November 3, 2018
Review by Thad Williamson
A great show, full of excellent musicianship, surprising song choices and
arrangements, expressive vocal performance, and a lot of excellent
harmonica playing.
The venue is a great fit, and it helped a lot that people 99.5% complied
with the requests/demands for no cell phone use at all during the show.
After a fairly routine start, Dylan settled in and thrived in the setting,
delivering a number of highly memorable and moving performances.
*Outstanding performances*:
*Don't Think Twice, It's Alright*: Re-arranged into a slow croon with
minimal backing behind Bob at the piano; very expressive singing,
excellent harmonica playing
*Like a Rolling Stone:* A major surprise to me....I heard the first chords
and thought "That's it" but didn't believe it until he started singing.
Mixed tempos, with the second part of each verse slowing down
dramatically. Sang all four verses (first time I have heard him do all
four live)
*When I Paint My Masterpiece*: Similar to "Don't Think Twice" in the slow
lean-in, long almost a capella singing of the verses. Some cool lyric
variations/additions.
*Gotta Serve Somebody*: Awesome! New arrangement totally unrcecognizable
from the familiar 1979 version, but it works. Lots and lots of new or
rewritten lyrics: "(Might be in Las Vegas, might be having fun/ might be
standing in a bush, holding a smoking gun/but you gotta serve somebody.")
Lots of other good performances: Trying to Get to Heaven, Love Sick, a
really sweet Make You Feel My Love, Simple Twist of Fate, Soon After
Midnight, solid renditions of Pay in Blood, Early Roman Kings; Pay in
Blood with a significantly new arrangement.
Most challenging was perhaps a novel re-arrangement of Cry Awhile into a
thumping, less-than-melodic rocker, but the crowd went with it.
From a performance point of view, an impassioned rendition of Scarlet Town
about one-third through the show seemed to be the moment in which the
crowd got really into it, but in my mind the highlights were as above.
Encores: a long and new (to me) lead-in to Long and Wasted Years, then an
excellent Blowin' in the Wind.
A truly outstanding show, without question in the top five shows I've seen
since 1991.
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