Reviews

Pamplona, Spain

Pabellón Anaitasuna

June 24, 2008


[Alvaro Martin], [Plotino]

Review by Alvaro Martin



It was 21:30 at the Anaitasuna Sports Hall, and I wasn’t supposed to be
there… none of us, even Bob. We were meant to be at the famous Pamplona’s
Bull Ring breathing the open air and stepping on the sand. Instead, we got
this way smaller venue that got hotter song after song. I was at some
Dylan concerts before but never on the front rows and I have to say I
enjoyed the experience at the queue. Just waiting for the gates to open,
keeping quiet, talking to the neighbours about past experiences at Bob’s
gig... I met really nice people over there. There was also a bit of
confusion with the crew people about how to place the fences to form a
proper line. Once they let us in, we came down the steep stands and… front
row, here I am! You have to enjoy that moment: to look at all the stuff up
there covered with black clothes, and trying to imagine what’s underneath
each one like in a magician’s trick. Then we have the support band
(one-man band, actually, P.J. Hermosilla), recording with the pedals, very
well done. And there we are, it’s 21:30 and “His band” are stepping in,
wearing grey suits, looking serious and going straight to their positions
and it’s like “We know what we are doing”. And they do know. And there’s
Dylan, wearing a white-ish hat with a feather on it, black dress with
maroon details. Ok, Bob, it’s time for rock and roll. And we get 2 hours
of rock and roll or whatever you want to call it. There should be an
exclusive musical genre just for him. It’s “dylanesque” we are listening
to, with the peculiarity of his voice and the way he’s bending towards the
keyboards and from time to time looking at the audience, kind of with the
corner of his eyes, sometimes straight in our faces. There’s lots of
energy up there and credit where it’s to the band. George Cecile playing
brilliantly the drums and Tony Garnier like Bob’s esquire. I admire Tony.
From my point of view the best moments were “John Brown”, which is a hard
song to listen to live, with such a raw lyrics, brings shivers down a good
few people’s spines. The same with “Masters of war”. Some people came here
today just to listen to “Blowin’ in the wind” and that’s fine with me, but
I loved being able to listen to two Modern Times masterpieces: “Nettie
Moore” and specially, “Workingman’s blues # 2”, I could feel a magical
atmosphere, maybe it was just me, it really moved me deep inside, there I
was, “fighting my best on the front line, singing a little bit of those
workingman's blues”. After the last song He & His Band came closer and we
were sing “Oéé, oé, oé, oé”, rather than “Oléé, olé, olé, olé” and they
kept standing there in front of us for a good while like thanking us. I’ve
seen them before and this time it looked like they were very pleased and
so we were. But the actual highlight I think it happened when they came
back to the stage for the encore: Bob stepped in and danced a little bit,
with no music, just 5.000 people clapping hands and cheering. Brilliant.
Just Bob. Thank you, Bob.

[TOP]

Review by Plotino



Venue change was a bad idea. The place was hot, very hot, with but 
the main entrance door for air to come in. They did this to avoid having 
to cancel the show in case of heavy rains.What a pity. The Bullring 
would have been a great place , considering the cool night that was 
outside.

I guess Bob & his Band suffered this temperature too, Tony taking his 
jacket off by  mid show.I took with me two first time at  Bob guys.The 
concert was  not an easy one for them, but they endured with due 
respect. And we had no seats. These were full of mature couples.I 
think it was the first time Bob played in Pamplona, but I aint sure.

I don't think the sound was good at all. The bass was out of control and 
tony had to fix it but don't think he did.After a terrible Cat´s came a 
lovely Love minus. The Leeve´s is to me like the new Tweedle Dee, you 
just have to swallow it. Then came a song that I knew it had to be John 
Brown, but I ,ve forgotten the lyrics, and you cant pretend to learn them 
again by listening to Bob, but what a tremendous song that is, and how 
long ! it seemed unending. Sugar Baby was poor and coming just as 
another slow ballad, it fell in the middle of nowhere. Working man , and 
the rest of MT ballads were just perfectly interpreted, but then , wouldn't
it be great to have a long continuous armchair where to lay all together 
and listen to these songs?

Tangled and War Masters were, changed the  first to a different structure 
and unchanged the latter, with its power message delivery more powerful 
than ever.Curiously, I had been listening to this song from the Real Life 
album while on the road  and it hasn't lost its dramatic expressiveness.

High Water, finally the  voltage goes up to a  peak with It´s all right Ma, 
with a catartic dimension and effect. Good, yes, yes ,this is it, all caught in.
I,ve seen better Highways than this 61, don't think Receli was in the mood 
for a higher rev but compared to the MT ballads it had enough speed.
Same to be said about Thunder, predictable and  without lightnings .

Blowing in the Wind, at least a song for my friend to recognize.
New form, beautiful beginning  and guitar solo, Bob blows it under the 
keyboard instead of sending it out loud.

Bob received a great acclamation at the end from the people of Pamplona. 
One that he deserved after two hours in that place.

He seemed to me to be  quite tired and consumed. When the show 
began a warm and special feeling of being once again with him arose in 
me. During the show this feeling turned into admiration, and then into 
a question about what all this could possibly mean.

What does this man mean?

Plotino

[TOP]

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