Ok. I've seen Bob somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 times, including 7
RARW shows and I'm pretty sure this one tonight in Paris was the best
one I've ever seen!  There were numerous high points, no low points and
2 times I was moved to tears, something that had never happened to me at a
show before. I love everything about the arrangements he's doing on this
leg. I might like the faster versions of False Prophet and Goodbye Jimmy
Reed and the slower My Own Version of You from 2021 a bit more, but these
were still wonderful tonight. The highlights were: Another fantastic When
I Paint My Masterpiece with an arrangement borrowing heavily from "Puttin
on the Ritz," the always moving "Made Up My Mind" and "Mother of
Muses," terrific renditions of "Multitudes" amd "Black Rider,"
and a nice upbeat "Baby Blue."  But there were two tour de forces that
as I said before moved me to tears. The first was "Desolation Row." 
The rumbling drumbeat to start put me in a trance and when he started
"They're selling postcards of the hanging..." he was so clear with
his singing and I was overcome by the awe of hearing the greatest there
ever was deliver one of his most profound songs so perfectly, I felt
gratitude to be there witnessing what was in front of me and tears started
to well in my eyes. There was also a nice cheer from the Paris audience
when he said "and the Hunchback of Notre Dame." This kicked off a four
song run that was just epic. After "Desolation Row," the "Key
West" continued the profundity. My daughter Rosie (who is 16 and
accompanied my wife Mary and me for her third show) leaned over and kissed
my cheek 4 times during that song. She later said it was because she was,
in that moment, feeling so thankful to be there. Simply beautiful. Then
came the moderately rocking "Baby Blue" and then "I've Made Up My
Mind," which was as always stunning beautiful and also as always got
Mary crying. Those four songs were as good a four song stretch as any
I'd ever had the good fortune to take in. Then after "Watching The
River Flow" and a "Mother of Muses" that was equal to "Made Up My
Mind" in its beauty, he began to play "Every Grain of Sand."  And
this is where things went from great to absolutely incredible. A few
seconds into the song, people in the lower level began moving toward the
stage. They did it swiftly, quietly and peacefully. A huge number of them.
The seats we had gotten from StubHub were not great, way off to the right
near the wall in the mezzanine (they were Category 1 tickets somehow), but
at this moment, they gave us the perfect vantage point to see the
crowds' movement and it was just a glorious thing. As Bob sang, I began
crying and this time it was nearly a sob. Bob and the musicians must have
been moved by what was happening as well, because he delivered the most
beautiful version of this song I can remember from all the closing times
he played it over the last 3 years. And then  he picked up his harp and
played the most powerfully lovely and still delicate harp solo I've ever
heard. Before this, my favorite harp solo I'd ever heard was from a
bootleg from March 15,1995 on "Boots of Spanish Leather," but I have
to think this was better. I've listened to the 95 song hundreds of times
(it's my favorite bootleg), so I'll need to hear this one a bit to
confirm, but for tonight, I feel very strongly about this one. I so much
enjoyed being with the Paris audiences the last two nights. These were my
first Dylan shows outside the USA and it was such a treat to be with such
respectful dedicated fans (except for the crazy American lady I posted
about from the first night).  Also, it must be acknowledged that Dylan's
policy of no cell phones made the ending with "Every Grain" so much
better. Not a single phone light was visible from my seat; just thousands
of reverential admirers standing in awe as our hero sang one of his most
beautiful songs to us. Afterwards, my wife, daughter and I gave each other
hugs, filed out and enjoyed a really good Italian meal up the street at a
spot called TriBeCa. We sat at dinner going over what we had just been a
part of. Tonight I just feel incredibly grateful to have let Bob into my
life and I'm so glad Mary and Rosie have found a love for him as well.
I'+ll look forward to the next show for sure, but this one will remain
with me forever.
 

