October 19, 2009
Review by Jay Meehan
The wind began to howl hours before two riders were seen approaching along
the southeast shore of the Great Salt Lake Monday afternoon. Rumors had got
out early that the storms brewing to the west were heading our way with an
attitude and the front preceding them didn't disappoint.
The shoreline setting of "Saltair," with its "modern Moorish" architecture, had an
almost otherworldly feel to it as the cloudscape roiled like a freshly poured
Guinness. It would be Dylan's first stop at this specific Utah venue and, although
hopeful, no one was quite sure how the two would mesh.
Not having my finger directly upon the pulse of this particular tour segment, it
came as a total surprise when, once inside, I overheard a couple of bobcats
discussing the return of Charlie Sexton to Dylan's band. Someone has to be the
last to get the word and this time it was me. You could have blown me over
with harp solo.
Having taken in an "Arc Angels" show with Charlie and Doyle Bramhall II and the
boys this past July, I knew he was at the top of his game, but never dreamed
Bob and he had reunion plans in the works. Visions of past shows featuring
Charlie and Larry Campbell will no doubt dance in my head forever.
Once the show kicked off with "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues
Again," it became readily apparent that Charlie's place in the band had been
dramatically altered since his last hitch with the group. Where, previously,
arrangement-wise anyway, he wasn't allowed out after dark, in this current
setup, curfew has been revoked.
Charlie, as seemingly everybody but me was well aware, is now featured
front-and-center in a Dylan stage show more than anyone else in recent
memory. When Bob is at his keyboard, center stage belongs to Sexton.
His physical interplay with Bob speaks volumes as to the ever-evolving
onstage reinterpretation of the Dylan canon.
Where, in the past, it was longtime bassist Tony Garnier who subtly conducted
the band while monitoring rhythm and chord changes, some of those duties
now seem to be shared with Charlie. Much of this appears directly related to
Sexton's more-overt stage presence, however. Both they and the rest of
the band, of course, take their lead from Dylan.
Another pleasant difference from recent tours is that, these days, Dylan himself
spends much more time center stage either embellishing his vocals with harp or,
now hear this, guitar. On this night, intricacies within his dual-leads with
Charlie were very "tasty" with notes always properly spaced and never cluttered.
I'll leave it to others more well-versed than myself to break down the set-list,
but suffice to say that to my ears it was one for the ages. As far as first timers
for this tour, we got a brilliant and semi-theatrical "Senor" along with a
softly-swinging "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" in the two and three slots along
with the incessant "The Levee's Gonna Break" at six.
The fun level of the show bordered on the ecstatic. The extremely-wide
demographic danced and stomped and hooted and hollered throughout and
any problem with the mix that might have raised its ugly head kept, for the
most part, hunkered down. Not to belabor the point but the overall sense
was one of pure joy!
Review by Rene Vallieres
The night was dark and stormy with whiffs of sulfur rising from The Great Salt
Lake. The venue was a bit seedy but appropriate for Dylan’s proletariat
sentiments. I cozied up to the stage and got within 20 feet about a half hour
before the show. Since there were no seats, we were all crammed together like
penguins seeking warmth on an Antarctic island. About five minutes before the
show the penguins started to get restless hooting and hollering with
anticipation. I must admit I was one of them.
The band entered right at 7:30 and played through 9:30 with a short break
before the proverbial encore set. The first song was, alas, not "Gonna
Change My Way of Thinking" but rather "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the
Memphis Blues Again". I was a little disappointed but it's such an iconic
song bringing back memories that I couldn't help but think, “This is great!”
In fact, the first three songs were magical, "Mobile", "Senor" and "I'll Be
Your Baby Tonight". The magic wore off a bit after that but it was still all
very cool. The acoustics were perfect. You could pick out every instrument and
every word Bobby was singing. It was loud and raucous (at least for Utah). He
played the crowd perfectly with even a raised eyebrow bringing screams of
delight. He actually started to do a little shuffle while on the keyboard during
"Thunder on the Mountain" and the crowd went crazy.
The highlight for me had to be "Desolation Row" - nine minutes of classic
Dylan. It started a little rough with all the band members looking at each
other and then Charlie Sexton took over and got everybody on the same page. Then
fireworks! It's only the second time they did it on this tour. I was grateful
he did it for us.
Yep, it was better than I thought it was going to be. It was uplifting in a
strange way and I don't know why it should be. Is it the music? I entered the
concert feeling a little discouraged in a general way but leaving feeling all’s
right with the world - strange how good music changes perception.
One last anecdote: Utahans are not known for their exuberance so when one guy
in the crowd toward the front turned around between songs early in the concert
and chastised us for not dancing, "After all this is rock ‘n roll!" he screamed
- I smiled.
Review by John Weber
Bob in all black with silver stripe on pants. Blue shirt, western hat with
feather. Everyone else in gray with black shirts. Statue still riding along.
Stripped down lighting. Venue was two level with maybe 3500 there (4624 max).
Long, black rectangle with poor sound.
Bob was pretty reserved except during Baby Tonight when he and Charlie were
doing the maths. The crowd was pretty mellow except during Levee, Hwy. 61,
Rolling Stone and Watchtower. Bob/Tony/Donnie smiles during one song otherwise
straight forward. Front stage lighting only for Thin Man so shadows on back
wall. Short line up. No 'gives you chills' moments but pretty tight. He's doing
the stunted vocals / march beat deal a lot. A solid "C".
John Weber
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