Reviews

Austin, Texas

Austin City Limits Music Festival
Zilker Park
AT&T Stage

September 16, 2007


[Jamie Thomas], [Bunker Cove], [Stephanie Fletcher], [Jeff Dellin]

Review by Jamie Thomas



Just a short synopsis of the show.  Took Bob about 3 songs to warm up his
voice, once he did he really sang well, best I've heard in at least 3
years, lots of enegy throughout the night.  Played some nice harp as well,
the band has improved vastly from San Antonio, the last time they came
through or near Austin.   Some stand outs were another reworking of
"Tangled", new words as well, a very sinister "Thin Man", my 1st's of
"Workingman's" and "Nettie", both really sounded fresh to my ears, a very
rollicking "Summer" to close the set, encores we're solid, very sweet
"Released" to end the night.  All in all a VERY fine show, right on Bob. 
See this tour without any hesitation.  Great Hat too!

Jamie Thomas

[TOP]

Review by Bunker Cove



"I Shall Be Released" -- a superb, compelling, matchless song and it's
great he's still performing it. It brought back haunting memories and I
wish for him a soft landing "when the deal goes down."  Dylan is such a
good communicator, unlike some communication "connections" which are at
best limited, impersonal, sporadic, unreliable, frustrating, even
seemingly quixotic and lately appear to be totally and permanently on the
way to being more or less virtually inaccessible.  It's the writing on the
wall, it seems, but impish elves appear to be in a generous mood for old
times sake and on my way "down the road" I heard Jewel in the Sun/Diane
Arkenstone, The Weaving/Denean, Cosmic Tree/Yulara and Paixoes
Diagonals/Misia.  It struck me, as an unusual but fitting lead-in to
"Tangled Up in Blue," which he also performed. "Hazel" would be a good
call for the "workingman's blues," but if not, let's just say it was more
than enough and enough to be more.

Bunker Cove

[TOP]

Comments by Stephanie Fletcher



Bob Dylan was FANTASTIC a classic. My daughters and I flew in from
Florida and  were waiting in line since early morning  to be up front and
we did indeed make the first row.  It was a LONG wait through alot of
artists that weren't our style but when the LEGENDARY Bob Dylan came out
it was worth the wait. I have an awful lot of respect for him as an
artist. This man has been truly blessed by his Creator and I am so glad
that we have been able to see him. THANK YOU Bob for sharing your talent
with us.  YOU ARE BLESSED. Can't wait to see what you are doing next.

Stephanie

[TOP]

Review by Jeff Dellin



I was surprised to see Relix Magazine's on-line page call Bob Dylan's
closing performance at Zilker Park "controversial". I actually thought
just the opposite. From where I was standing he played a careful, polished
set aiming to please. I wouldn't have blamed him for phoning it in after
being bombarded with flashes from the thousands of cameras in the crowd. 
And Relix got it wrong. It wasn't controversial becuase of the performance
it was controversial because apparently Bob made a last minute demand that
no close-ups be shown on the giant video screens. So the whole show went
on with two cover shots of the band. 

In some ways the festival closing show at Zilker Park was an improvement
from an excellent show at Stubbs the night before (no review of that show
here but a previous reviewer said something about Morgan Freeman calling a
radio station looking for tickets. I did not see Morgan Freeman at Stubbs
but I did see Morgan FAIRCHILD as well as Joe Ely hanging out after the
show) .  

I feared that the masses of people waiting hours in the heat of Zilker
Park would leave in mass rebellion after three songs but for the most
part, the crowd stayed and seemed to enjoy it.  The opening three guitar
numbers did sound a little rough vocally but no more so than normal. Then
the band took on Spirit On The Water and delivered a clean, easily
palatable version. It seemed if Bob was truly aiming to please and singing
clearly with purpose. It was the next song, Levee's Gonna Break that for
me really took. Who'd have thunk that this song would be the live standout
from Modern Times (save for Nettie Moore). It rocked and rocked hard.
Great version, even better than Stubbs, which was also smoking.

Tangled up in Blue was also and improvement from the previous night. Bob
managed to almost avoid the sing-song approach to the last two verses. At
Stubbs he fell into that trap. I enjoyed it, but it almost made the
powerful song sound a bit like a parody.

Things Have Changed would not be my choice for a revolving song for this
event but the version was clean, didn't meander and I could make out every
word. Nice. Working Man's Blues #2 has perhaps the catchiest chorus Bob
has written in a long time and it's an earnest, true song in the American
style. Sounded great both nights. True to the record.

Was great to see Bob mix it up a bit for the encore. I Shall be Released
was a treat for fans but by that time I was too beat from the weekend and
preoccupied with planning my escape to completely enjoy it.

All of the reviews saying that this band has improved are spot on. The
band sounded great.  Denny Freeman delivered in his home coming show. They
have managed to almost completely eliminate any plodding, unsure moments.
Kudos to whoever did the sound for both nights. It was stellar.

Jeff Dellin

[TOP]

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