Reviews
Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Rockhal

October 28, 2024

[Daniel Hildebrand] [Marc Hoffeld], [Chris Rollason]

Review by Daniel Hildebrand

,

It was a show, quite on the same level as Dusseldorf, until Bob delivered
a special version of "My Own Version Of You". After that, the whole energy
completely changed. Even the start was a bit unusual. Not only did it not 
start until 8:30 pm, but Bob and the band were also a few minutes late.
The group dynamic of the band is worth mentioning in advance. When Bob is 
happy after a successful song or solo, he almost always turns to Jim 
Keltner and Tony Garnier. In general, he is in constant communication, 
especially with Jim Keltner, and especially when things are going well.
About Bob Britt, he lets the songs go by nodding these days, and Doug 
Lancio gets almost no attention from the master. Considering that Doug 
and Bob Britt have been friends for a very long time, you can really 
speak of a small group formation on stage, with Bob Britt and Doug Lancio 
on one side, and the then the other three.

All Along The Watchtower
Things went the usual way. I like Bob's guitar licks these days. The last 
line of Watchtower, with which Bob brings the song to a close can make or 
break the impression for me. But today and yesterday it was really good.

It Ain't Me, Babe
Again, great guitar solo by Bob (D.) and long, great harmonica! Strongly 
delivered with a clear voice! The first hint that this could go into a 
good direction tonight.

I Contain Multitudes
After Doug Lancio's acoustic guitar intro, Bob almost missed the first 
line, since he hard forgotten to take the mic out of it's stand. But he 
did it, and delivered a beautiful rendition, and not even mumbled 
"The Rolling Stones" this time, but sang/said it loud and clear.

False Prophet
He started the song standing next to Tony. He soon walked over to the 
piano and delivered a pretty much same version as yesterday.

When I Paint My Masterpiece
He again started the song whilst standing far back on stage, right next 
to Tony. Doug Lancio played a great solo, and Bob added a good dose of 
harmonica afterwards. At the end, not for the last time, he turned to 
Tony and Jim, laughing and satisfied.
"...turn my back to the world for a while - just a little while."

Black Rider
Strong as always, there is just not much to say about it. We got the 
double-maybe again for the high moral grounds.
He introduced Doug Lancio after the song.

My Own Version Of You
The song started as usual, without really being about to become one of 
the highlights of the evening. Bob slammed the mic down on the piano 
again and couldn't keep up with the lyrics here and there.
Suddenly Bob found an aggressive, meditative phrasing pattern that 
gradually added intensity to the song:
Two doors down, not that far to walk
I'll hear your footsteps, you won't have to knock
I'll bring someone to life, balance the scales
I'm not gonna get involved in any insignificant details
He carried it through to the end, and at the end he turns back to Jim 
and Tony and all three laugh contentedly.
In my opinion, this song was kind of a turning point for the concert 
today. From this point on, Bob's mood and energy increased 
significantly, as the rest of the songs showed.

To Be Alone With You
Still intoxicated by the unexpected success of the previous song, Bob 
step-danced almost as if floating on a cloud towards the center stage 
while crooning the first lyrics. Similar to yesterday, the audience 
was also clearly carried away today, at the latest when the rhythmic 
acoustic guitar kicked in. Another highlight of the evening!
After the song, Tony Garnier was introduced: "Tony Garnier is on the 
bass guitar... He know's what it's like to be alone with you."

Crossing The Rubicon
Once again a strong performance.
Jim Keltner was introduced after the song: "Jim Keltner on the drums... 
Jim has crossed the Rubicon many times, like we all have to, sooner or 
later."

Desolation Row
Almost frenetically celebrated by the audience. Once again the Einstein
verse. Great harmonica solos both before and after the last verse 
(Received your letter...)! And a great piano solo before the last verse.
All in all, perhaps the strongest Desolation Row I've seen this fall.

Key West
There was the expected cheering during "Coming in from Luxembourg". 
A lot of harp between the lines. During this song, I noticed quite well 
how elegantly Bob sometimes lets the mic slide from one hand to the 
other and then bends gracefully over the piano, at which he performed 
the song standing up.

It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
Slightly new arrangement. New lick by Bob Britt.
This time, he got the lyrics right at the beginning, but then messed 
them up in the middle of the song.

I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You
During the first lines of the song, Bob has had enough of the constant 
struggle with the microphone cable and sets out to sort it out once 
and for all. Here I always find it amazing how well he can deliver 
some songs by heart despite being distracted at times. Vocally, 
perhaps the best "Made Up My Mind" that I remember on this tour. Lots 
of power and strength in the voice.

