Last 48h have quite felt among the most surreal of my life, with my
grandma passing and me being in the middle of Arkansas (fortunately in a
beautiful setting), that same night being given a front row seat by fellow
bobcat hERe ecoutez (thanks again man), then yesterday surviving another
beautiful and strenuous consecutive drive and entering into the Kansas
prairies and almost straight into the show, as its been the norm this
tour.

Usually people outside the dylanverse (and myself also) get surprised at
his relentless schedule, me always pointing that even if he's carried
around in a golden carriage it's pretty crazy at his age. Okay, I now feel
I'm the closest possible to his way of touring: from place to place, hotel
to hotel, show to show. No time these days to do much sightseeing and it's
just nuts, that he's not taking it any easier. In a way, though, this
approach of non-stop road-hotel-concert-road-hotel-concert routine puts
you in a mindset that narrows your view and focus to the point you can
even enhance or appreciate the most insignificant details. Maybe it works
that way for Bob too, maybe not, but my admiration for this kind of
commitment is even greater than before.

The Wichita venue looked like a brutalist spaceship from the outside and
like a brutalist roman forum from the inside, really high ceiling, ocre
walls and specially I loved the stylized roman-ish archs that served as
entrances to the orchestra seats. We took our incredibly good center seats
in the second row with our usual few minutes too spare and lights went
down. In a 'it can always wet funnier and weirder' fashion, no one took
the stage for about half a minute and you could hear the uncomfortable
silence generating in the crowd that erupted into a relieved cheer when
our guys came in. Bob looked incredibly gorgeous wearing a black shirt
with a V-shaped crystal-like embroideries over the chest and also around
the collar. I'm pretty sure they were embroideries and not fringes, and he
looked truly flashy on that shirt. Hat on hand that I don't think he even
tried putting on at any point.

A shorter guitar in 'Watchtower' compared to previous nights but it was so
nice being able to actually see him playing due to our seat angle and also
because the crowd remained standing for the opener. There's an important
thing I want to highlight and that occured several times during the show:
how shocking and humbling it feels when you stop a moment and actually
embrace that you're within feet of freakin' Bob Dylan singing his songs.
That at first he's half turned, just doing his thing at the guitar, on his
completely own and that in fact he can't even see almost any of the
audience until he stands up in 'Multitudes' is quite telling to me, not
only as if he's warming up but specially as if he's offering us a glimpse
of his actual self, when no one is looking at him before starting to
actually perform for an audience. It seems telling that the song before
standing to sing that he "contains multitudes" is 'It Ain't Me Babe', with
all the identity and self-reflection issues the song conveys. Oh, by the
way, he turned orchestra man at one point of the song when he played with
one hand the piano and with the other some keyboard at the same time, it
was so nice to see that.

I would describe last night's vibe as totally joyous, both on the stage
and also from my point of view. If Springfield was the time for my tears,
it felt about right that too much sorrow had to be balanced by some time
of joy. 'False Prophet', as carmen points out, was hypnotic, the delivery
of the "nothing to see" lines were out of this world, he seemed to be so
untouchable in those moments. It happened one night but also last night
that that shocking feeling of "wow, it's really Bob Dylan there" mixed
with an emotion by how the songs are deconstructed before your eyes, how
much care he and the band put in working through them, sucking almost all
the juice they contain, it's so inspiring no matter how many times you've
seen it. Again, the whole show reminded me a lot about Spring 2024, where
maybe the specifics were more difficult to point out but the general
picture was that of pure greatness and history on the making.

'My Own Version of You' was pure alchemy, will like to check both Little
Rock and Wichita versions as they were those mysterious objects at noon
that you can't keep looking at, mesmeried at the thought of what they
might mean. There was a pounding in my brain during the whole last verse
that made the experience so powerful, with the melody almost disappeared,
Bob suddenly playing (in a pattern that would be repeated in the latter
part of other songs in Wichita) an impromptu melody on the low bass keys
of the piano, deepening the sound and specially the meanings, as if they
were all digging to the core of the songs. Those moments were truly
astonishing to witness from that close.

