June 22, 2008
Review by Guillem Turon
After being disappointed by the Toulouse show I wasn't expecting much,
but I ended absloutely amazed by realizing he still can do it. He hasnt' lost
his touch, it's simply you have to chose the right day. My best Dylan show
in years. We all know his voice isn't the same than years ago, but yesterday
he did sing, he did all he can do, he used well the voice he has. Now I only
hope someone has recorded it to have it and being able to hear it again
(although it's not the same than being there). Unfortunately, my girlfriend,
who came to the Toulouse show, didn't come to that one.
I heard the band soundchecking a few hours before the show from out
there. They were insisting in All along the watchtower. Maybe it was
because they knew they were going to start with it. It was a great surprise
this start, and I think that version was different from the Toulouse version.
This was more rocking, harder, more similar to the version they did those
years to end the shows.
By the way, the show started 19 minutes earlier to the announced time
(21.30h.) Someone could be angry. Bob came to the stage walking strange,
as if he was going to fall in any moment. He seemed in a good mood.
Don't think twice it's alright was fine, and I realized he was singing better
than in Toulouse. This made my hopes up.
Then came High water. Rocking. Much better than the album version,
as I heard in other live performances.
The first real gem of the night was Trying to get to heaven. I Adore Time
Out Of Mind, but this is not one of the songs I like the best of it, but I liked
very much the live version. Absolutely fantastic, and the singing too.
Rollin' and tumblin' was similar to the Toulouse show. There was one of the
best moments, but yesterday was a great show and there were better
moments tha that.
It was a great moment when I heard the first notes of Visions of Johanna.
It's difficult to sing it very nicely with the voice Bob has now, but he did it
okay. It was not a wonderful moment but a good one.
The wonderful moment arrived with Million miles. I couldn't believe he played
it. I like very much that song and dreamt of hearing it live but didn't hope it
because I knew it was very unlikely. But he did. And it was an amazing
performance. And I am not the only one to say that.
Beyond the horizon was simple, but nice. I liked it better than the album
version.
Tangled up in blue is a song I¡ve heard too much times live, and I didn't
want to hear it again. But that new version is fantastic. I liked it very much.
One of the best moments too.
Then came, Highway 61, fantastic as always. What more could I say?
Sugar baby was one of the highest points in Toulouse. Yesterday, in a great
show, it didn't seem so special. It's still a great version, really nice, but in a
fantastic show his brightness is not so contrasting.
Something similar happened with Nettie Moore, but I could appreciate in
Encamp he did it far better.
Then came my girlfriends' favourite: Summer days. But unfortunately yesterday
she wasn't there. I teleponed it to her and he told me she heard it well. I
think Bob was beginning to be tired and he messed up a little with the singing.
It was rocking.
Ballad of a thin man was great, too. I liked very much the guitars in it.
Great to hear.
Thunder in the mountain was fine, nothing new to me.
Luckily, he ended yesterday with Blowin' in the wind. My last 5 Dylan shows had
ended with Like a rolling stone in the encore and it was time to change a little.
I liked very much the new version.
A good ending for a wonderful night. I wonder if I will be able to hear
something like that again.
Review by Miquel Leonard
I was at the Dylan concert last night in Encamp, Andorra and can report on
it if you want, although I was not particularly impressed...
It's not every day that as big a name as Bob Dylan visits Andorra, and
that combined with the "Pont de Sant Juan" holiday assured a good crowd
of locals and Spanish visitors from nearby Barcelona, and they were an
enthusiastic audience to what was a pretty bland performance. Not the best
of the tour judging from previous reviews. Perhaps the location was
uninspiring, the local football pitch, with a standing crowd which I
estimate at some 5000 people, although nobody could have asked for better
weather in a place where thunderstorms might well have disrupted things.
It got underway with a couple of reworked favourites (see set list) and
continued in the same style with very little variation apart from changes
in tempo, for the rest of the evening. The only instrument changes were
made by a hesitant Donnie Herron, whose banjo and fiddle were all but
inaudible. From where I stood the balance wasn't quite right so that it
was sometimes difficult to understand the lyrics, which for some songs are
the only thing that makes them worthwhile. There was no rapport at all
between the musicians and the crowd. They, including Bob, were like
automatons, humourlessly churning out near perfect, studio quality tunes,
one after another, without a hint of any improvisation, clocking in and
out of their daily shift, offering nothing more than they were being paid
for. They ended and walked off without even saying goodnight, hope you
enjoyed the show. Did they care? To be fair they came back for an encore
of "Thunder on the Mountain" and an abridged "Blowin' in the Wind" when
Bob introduced the members of the band to an audience which he did not
appear to noticed until then, before making a final exit. Am I glad I
went? Yes. It was good to hear excellent musicians at work, but I won't be
in a rush to buy a ticket if they pull into town again next year. At $75 a
throw I think we could have been entitled to a bit more enthusiasm.
Miquel Leonard
Andorra
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