Dusseldorf, Mitsubishi Electric Hall, 27.10.2024. After 2013, 2015, 2017 and
2019, yesterday was my fifth Bob Dylan show in this hall, and I can't think
of any other hall where I've seen Bob more often.

I arrived in Dusseldorf at around 2:30 pm and met up with some friends for 
dinner. In a fish restaurant within walking distance of the venue, we talked 
about the last (and next) Dylan shows. That's one of the things I enjoy most: 
meeting and chatting with other Bob Dylan fans, sharing a mutual enthusiasm. 
People you often only see on a Bob Dylan tour.

After dinner, we walked over to the hall, where admission had already begun. 
Franky reeled off his usual musical program in front of the hall 
(a fan / musician who plays Bob Dylan covers in the "original" way and always 
receives a lot of encouragement, especially after the concerts in front of 
the hall - often seen on the post-show live reels of our Daily Dylan 
Instagram account), but this time he was challenged by a trumpeter who let 
"Blowin' In The Wind" resound through the Dusseldorf evening sky on his 
trumpet.

After arriving in the hall and at my seat, having eaten another cheese 
pretzel (somehow I was quite hungry yesterday), the show started at 8 pm 
sharp. Bob entered the stage in a great golden jacket.

All Along The Watchtower
Gets better and better. Bob's guitar solo is also becoming more fluid and 
fitting. The microphone was set correctly from the first word (something that
can usually drive me crazy when you can barely hear the first lines) and the 
voice was clear from the start. I definitely like it much better than in 
Frankfurt or Berlin, and the sound in the hall proved to be very good again!

It Ain't Me, Babe
Again a fluid and very fitting guitar solo from Bob in the beginning, overall
a great performance, all lyrics securely placed and often beautifully  phrased. 
Go lightly from the ledge, babe
Go lightly on the grouuuuuuund
I'm not the one you want, babe
I will only let you doooooown
I Contain Multitudes
A great, flawless performance with a great harmonica solo. The piece gave a 
erfect foretaste of the extraordinary show that was to come and made clear to
me that this show will be worth a review for the Daily Dylan.

False Prophet
Still one of the hits of the set, which perhaps comes a little too early. 
This song clearly shows how much Bob can "steer" with his voice. Yesterday 
and at the previous shows, he tends to get quiet towards the end of a line 
and often mumbles the last word. During the spring tour, he delivered the 
lines at full throttle and with power, which often had the audience on the 
edge of their seats! Now he is doing it differently, on purpose. In the two 
musical interludes, Bob Britt's great electric guitar and Dylan's loud but 
well-pitched piano are a real treat.
Bob Dylan hardly moved for long periods during the singing of this song. He 
stood behind the piano and performed the song. Here, too, we have seen other 
"Prophets" with Bob Dylan center stage. But it was still great again!
Bob Britt was introduced after the song.

When I Paint My Masterpiece
The first highlight of this show for me. Great phrasing. ("get yourself into 
trouuuuuble - on a cold dark niiiiiight..."), great harmonica, great piano 
playing! 
"Someday everything's gonna be beautiful - someday - when I paint my 
masterpiece!"

Black Rider
Always a treat. Bob's singing on this one is not from this world.
"Maybe I'll take - Maybe! - the high moral grounds!"

My Own Version Of You
Unfortunately once again one of the "low-points" for me and others I talked 
to after the show. Somehow they can't find an arrangement that does the song
justice. (Maybe take the one from the record?)
Doug Lancio was introduced after the song: "Doug Lancio on the second guitar. 
Playing a serious song for serious people".

To Be Alone With You
Another highlight of the evening! Great interplay between Bob and the band, 
great harp from Bob!
"Some people they don't get it - NO they don't"
"Did I kill somebody? I hope not!"

Crossing The Rubicon
While the song bored me 2 years ago on the 2022 fall tour, it was one of the 
highlights yesterday. Musically completely polished, the perfect space for 
Dylan's strong, clear phrasing and breathtaking musical parts that threatened
to blow the ceiling off the hall.
After the song, Tony Garnier was introduced: "Tony Garnier playing on the 
bass guitar tonight... Tony's crossed the Rubicon... We all have crossed the 
Rubicon..."

Desolation Row
Bob performed most of the song center stage! Great harp too! Gone are the 
days when it was newsworthy if Bob at all played the harp during a concert.
Today it was the turn of the "Einstein verse" again. Dr. Filth then back in 
Esch? We'll be there and report.
After the last verse a great piano solo from Bob.
Of course Jim Keltner great drums, as always during Desolation Row. He was 
also introduced after the song.

Key West
Had his best version for me in Stuttgart. With this song, I always find it 
interesting how it polarizes. For many fans I talk to, it's one of the 
highlights. For me at the moment (apart from Stuttgart) it's more the song 
where I realize that maybe I shouldn't have eaten the cheese pretzel before 
the show after all. Still, great fitting nuances from both guitarists.

