Reviews

It was a good show over all.

I pulled into town right at 6 o'clock....on the "first week", which is, as
many a SC teenager will tell you is slang for illegitimate sex. The air
was rank with it....but that's a different story. I found the stadium
alright, it was hard to find parking though.

I settled in to the seats just behind first base and enjoyed the opener,
ho-hum as they may have been, in the rain. It rained intermittently
throughout the show. Willie came on about 7:15 0r so and just had an
awesome set. I came to see Bob and could have cared less if two teenage
kids opened (okay co-headlined) but Willie blew me away. I hope I can pick
it half as good as he does when I'm 73. Good song selection kind of a
departure from the greatest hits treatment you usually get. His voice is
perhaps fading a bit but still more than adequate. I doubt he will ever
experience the vocal metamorphosis that Bob has. It seemed this was a
decidedly pro Willie crowd, in the south I suppose it is to be expected.
His son did a jam up version of "Texas Flood", though he will one day
learn that playing guitar is not all showing off. He ought ta check out
Larry Campbell in that department.

So around nine Bob came out to a much smaller crowd that willie had,
though more vocal. Overall this was a good show. There were a few gems
here, To Make You Feel My Love was especially memorable to me. Maybe
because I haven t heard it in a while or maybe because It was so
heartfelt. Shelter from the Storm was good, much truer to the original
BOTT  version than most concert versions I have heard. Love Sick, though
kind of bland with this band lineup, was nice to hear, three songs from
Time Out of Mind, was nice. Overall the harp work was sloppy and (dare I
say it) incoherent.

Bob's voice seems to have leveled out since I saw him last August, then in
April this year. By that I mean it sounded essentially the same for all
three shows. A lot of folks say that he gets worse in that dept every
year. I'm no so sure though.

okay off to Greenville

Reid

I didn't get to the stadium until about 7ish and had to park about a 4
min. walk away. As I was walking over, I could hear Willie - wait! I could
have put a lawn chair in the shopping center (Broadway @theBeach) parking
lot and experienced the whole show??? Oh man! As it was, I did a will-call
ticket at 2:30 that afternoon. Yeah, the ticket was $50, but if 'we' don't
go see people like Bobby D when they come to town, they'll never come
again, OR send their comrades.

ANYway! I could hear Willie's singular voice - what a voice! and I walked
into the stadium, shocked at how it was set up. Well, FIRST, I was shocked
that I had to turn over my water bottle to the attendant at the turnstile
and then had to proceed to the concession stand to buy a bottle of water
for $3.75 - but that's the stadium's affair, I'm sure.
OK: so I'm supposed to meet friends and as I come into the stadium proper
there's people scattered throughout the stands and NOBODY in the middle
part (maybe right down the pitcher's sight line). As it turns out there's
a huge closed circuit screen (which had GREAT resolution) but no sign of
the band - they were way back at the far end of outfield, I guess it
was.

Well, I walked out there and stood by the stage for the next 3 hrs. or so
- thank God I didn't show up at 5, like some of my friends. I did get to
find them all by the way; they were right near the stage.
Back to Willie - I love his voice, but I thought he called in the
performance. Lots of index-finger pointing to the sky, and hat throwing,
and yeah, his son, who had good guitar licks but seemed a bit too-too to
me, maybe just young. Couldn't see his sister behind the piano either.
Anyway, I wouldn't have wanted to pay $50 to see him alone - well, I
WOULDN'T have.

So Bobby D comes on!  Oh yeah! 
The crowd of several hundred (now there were still people in the
bleachers, mind you, watching the closed circuit screen) pushed forward
and kept pushing til the end. Some good 'ol boy turned around to me, took
a swig from a flask, and said: I thought this was gonna be a Willie
show!

I was about 70-80 feet away and didn't need my binocs at all. 
I thought he was as powerful as I'd ever seen him - committed to the
moment- I thought 'virile'. Seemed like he really enjoyed the band. He was
movin' and boppin' around behind the keyboard - It was too cool that he
had kind of a cowboy's dressup suit on (hat too) and the band was in a
bowling-shirt kind of uniform. THEY WERE FABULOUS! What a together group!
I'm the kind of person for whom set lists were made, since I wouldn't
REALLY be able to tell you what he sang, probably even later that night,
but since that was the link my brother sent, highlights for me were: Most
Likely You'll Go Your Way and To Make You Feel My Love. Oh, nah, they were
all good, although I didn't know Cry Awhile, Cold Irons Bound and Summer
Days. Shows that I don't buy much music anymore - Time Out of Mind was the
last album I bought. 

What slayed me was that when they started up the encore, I was next to
about five late high-school - early college age guys who absolutely
exploded during Like a Rolling Stone. I was just about their age when
Bobby D first shared that with the world!
 
Thanks TO my dear brother(s), I got to see him go electric at Forest
Hills, NY in 1965, and then again at Madison Sq. Gdn. for the Rolling
Thunder Tour.
 
I guess other times I'd seen him had been on TV (maybe another tour, but I
don't remember). Our local newspapers and one of my friends were
complaining about they couldn't figure out which songs he was singing.
Hmph! As far as I know, we should be EXPECTING that kind of
reinterpretation from Bobby D.
 
Anyway, I'm glad I went to share my energy w/theirs - it was neat. 

Judi