October 12, 2013
Review by Anders Tidström
Bobby landed safely, Saturday in an almost surrealistic Swedish landscape.
Fall shot bright flames to accomplish the night´s concert in the Stockholm
Waterfront auditorium. At least I felt like the seasonal sunlit forest fire flashed
as hell in honor of Dylan. And … he gave us a vivid and great show from first
spark.
No announcement due to any slave contract with the record company - simply
lights on stage when the band entered (ten minutes late). Nice, we don´t
need a resume to know Dylan is a competent and exceptional contibutor to
contemporary music … and more.
Bob opened center stage, with a microphone, no instrument. A brave start.
The real and nude sing and dance man, greeting his audience with Things
have changed. But something is nevertheless like before - the Oscar statuette
he received for this song was as usual parked through the show on an amplifier
close to Dylan. A worthy trophy, a mascot? And the obvious and beautiful
artistic relationship between Bob and Charlie Chaplin is also present and
continuous. They definitely share the spirit when on stage and in a way they
look alike too. Unchanged! But for a change this was a night when Dylan made
hatless tricks … which means he left his hat nearby on the floor until the show
was over. And who needs a hat the hour when the ship comes in. Hat off for
this arena as a new and attractive venue with excellent sound and an audience
of less than 3000 (sold out). Through the night a mild moonlight hangs like a
paint brush over the stage, no sharp white spots and just a soft black
background behind the band. His Bobness in a nice black suit with some
sober silver decoration on his trousers - no less than the look of a Mexican
bull fighter.
Bob stayed on the spot. Singing She belongs to me and excercising shortly on
harp too. Can´t help my flashback of1966 here. Dylan started the very concert
center stage in Stockholm Concert House with this very song! Here we go
again, 47 years later - that´s life and life only. Why didn´t I bring a brand new
leopard skin pill box hat for this occasion? Anyway I brought my wife instead
and she honors Dylan more than any fury leopard skin. That will do!
Next Bob positions behind the grand piano and Beyond here lies nothin´ is
brought to air. Dylan and his band is following the set list from Oslo (October 10)
with only two exceptions: Blind Willie Mc Tell, added last before intermission and
Thunder on the mountain replacing Summer days.
No, no nostalgia! Not for me and not for Bob and hopefully for nobody around.
We love old and new stuff, original or totally reshaped. Tonight we were
offered six out of ten songs from last year´s cd Tempest. A third af the concert
was thus brand new poduction: Pay in blood, Duquesne whistle, Early Roman
kings, Scarlet town, Soon after midnight and Long and wasted years. Actually all
six songs were performed with great warmth and feeling. This brought a special
dynamic athmosphere to the whole concert.
Simple twist of fate and Thunder of the mountain went right to my heart. Fine
poetry, harmonic melodies and an enormously tight band makes it. Earlier It´s
alright, ma (I´m only bleeding) was really rocking. The violin of Donnie Herron
was excellent. And the whole concert was an even performance in high spheres.
A Bob fan may be a poor critic. If I try my best I could find an exception for a
little rough, not top version, of Blowin´in the wind.
Dylan made some gestures and dancing center stage. Those were exceptions.
Also harp playing was just for a couple of songs. Most of the time he sang and
played the grand piano.
Finally, when I saw Bob first time, April 1966, his set list was eight songs poorer
than tonight and he also was more than an hour late to the show then and in
spite of that he had no time for encores in the end. Obviously Bob was so
much older then, he´s younger than that now!
Anders Tidström
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