Review by Chuck Owen
My Dylan buddies Rose, Lisa and I made the 2 hour trip again up to
Rochester NY from Welland ON Canada, to see Dylan's new summer tour swing
bye. And I must say it was definately worth the drive. The last time we
made this trip was November 13, 2004. The opening act wants me to plan a
trip to Austin TX, if that's what's happening there, great country swing,
with lots of pickin and grinn'in from Elana James & The Continental Two,
this act is a must see, so don't be late, Elana was followed by Junior
Brown who also is a fine performer, with a Johnny Cash like voice, I
really enjoyed his style, Junior along with that wonderful voice, can play
the guitar with the best of them. Then Jimmie Vaughan took the stage, and
completely overwhelmed the 10,000 plus crowd, it's a shame what happened
to Stevie Ray, because it would of been fantastic to hear them together.
For Jimmie is also a diamond in the rough. I know that he will have a
great career ahead of him. Then at about 9:15 PM Bob Dylan and his band
took the stage, Dylan opened with a remarkable version of "Cat's in the
Well" he followed with " You Ain't Goin Nowhere" I thought this was a
great follow up, then Dylan threw in "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum" to be
honest with you I wish that he would drop this song from his set list. It
has great lyrics but I just don't care for this tune. He followed with"
Positively 4'th Street" this is one of my favorite vintage Dylan tunes and
tonight it was performed to perfection.Then Dylan performed another
classic " I'll Be Your Baby Tonight " off that great LP John Wesley
Harding, one of my favorites, then they swirled into a wonderful version
of " Stuck Inside Of Memphis With The Mobile Blues Again" Dylan followed
with " Masters Of War " is anthem tune to all the turmoil in our world
today, and listening to these lyrics it was haunting and mysterious, Dylan
was right on the money when he wrote this, and I think his first
performance of this tune was June 18, 1963 at the Monterey Folk Festival,
then the show picked up some steam with "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat" that
nugget off of Blonde On Blonde, they then stormed into a chilling version
of "Joey" I closed my eye's and visualized the shooting in the clam bar in
NY City, for Dylan's lyrics can do this to you, he's so sagacious (
mentally penetrating ). Then he did my all time favorite tune "Highway 61
Revisited" this takes me back in time to those wonderful years when I was
a teenager and rushed home to listen to this classic album for the first
time, wow 1965 seems so long ago. Then they swung into "Sugar Baby" which
took us to his present era of great song writting. Then the set finished
with a classic "Summer Days" a suitable ending on a fine summer night in
Rochester NY. The encore featured two of his signature tunes " Like A
Rolling Stone" and " All Along The Watchtower". It was a fine evening
spent with the opening acts and the living legend himself Bob Dylan. And
if you're ever in this part of the world make sure you stop at Rochester
NY for it is a very beautiful city situated on the shores of Lake Ontario,
I've had the pleasure of completing the cycle here with Dylan for I've
seen him at The Blue Cross Arena, RIT campus and now Frontier Field. There
is a building downtown that was visible from the stadium that looked like
it had a space ship sitting on top of it, I was told that it is a
revolving restaurant, on my next trip to Rochester I'll have to check it
out, it was another memorable evening cheers,
Chuck Owen
Welland ON Canada
Review by Chuck Case
Bob has been good to upstate New York the past several years; making
frequent tour stops to its small cities.
This was the best Bob Dylan show I've seen in a few years, probably since
2003. Although, admittedly, I have only seen him as he has passed through
Western New York. The band is much tighter than it was on his last few
swings through. The bluesy feel from the post "Love and Theft" tours is
back. So is the Bob's "yawp" - that voice where he lets the rasp complete
itself as he patiently works through the words. Sometimes he even leaned
on the rasp: growling as he danced through the verses of "Stuck Inside of
Mobile" or "You Ain't Going Nowhere." All and all a more blues oriented
show than the past few years.
The set list was not nearly as important as the treatment of the songs,
which is good because having a wish list of songs is a perilous endeavor at a
Dylan show. He sang a stunning "Masters of War" (big, well deserved,
ovation) and an excellent "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum". He also did a
lovely reworked "Sugar Baby." "Joey" was delivered with a lovely blues
country feel very reminiscent of "Mississippi."
During his last three shows in WNY, he had a tendency to just dump all the
words from his mouth in an unrecognizable garble, but at this show his
delivery was patient and focused, and at times downright melodic.
Bob's blues delivery makes him the most compelling blues singer out there
right now. There are more miles, both real and metaphysical, in Bob's
cadence and phrasings than anybody else, with the possible exception of
Lucinda. When Bob is on, there is nobody that can sing better.
Nothing from Modern Times at this show, which doubled both as a
disappointment and a wonderful commentary about Bob's patience with
his art. After all those songs are not going anywhere, Bob can get around
to them in his own time.
Review by Steve Pulver
First show since Vegas in the spring for me. I haven't heard anything
(recordings, etc) since then so bear with me. Nice venue. Dylan and Tony
rode up on their motorcycles at about 5:45pm...I didn't see them come in,
but someone nearby did...Pretty wicked show...They replaced the cue sheets
last minute, so I don't know if that was good or bad...Probably bad
though...The thing I noticed right off the bat (no pun intended) was how
this band sounds compared to a few months ago. They finally sound tighter
and louder...They have come a long way - the recording of MT, I strongly
believe brought them together...George was off all night though. He never
really found a groove...In fact, he was messing up the band on a few
numbers - most notably Highway 61...Denny really picked up his game from
the last show I saw him at...Stu played lots of acoustic tonight...
About the stage setup. Come on Bob. Enough is enough...I found out
once I got my spot in the venue that he had changed sides this
tour...He's even further back and not facing the audience at
all...Pretty odd stuff...Dylan and Donny exchanged some good laughs
too. The whole band seemed to be having a whopping good time...
Cat's was a strong opener, which I would take over Maggies any day.
YAGN was standard. Tweedle - let's pray thats the last time I have to hear
that one...4th street was solid - really only a few upsinging instances -
the only realy upsinging of the night - grandfunkdylan (Greg) didn't like
it, but I thought it was well performed. IBYBT was also standard - I was
hoping for something exciting in that slot. The band was cooking on mobile
- Denny sounded great. Masters was one of the highlights for sure, great
arrangment. Leopard-Skin was great - a nice surprise for sure -
interesting place in the set though. And then, out of nowhere comes JOEY!
I had thought it was Tough Mama for the first bar or two, but then Denny's
solo line came in and I totally lost it...It was incredible, especially
for the first time in a few years...What a great surprise - made my 3.5
hour drive worth it. Highway 61 was sub-par due to George's drumming...I
don't know what was up with him all night. Sugar Baby was another
weakpoint for me. I wasn't familiar with the arrangment first of all, and
I didn't like it...Definitely the worst number of the night for me.
Summerdays was rocking...I don't mind the tune when I only see a show or
two a tour...It was a fun set closer on a nice summer evening. Rolling
Stone and Watchtower were standard...The band was really cookin' on
both...Lots of pictures were taken. Stay tuned.
All in all, a great show...Joey made it all worth it. I'm really
excited for the fall...The band is really starting to come together
and I like where they're going...See you in November Bobby!
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