Second Paris was a weaker performance imo. Funny enough the first two
songs worked well but the show lacked of more punch like yesterday's show.
The songs were very well preformed by this band and I love Keltner on
drums, but Bobbseemed to be out of shape to me. Maybe he was sad because
of Phil Lesh. Who knows? The re-arrangements are great anyway and both
DESOLATION ROW and BABY BLUE got the audience attention. An old song like
WATCHING THE RIVER FLOW or TO BE ALONE WITH YÖU sounded really good
tonight. In the end Bob woke up and did his last 3-4 songs really good.

A rudimentary set of lights plunges us into darkness. The sound of guitars
hints at the presence of the musicians on stage. And we spot Dylan, seated
on his piano bench with his back to the audience, in a now well-established
staging. The melody he plays on his guitar, with its interweaving of wrong
and right notes, sets the tone for a concert in the form of a masterpiece
in the making. Keltner's relentless rhythm is front and center. All Along
the Watchtower has begun, but Doug Lancio, with his acoustic guitar, takes
care not to reproduce the well-known ostinato. In the second track, It
Ain't Me Babe, it's Tony's bass that starts off at speed, imposing
a robust, playful version. No sooner have we caught our breath than
Lancio introduces I Contain Multitudes with melodious guitar playing,
perfectly in tune with Dylan's rugged voice. Leaning on his piano,
microphone in hand, he addresses an audience barely less illuminated than
the stage by an orangey light. False Prophet follows, rootsy and effective,
with its sequence of crescendos and lulls. The renewed version of When I
Paint My Masterpiece is as good as ever, hopping and joyfully unstructured,
with Britt's beautifull findon guitar. But as Dylan sings in Sugar Baby,
"Happiness can come suddenly and leave just as quick". So that happens
when a dramatic and superb Black Rider arrives: "Don't hug me, don't
flatter me, don't turn on the charm, I take a sword and hack off your
arm". My Own Version Of You sounds like a confessed whimsical dream. To
be Alone With You brings us back to a more concrete reality. This time,
it's Britt playing acoustic guitar and Lancio executing an electric guitar
riff that sounds like it came out of the synth Dylan was playing on not so
long ago - and Donnie Herron who joined him on steel guitar. After Crossing
the Rubicon, we're caught up in Keltner's rhythmic cavalcade on Desolation
Row, where Lancio's acoustic guitar recalls the great era of Larry Campbell
and Charlie Sexton. Key West is, as always, a great success, slower than
ever - another song constantly improved on stage. On It's All Over Now
Baby Blue, Dylan's voice sometimes aligns with the imperturbable melody
played on electric guitar, giving the most beautiful version heard since
2000-2001. On I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You, we're hanging on
Dylan's elastic voice and its rich palette of intonations: "I don't think
I could bear to live my life alone". For two hours, this
nuanced, powerful voice and the hammered notes to the piano ensure that
there's never a dull moment. The musicians are not to be outdone, always
inventive, never yielding to the ease of overly virtuoso playing. 

The Bob Dylan concert I attended at La Seine Musicale on Friday was
certainly one of the best I've heard. The set list was a mixture of songs
from Rough and Rowdy Ways, his latest album, and older ones. The new
arrangements were very well done, with an astonishing musicality. Dylan
has got us used to deconstructing and reconstructing his songs over the
years. On Friday it was particularly successful with new rhythms, new
piano and harp parts and a great complicity with his musicians. The
audience was won over, very focused on the music and in real communion
with Dylan, because we all know that this may be one of the last times we
see him, but he's probably got some new surprises in store for us in the
years to come! At the end of the show, as we went in front of the stage I
had the chance to see the American singer Elliott Murphy, who is living in
Paris!

The one constant thing about seeing Bob Dylan live is that you are going
to see a man / artist (I've never been able to separate one from the
other) at a certain moment. And that moment is not at all tied up to a
particular point in time (ancient or modern history) but rather to a
particular point in his own time (actual age).

