Bob had ditchted the song and had
replaced it with the first ever acoustic "Senor" in Innsbruck. Gunter had
predicted that he would do  "I'll remember you", only because Jim Keltner
drums on the "Empire Burlesque" original, but even he didn't expect the
song to be played ACOUSTIC and in the number 2 slot.                 I'll
Remember You (acoustic) But of course that's exactly what we got. A very
pleasant surprise. Even tough Keltner plays drums on the studio version,
he had no clue whatsover what to do on this song and his playing was way
too loud and, well, let's say: uninspired. Like on many other numbers
tonight, he hit his floor tom very heavily every time he lost the plot and
that was especially annoying on the acoustic numbers. Then again, we all
were glad that he was there and the shows didn't get cancelled. The band
seemed to be pretty nervous as well. All in all, a nice surprise but not a
very good performance.                It's Alright Ma (acoustic) Lost a
little due to Keltner being unfamiliar with the tune (or at least the
arrangement) but it was pretty cool to see Tony DANCE around in an attempt
to show Keltner what he was supposed to do. So basically whenever Tony was
twitiching a leg, Keltner was supposed to play a drum roll and whenever
Tony shook his head, that indicated the use of the cymbals. It was dead
funny, I wish I could describe it more accurately. The song was the first
highlight - despite the fact that it was less uptempo and aggressive than
before - mostly due to Bob 's concentrated vocal delivery.                
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (acoustic) Same as it ever was. Nice twin
solo from Bob and Charlie at the end.                Tweedle Dee  Hey! My
first new song tonight. MUCH better than I thought it would be! I was
surprised though how quiet the song was played, it had a really dark moody
vibe, with Keltner playing the drum beat perfectly. The band's playing was
very subtle and Bob managed to underline that with his strongest vocal
performance of the night so far. Still think it wouldn't have hurt if they
had played a more rocking version, but it was a fine start to the electric
set nonetheless.                Can't Wait Two years ago, I couldn't stand
the slow and quiet arrangement they do by now, but even though I don't
know what was different, I liked it a lot this time around. Again, a very
moody sounding rendition that worked quite well in back-to-back with
"Tweedle Dee".                Subterrean Homesick Blues Gunter hadn't
heard this one before and he looked as if he enjoyed it immensely. I think
despite his quite energetic performance he mixed up the lyrics a lot more
than in Munich the week before and the band wasn't as "together " as it
should have been (Keltner was surprsingly good though), but it was still
good to hear. If they keep playing (and rehearsing) this it could turn
into one of the highlights of the set this fall. Moonlight Not as good as
Frankfurt, simply because Bob's voice was a little shot throughout the
night and if there's one song that only works with clean and tender
singing it's this one.                 Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic) 
What? I wasn't too surprised to hear this one again (like so many times
before), but it was odd to hear it as the opening number of the acoustic
set - Keltner turned the song into a real mess, missing most (if not all
of his cues) not to mention that he ended the song was too early, when Bob
turned around and nodded - okay, I guess in any other band on this planet
that would mean "okay, the song is over", but in Bob's case it obviously
only means "back to the verse" and only the second time Bob turns around
the song is supposed to end. It was funny to see the shocked faces of
Tony, Charlie and Larry, who actually started playing the opening riff
again in an (failed) attempted to restart thesong again. Bob noticed that
it wasn' t gonna work and he decided to just give in. Interestingly
enough, not a lot of people seemed to have noticed this and the crowd
reaction was as enthusaisatic as usual.                Boots Of Spanish
Leather (acoustic) Awesome. Together with the 13-minute "Cat's In The Well
" from Munich probably the highlight of "my " tour so far. Very slow and
gentle, Bob just delivered a killer vocal and the band strummed along
quitely and perfectly. A real treat.                Masters of War
(acoustic) Did he play it because it was Nürnberg, or just because it was
time to play it again? Either way, the rendition was very intense, with
Keltner's drumming highlighting the lyrics very good. Solid.              
  Summer Days As good as before.                Standing In the Doorway
Every bit as good as the Hamburg rendition a couple of weeks ago. Very
emotional, heartfelt singing and great playing from the band as well. The
new (!?) line appearently goes "I'm riding on a train, and I'm swallowing
my pain". Wicked Messenger Keltner did a surprsingly good job, even though
he clearly didn't know what he was supposedto do - Tony basically
signalled all the rolls and breaks while Keltner was playing the song.
They call it learning by doing, I guess. Bob had to put some extra engergy
in into the harp solo, as Keltner didn't realise that he was supposed to
play quieter when the harmonica kicked in.                Leopard-Skin
Pill Box Hat Sounded the same, even with Keltner. Boring, boring, boring,
save for the short solos by each band member after the band introduction.
For some reason Bob introduced Keltner off-mic, so you couldn't hear his
name. They returned quickly for the encore though, Bob's arm on Jims
shoulder (first time I've seen that, I guess it's a big difference if you
have "musicians" or "friends" in the band) and while Larry, Charlie and
Bob were opicking up their guitars, Tony explained to Jim what he should
play on the following tune! It was: Country Pie And it sounded every bit
as dreadful as before. It was fun when they started doing the song in
2000, butnow they just seem to have lost interest in it alltogether. Why
they still play it is a mystery to me. Like A                Rolling Stone
Solid. But not more than that. I Shall Be Released (acoustic) Pretty good
performance from everybody onstage including Jim. Bob still decided to
sing a different chorus medlody than the one Charlie and Larryhad
rehearsed, but it sounded mighty fine nevertheless. Different ending than
in Stuttgart the week before. hmmm. Honest With Me Rocked as usual, with
lost of extra fills from Jim, who didn' t play the bongos like Receli, but
you didn't really notice the difference. Blowin' In The Wind Same as
before. Once the song had ended you could clearly notice that Bob was in a
great mood tonight. Not only had he looked back at Keltner several times,
smiling at his new drummer (even whe Jim had made some mistakes), but
after the last song he picked up a rose somebody had thrown on to the
stage and threw it back - apparently he had spotted a young lady in the
front row that he thought deserved the rose more than him : -) The crowd
went wild but Bobjust pointed at his (non-existant) watch several time,
indicating that there was no time for any more songs! They did however
come back for an more than welcome:                All Along The
Watchtower Still in the very cool apocalyptic arrangament they started
playing late last year that also features a few lines from the movie
soundtrack "Exodus" played by Larry during the intro. It's still my
alltime favourite song and always a pleasure to hear it. Keltner was not
as good as I expected him to be on this number, but oh well! So in the end
we got yet another very strong 2 hour 20 minute show, that was fun BECAUSE
it wasn't as perfect and polished as the previous concerts with Receli.
You can't really say that Keltner added a lot besides some amusing
mistakes tonight, but even that was welcome. The plan for me was to travel
to Strasbourg by train, while Gunter was gonna drive back to Würzburg, but
fortunately the prospect of a possibly rendition of "Sugar Baby" in France
made him change his mind. That means: More from Strasbourg soon.
Goodnight.

Carsten Wohlfeld
http://carstenwohlfeld.de 

[TOP]

page by Bill Pagel
billp61@execpc.com

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