| Reviews Omaha, Nebraska Orpheum Theater March 21, 2026 |
Review by Peter L.
When the band first entered and started playing - I was totally jazzed.
The band was in absolutely top form and tight as tight can be. At
first, I thought George Receli had returned on drums, but I could not see
his face because the cymbal was blocking his face from my vantage point.
Apparently it was Mr. Fig who has adopted the same hat that George always
wore.
In walks Dylan in a raincoat with the hood pulled over (it was 99 degrees
in Omaha). I get it that when people get older, they get chilled. When
I saw him in Phoenix last year, he had his hoodie pulled up and little lit
trees to block his face. His piano was set up as far from the rear of
the stage as you can. Gone of the days of Dylan front and center from
Rolling Thunder, now he seems to try to distance himself as far as he can
from the audience. Dylan starts on the piano derailing the cool groove
that the band had going on I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. This starts a
night of Dylan fidgeting with the mic stand. Picking it up and dropping
it as a boom echoed through the house mains - this strange behavior
continued through most songs.
Vocals were mostly indiscernible. Long Black Coat was nice - really the
best song of the evening. Then comes the reworked All Along the
Watchtower - when I first heard this last year, loved it. But tonight,
as the drummer started to kick in, Bob gave him "the eye" and he dropped
right back into the minimalist dynamics. More mic booms through the
mains. No vocals.
On some songs, the musicians had no idea what Dylan was doing. Just
completely stopped playing - even Tony could not get the train back on the
tracks. This was a rehearsal at best.
Mr. Dylan did not seem to have an awareness of where the mic was.
Sometimes he was a foot away from it and no vocals would come through,
other times he would be on top of it producing a severely distorted vocal.
I really hope that I was not seeing mental decline. I hope to be as
sharp as Dylan when I am his age.
This show was a complete train wreck. Will I go see Dylan again -
absolutely. I almost gave up on him in the before Time Out of Mind -
those early 2000 shows were mesmerizing. You never know when Dylan will
change things, or get rest, or whatever. I do see his venues getting
smaller - the people next to me left about a third of the way through the
show. I only saw about 10 people leave early.
If this is what we are to expect, I think it is the end of the Dylan era.
No one can replace this guy. There was a feeling of sadness leaving the
show. God Bless Bob Dylan.
Pete L.
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