Those who were lucky enough to see him perform in some coffeehouses in
Greenwich Village, New York City, in 1962 got to see a man / artist aged
21. Those who were perceptive enough to see him perform in bigger halls
throughout the world in 1966 got to see a man / artist aged 25. Those who
were wise enough to see him perform in 1975 got to see a man / artist aged
34. The list could go on and on but let's finish it for now with the
latest landmark: those who were healthy enough to see him perform on
October 24 & 25, 2024 in Paris got to see the man / artist aged 83!

Some people have thus misconceptions about seeing Bob Dylan on stage.
For example, they would like to see in 1987 "a" Bob Dylan aged 25 (he
was then 46!) or they would like to see in 2001 "a" Bob Dylan aged 40
(he was then 50!). Strangely enough, no-one would have liked to see in
1974 "a" Bob Dylan aged 80 (he was then 33!). Does that mean an odd
relation to time or a lack of quick wits?

So seeing Bob Dylan live will show you a twofold image: a man / artist
at a certain age (that's the predictable point) and the man / artist at
that moment (and that's the unpredictable point)!

Now it's time to go back on time to those two concerts on October 24 &
25, 2024 in Paris (at the modern & ugly Seine Musicale). What I wanted to
see was "the" Bob Dylan in 2024 at a particular point in his own time
(83 years old) and that's exactly what I got! But what I couldn't have
foreseen was the "the" Bob Dylan as man / artist. He was as
unpredictable as ever and I thank him so much for that!

He sang both nights the same songs (as I expected it) but everything
else was different! Now seeing him live involves many things outside his
domain. Where you are in the hall, how the people next to you are behaving
during the concert, how you yourself feel like at that moment... For those
two Paris shows I was roughly at the same distance from the stage (and I
had my binoculars both evenings) but I was on the right side of the hall
on the 24th and on the left side on the 25th! Is it important? Yes, it
was! I saw two different concerts also because of that. For example, on
the first night, he started the first two songs sitting backwards on the
stool in front of the piano playing his electric guitar: the first night I
could see only his back and the neck of his guitar whereas on the second
night I could see both his hands playing that guitar and his left hand
trying to reach those long-forgotten chords. That was great! And I loved
the next moment when he so slowly and delicately put the guitar on the
keyword next to the piano without caring about the band playing on and
waiting for him to start singing! Well, the guitar had to be taken care of
first!

Now what I saw both nights was a man / artist doing "new" things out of
"old" things (yes, even the songs from his latest album, Rough and
Rowdy Ways from 2020 are now already "old" and he did nine of them). I
saw a man getting out of his piano, mike in hand, and walking fragilely a
few steps in front of the audience (but not that close!) and then
sheltering back behind his piano but not playing it, putting both his
elbows on top of it and then, mike still in hand, talking / singing not to
the audience but to me only... and that was fantastic! And he also in the
same way grabbed his harmonica and blew it all the way to me only!

On the first night, he kept cracking a smile between songs to his bass
player (Tony Garnier) or facing his drummer (Jim Keltner) whereas on the
second night, his face during the songs & between the songs was
inscrutable and sombre for whatever reasons I don't want to know.

There are many other things I could add about those two concerts (his
versions of "Desolation Row" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and his
piano playing on "Crossing The Rubicon", the harmonica at the end of
"Every Grain Of Sand", and even about Bob Britt's playing mistakenly the
riff of "When I Paint My Masterpiece" at the start of "False Prophet" and
Bob being unruffled at first and then pounding a loud key on the piano
meaning something was wrong...), many interesting and illuminating things
but the most important thing about a concert is that you have to be there
to really grasp it (or not)!

Thank you Mr Bob!

PS: ...The answer to the question "Why Bob Dylan?" must be "Who else is
there?" (thank you, Mr Harold Bloom, for the original thought about
William Shakespeare (in Shakespeare - The Invention of the Human).