Review by Colin Lacey
Just got back from the show, so a few short words. First, great venue - a
big top marquee - and a mellow crowd on a nice evening. Dylan came on to
usual fanfare after they had closed the beer lines outside in a bid to get
everyone in front of the stage. Came on about 8.15 with Maggie's Farm, in
absolutely great voice. Rough edges seem to be smoothed out considerably.
He also appears to be phrasing slightly behind the beat on occasion, which
makes for an interesting approach, although this seemed to be forgotten as
the show progressed. Next up was She Belongs To Me, which was nice, and
well received. Tweedle Dee was the usual momentum breaker - I went for a
beer. Back in time for a really nice Just Like A Woman, with a new space
inserted for crowd singalong in the chorus I hadn't herd before. Nice
version. Memphis Blues must go. Ugh - it's deathly boring by now and the
best I can say about this one is that it seemed mercifully short. Blind
Willie was a surprise, and well presented. I've heard better though.
Watching the River Flow could have been any bar band or any 12 bar blues.
What is wrong with these guys? Obviously they must be great musicians, but
there's a reticence there that just holds them back - maybe it will shake
itself out as the tour progresses, but tonight they were tentative at
times when they should have just kicked it to touch. I'm referring to
KImball in particular here. He can play, but he really needs to cut loose.
Thin Man had a nice loping, edgy riff. They led into Sweet Marie with a
longish violin intro and it was a couple lines in before I recognised what
was going on. A ho-hum version though. Boots of Spanish was sweet. Cold
Irons Bound was probably the highlight, with great dynamics. This band is
really good at times - here they did crack up a storm. They're just not
loose enough though. I was thinking throughout that now that Dylan's organ
is up in the mix a little - there were hints of The Band at moments - that
it would be nice to bring in a keyboardist who knows what he's doing to
add a much- needed texture to some of the songs. Don't Think Twice pleased
the crowd and Summer Days was auto-pilot. Back for the usual Rolling Stone
and Watchtower, which were cursory, and no different to earlier this year,
or last year. Overall a solid show - 6 out of 10 perhaps. Dylan sang well
and played some nice harp. Double enjoyment for me as it was my 12 year
old son Luke's first rock concert (he loved it). But there was no real
sense of a full engagement with the material and he badly needs some new
blood in the group. Drummer and bassist apart, these guys are not the
Band, they're the Bland. Shake it up, Bob
Colin Lacey
Review by John Dunne
Only the second night of the tour, of course, but the voice is in better
shape than I have heard it over the past five or six years. This, in fact,
was a magisterial display of committed, expressive singing: From the
moment he opened his mouth, it was apparent that, tonight, Bob Dyan was
breathing fire. And he needed to be because, too often, the band seemed to
be stone cold, their playing as statuesque as Denny Freeman's stance. And
occasionally it was worse than that: Their uncertainity on Absolutely
Sweet Marie, for instance, was that of young lads practising in the school
hall. Surely it's not to much to ask that they learn the right chords?
For most of the show, Donnie Herron stared at Dylan as if looking for help
with a strange instrument he'd just been landed with, and I still can't
understand why Dylan lets someone like Stu Kimball within an ass's roar of
the stage. To call his playing basic would be flattery: His casual
strumming on All Along the Watchtower, for instance, was an insult to the
commitment shown by his boss. And make no mistake, Dylan works very hard
on stage; I was only yards away and could plainly see every strained
muscle, every bead of sweat. To sum up, this was a compelling, memorable
concert, made so by a staggering performance by Bob Dylan himself with
little or no help from his friends.
John Dunne
Review by Gary Whyte
Was there last night, great to see a legend again, but christ that was
borderline crap.
He's going through the motions. Here I am, now lets see if I can piss you
all off.
A wedding band would have performed tighter than that, it's as if he is
challenging people to walk out, does he long for the days of being booed
on stage???
Just like a woman was just about the highlight, but not thanks to dylan,
thank the crowd, he had us eating out of his hands, but he wouldn't even
acknowledge where he was, maybe he didn't know, didn't acknowledge the two
recent gigs he cancelled in Cork, once because of bad health the other
because he was too busy going on the lash with bono to bother coming down
to perform for his fans. You'd have to wonder really. How would he have
felt if he went to woodie guthrie and he had given him the two fingers the
way he did to us.
I know you go to a live gig to see alternative versions of great songs,
but at least he could do is make each song sound different to the last.
If you saw him in his prime, remember it, if you didn't, get the DVD and
stay at home.
Review by Liam Carson
Where to start? I'd been to Kilkenny the day before - but I'm not a great
fan of outdoor gigs. Highlights there were a sinister "Love Sick" and a
driving "Masters of War". But Cork was the one I was looking forward to.
The venue was much better - a large fairground marquee. The man arrived on
stage an uncharacteristic 15 minutes late. Kicked off with "Maggie's Farm"
and "She Belongs to Me" again - but here the sound was vastly superior to
Kilkenny. Every word of "She Belongs to Me" was caressed, twisted,
unfolded, nuanced. It was lovely. Then into the now utterly tedious
"Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee" - I am sick to death of this song, and it
was a vocal mess between strained high notes and up-singing. Just as my
heart began to sink, out came a gorgeous "Just Like a Woman". Sung with
tenderness, affection - and leaving spaces in the chorus for a rousing
audience sing-along. Thus five thousand voices in unison - a truly
affecting moment. "Memphis Blues" is another song that has been flogged to
death in recent years, and needs retirement.
First major treat of the night was "Blind Willie McTell", with wonderful
bluesy hoedown banjo from Donnie Herron. "Watching the River Flow" was
plodding, workmanlike. Then followed by a stunning "Ballad of a Thin Man",
sung with venom, gusto, precision. "Absolutely Sweet Marie" had a great
arrangement between Dylan's swirling hurdy-gurdy organ and Herron's
Waterboys style fiddle.
Stonking highlight without a doubt was a completely reworked "Cold Irons
Bound", now fashioned as a creeping swamp blues, full of menace and
tension. I've never heard it sound so utterly dark and cutting.
The encores? Well, predictable - but delightful. "All Along the
Watchtower" now comes with a stop-start staccato delivery that is
spell-binding.
Overall, a fine gig - a few duff songs, but with more great moments. I
love Dylan's organ sound - it's a nod to the "wild mercury sound" and
quite hypnotic. But there wasn't the wonderful diversity evidenced in the
set-lists of his last superb Dublin gigs ("Shelter from the Storm",
"Senor", "High Water", "I Dreamed I saw St. Augustine", "Every Grain of
Sand"). Still, you can't complain too much really. Between constant
touring, a cracking and hilarious radio show, a beautiful memoir, a new
album, the man is a continuing source of great art and great fun.
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