As carmen also points out, some melodies on the base of the songs as
'Masterpiece' or 'Desolation Row' (which I always linked to Buddy Holly's
'Peggy Sue' after a dear catalan friend pointed it to me) seem to have
already evolved and departed their origins and are now in a realm of their
own. Both songs were maybe the highlights of the show with 'Baby Blue'
(more on this in a few lines), moments of pure creation, with Bob not
sticking so much to the pattern and letting himself loose and incredibly
freewheelin'. The "expecting rain" verse in 'Desolation Row' was
SPECTACULAR, sang with a purpose and force that only tapes may be able to
convey, it was such a momentum. Maybe that's what prompted Bob to sing
about Einstein instead of Dr. Filth, which seemed so fitting for a night
that seemed to be basculating on the infinitesimal of the songs. The
melody not being that locked-in in the drum beat allowed the song to be
infiltrated by extra layers of evocation and beauty.

'Key West' was again, after Springfield, a great moment, specially when
Bob sang the "land of Oz" line and most of us seemed to took a couple of
seconds to remind "oh, wait" and then the crowd cheered it so lovingly to
the point that Tony was cracking up more than maybe I've ever seen, the
guy was really laughing, even Bob seemed touched by our reaction.
Incredibly touching delivery of the "such is happiness" part, and later in
the song again a low bass piano part was added and guided the song. Also,
one of the visually most stricking moments ever happened when Bob sang
"I'm so deep in love that I can hardly see" and put his hand on his chest
for the whole line. I have to be honest as I'm not completely sure it was
during that line or maybe other self-refering line on the show, but that
prolonged time with his hand on his heart while refering to himself was so
shocking.

For me the most important moment of the Wichita show came in 'Baby Blue'
because of everything it means of how Bob Dylan is as a performer. At one
point, after the second verse, it was clear that the song was on the verge
of wrecking, he seemed unsure with the lyrics, nodding, dead serious, the
piano almost inaudible. He kind of did well the "all six sailors" verse
but, again, he seemed so uncomfortable. After the verse, with the band
playing a bit of filling, he stopped completely, went to his right and
picked up a harp. This took several seconds, it was not a quick moment, it
was a deliberate pause to compose himself. It kind of felt as if he was
feeling a bit unwell or heavily distracted. Then he delivered one of the
most incredible harp solos I've seen him do. It was so triumphant, it was
the embodiment of hope and purpose. I'm not big fan of Rafa Nadal but it's
true that one of his most amazing qualities was that he ended up winning
matches when he had been on the verge of losing even by several match
balls he saved, then completely turned around the match and finally win
it. It felt that kind of comeback in a few minutes, and it was one of the
times I admired him the most for not giving up, whatever it caused the
problem. He sang the last "vagabond" verse beautifully and then delivered
another full blown harp solo that he almost connected straight to the
opening one of 'Made Up My Mind', that was immaculately delivered with a
final "yeeeeessssss" do die for. Now I'm not sure if maybe the hand in
chest moment came with "I love so real... So real and so true" (those were
his words last night!) instead of during 'Key West', would love someone
who noticed to clear it up!

The only song I felt it was a weak link in Wichita was 'Mother of Muses',
specially compared to previous shows. Bob seemed kind of on autopilot for
most of the song though it's true that from "Callyope" on he engaded quite
fully in the song and reached some of the heights of previous concerts.
'Jimmy Reed' seemed to be following the same pattern, a bit routine, but
he picked up, again, some low bass sounds on the piano, and that made him
quite madman from the "they threw everything at me line" onwards, super
expressive both on vocals and on the keys, so again a huge and admirable
comeback even if he was not feeling it that much.

I was so happy that 'Every Grain of Sand', though, felt comparable to the
Tulsa version (best from this leg to me), with both Bob and band trying
new things and inflections, specially in the first and last verses and
this time I managed to only keep nice images in my mind during the song.
Then, proving again that even when all is lost you can't never discount
Bob out, it really seemed he would close the concert playing piano, as he
went on with it after the last line, but then all of the music paused
super briefly at the perfect moment and he started blowing a short but
super(sonic) harp solo that was truly to die for. He stood up, went much
more backwards than expected at the speed of light, did the quicket nod
and look and he was out. It was funny that the band stayed a few seconds
more before starting to proceed, then lights took a bit to went on and,
when they did, they suddenly were turned down again, and for just one
brief moment it seemed it could happen, but big thunderstorms were
starting to fall over Wichita and I guess he had to seek some shelter.