Review

something was happening here...

The usual opener but this is the last time in this review that I am using
the adjective "usual". Doing Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat show after show it
was breathtaking what was going on in Nuremberg. The heat was on, Bob and
the band where on fire within seconds. It seemed to me like Leopard-Skin
Pill-Box Hat was written by a young Dylan who could foresee the
development of his voice. It was no song for a young guy, but you have to
hear this words spit out of the mouth of a jealous old man that have lost
everything except the memories of that girl (like in Love Sick I am sure
he would do anything just to be with her again). But all of these words
could not describe the powerful performance. Next highlight was song
number two: Bob knows which songs are fitting perfect to his voice. His
face is smiling when he is nailing out "You must leave now..." with the
darkest voice I have ever heard from him. A few days ago a german
newspaper compared his kind of performing with a dog's barking and to be
honest: they are right! Does it make sense to count the highlights when
there are only highlights? Here Things Have Changed during this tour and
enjoy! Power and speed, Dylan center stage giving room to Mark Knopfler
who's performance during this song is right more than a supplement. He is
not accompanying, he is making this song complete. A perfect moment of a
perfect team. A welcome Mississippi - I haven't heard this song before
live - was followed by Honest With Me. But what a rendition: whenever one
thought things couldn't get better they where shifting gears! Bob on
guitar - this means a Led-Zeppelin-like performance with three (3!)
electric guitars. To be honest: this is one of my greatest moments within
nearly 50 Bob shows! I would not go through song to song, but I can assure
that this steaming railroad doesn't loose one percent of pace during the
show. The only moment of disappointment is during Like A Rolling Stone,
coming to the "princess on the steeple"-moment you know that the end of
the show is near. If one has the chance to see Bob this Fall in Europe,
grab it! A few words to Mark Knopfler: it is nice to see MK on a few songs
but he has nothing to do with the whole thing - his appearance night after
night seems to be a concession to the audience (except Things Have Changed
- see above). The promoter has announced this shows as "history making" -
two legends for the first time together. Only fans could know that this
was never planned. It seemed to be a good marketing gag, I could not
remember such a row of sold out shows in large venues for a long time.
Rumours are that a lot of people are leaving the shows being very
disappointed, I have seen this in Nuremberg during Thunder on The
Mountain, but all in all the audience seems to be enjoying both sets!

Hermann Rechberger
Salzburg, Austria