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Bob blurred the lyrics a bit during the first two verses. But the second 
half was strong as usual.

I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You
I think it's a great song in general. It gives Bob the opportunity to use 
his voice in a really great way. Nevertheless, this song together with Key 
West came across more emotionally for me on the fall tour 2022. Such is 
life.

Watching The River Flow
I really didn't like that song as the opener that it long was. But boy did 
they worked it out! Yesterday was maybe the best version so far on this tour. 
Almost completely performed center stage right from the beginning! Clear 
and sharp voice! Excellent.

Mother Of Muses
Outstanding as always. What a song.

Goodbye Jimmy Reed
So much potential for this song. Slowly he starts realizing much of it. It 
starts getting better, the band gets tighter on it and Bob sings it better. 
But still a lot of potential yet to bring up for the rest of the tour.

Every Grain Of Sand
Unfortunately, I was somewhat distracted by securities who were constantly 
busy sending people who simply stood or sat down in the center aisle back to 
their seats. But the song was delivered exceptional well (as always actually) 
and the harp solo at the end was worth alone the ticket.

At the farewell, Bob stood incredibly far back on the stage and left it 
unusually quickly.
We waited in vain for a Phil Lesh tribute encore.
Anyway, it was a first class show. The crowd was enthusiastic. I will travel
to Esch today to attend my last show before I head back home and need to 
wait for the London shows.

*The cruel experiment continues*
Dylan has for a long time been in the process of reinterpreting his songs
in a very peculiar way. It almost seems like an experiment in phrasing,
where he delivers the lyrics with a rhythm/metre that almost never follows
the underlying chord changes in a conventional way, while simultaneously
almost completely stripping the lines of their melodic content. To take a
random example from the setlist: in Desolation Row the lines almost all
end in some sort of growl which resembles either the root note or fifth of
the scale. How he reaches this growl melodically doesn't seem to matter
much, such that the song becomes (melodically) almost unrecognisable and
interchangeable.

Generally the more recent the song, the less it has suffered from this
process of degradation (although it was probably less melodic to begin
with). The songs from Rough and Rowdy Ways, therefore, were passable and
at times even moving. But the influence of the "cruel experiment" is
still noticeable. I Contain Multitudes has some sort of melody on the
album, for example the major third in "... yesterday too" in the first
line, but this melodic flourish was surgically removed in the live
version.

This process I assume is known to all Dylan fans on this site.

However, Bob has reinvented himself once more. An entirely new part of the
experiment involves adding piano intermezzos in almost every song, which
consist of very basic scale runs, arpeggio's or chords that often do not
match the underlying harmony. In Desolation Row he runs up and down the E
dorian scale (that is, a minor scale) over a very basic progression of E,
A and B major chords, which produces a sound that is very out of place in
the rock/folk/pop genre. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that it
sounds like a toddler bashing keys at random. One has to (sadly) assume
that it is intended. The process seems to have become so automated that
Bob throws in some "wrong scale runs" in between lines or even while
playing harmonica, such as in It's All Over Now, Baby Blue.

I am fascinated to learn where this experiment leads and how musicologists
will look back on it decades from now. I will, however, not be visiting a
Dylan concert again.

Geert Kapteijns
Amsterdam

I attended the Bob Dylan concert in Dusseldorf in 2024. I've been driving
and flying to his concerts since 1978. I have probably experienced over 
70 evenings with him by now. If I ask myself why I do this, my answer is 
a simple one. It's as if I'm meeting an old friend for a coffee. He has 
grown old, I have grown old. It's nice that he's still around and 
obviously doing well. I'm still alive too. As someone recently wrote, 
going to a Bob Dylan concert is like visiting a historical monument, like 
the Pantheon or Stonehenge. The last time I met Bob Dylan in 2022, in 
Gothenburg, Berlin and Hamburg.

My friend Christiane commented on my trip to Dusseldorf that old people 
celebrate their youth. Maybe, but that's not what an evening with Bob 
Dylan means to me. I find the many old people, of which I am one, rather 
depressing. Another answer is that Dylan's creativity has not stood 
still, every evening he develops his art further, often successfully, 
sometimes unsuccessfully. Painting his masterpiece. If Dylan hadn't 
developed it further, he wouldn't have won the Nobel Prize and would 
perhaps he would be playing songs in a circus tent in front of drunks 
at a "Golden Oldie Night". 

Why do I go to Bob Dylan concerts? His art is part of my life, that 
means I go for emotional reasons: In every concert there are some of 
his songs that deeply touch my soul and trigger a flood of deep 
emotions. That's the main reason why I go to Bob Dylan shows. This time 
the songs that touched my soul were To Be Alone With You, Desolation 
Row, I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You and Every Grain Of Sand.

One image from that night will remain in my memory forever. The two 
young women dancing happily and exuberantly in front of the stage while 
Dylan was playing To Be Alone With You and Desolation Row. It was an 
inspiring evening for me and the rest of the audience. 

Michael Brenner
author of Looking for Bob Dylan Vol. 1.