Watching The River Flow
And up another level! At the beginning of the song, he lined up at the 
back of Tony again and must have caught sight of his guitar. Because 
next he ran over and played his guitar for several minutes before the 
first line. Then there was a great piano solo also before the first 
verse started. It's crazy to think how little this song gave me when 
it was the opener, and how it's kicking in now! And it also fits 
perfectly into the set at this point. To ring in the end as usual, 
Dylan nods over to Britt, which he doesn't notice until a little late. 
As Bob Britt then walks towards Keltner as usual and the band have 
already heralded the end of River Flow, another
"PEOPLE DISAPPEARING EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK!"
aired through the hall, and the song was rolled out again at this 
point. This improvisation always makes the shows so distinctive and 
that's actually what I admire most about Bob: That he does what he 
thinks is right (what he thinks is best) at the moment or what he 
feels like doing.

Mother Of Muses
Here we were able to experience an almost Chaplinesque Dylan scene 
like in the good old days. This time: Dylan and the piano stool. At 
the beginning of Mother of Muses, he moved it from left to right, 
from front to back and back again. Then he sat down for three seconds 
before standing up again. Moved it again. A little puzzled and maybe 
slightly worried, Tony took a few steps in his direction. When the 
song was already over and the audience was clapping, Dylan played a 
spontaneous harp solo to really bring the song to a close.

Goodbye Jimmy Reed
Not really the song of the evening. He started center stage then on 
the way to the piano the lyrics were completely messed up. Typical 
Dylan, totally in a harp mood, had to come up with something special 
for Jimmy Reed too: It was kind of like:
Transparent woman SHORT HARP in a transparent dress SHORT HARP
Suits you well, SHORT HARP I must confess SHORT HARP
I'll break open your grapes, SHORT HARP I'll suck out the juice SHORT HARP
I need you SHORT HARP like my head needs a noose
He was once again so in harp fever that he forgot to take the harp 
away from the microphone during the last verse. Tony was amused again 
because you could also assume that Dylan might even do it extra at a 
certain point. But then he did take it away for the last line of the song.

Every Grain Of Sand
Great as usual, Dylan and Britt playing perfectly together here.
That's it for me for now. I've seen 10 shows so far on this tour, and 
now will have to wait for the London shows.
 

[TOP]

Review by Marc Hoffeld

,

Bob was in tha house!

It was the sixth time Bob performed in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg and 
I had the chance not to miss a single one of his shows over the decades. 
Thanks to a good samaritan we (my brother, two friends and myself) got 
tickets for the Rockhal VIP lounge with an great view on the stage. The 
Rockhal is situated in the south of our small country with easy access 
and was already host of many exceptional concerts during the last 20 
years.

Maybe Bob also tried the mouthwatering pulled pork we got served as the 
show began one half hour later than normal.

At 8:30 sharp, Mr. Dylan and his musicians entered the stage and started 
the now fixed 2024 set with "All along the Watchtower". The sound was 
excellent and Bob's voice clear and distinct. In my 30 or so Bob Dylan 
concerts since 1984 this has not always been the case, to be honest.

As I missed the Brussels 2022 show due to Covid, I could fully 
appreciate the "Rough And Rowdy Ways" songs for the first time live. 
During the "Key West" lyrics : ... on that pirate radio station coming 
out of Luxembourg and Budapest.. we felt the urge to scream like crazy. 
We hope that the other 6500 spectators will forgive our little emotional 
outburst.

Mr. Zimmerman was in a good mood. Standing a lot, playing the harp, 
dancing, smiling and even bending his knees during "When I Paint My 
Masterpiece". 

For me the closing song "Every Grain of Sand" from the "Shot of Love" 
album was THE highlight of the concert (among others):
"In the fury of the moment I can see the master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand" 

and then he was gone without a single word. What should he say? It would be 
banal compared to his oeuvre!

May you live forever Mister Dylan!

Marc Hoffeld

[TOP]

Review by Chris Rollason

,

THE MASTER'S HAND: BOB DYLAN, ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE 28 OCTOBER 2024

Autumn in 2024 saw, on 28 October, Esch-sur-Alzette, second city of the 
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, welcome Bob Dylan for the fourth time in its 
history (and the fifth in Luxembourg), at its Rockhal venue, for another 
evening in Dylan's current 'Rough and Rowdy Ways' tour. That tour, 
conceived in the first place to promote the album of that name (released 
in 2020), has seen a number of vicissitudes as regards its song content. 
Originally split between the then new Rough and Rowdy Ways (henceforth 
RARW) songs and earlier Dylan classics, it was interrupted by the 
'Outlaw Tour', with a selection excluding the new material, and then 
brought back with a different selection of older numbers. The current 
setlist, seventeen songs long, has been operative unchanged every night 
for 15 consecutive dates, including Esch and starting with 6 October in 
Prague. It features nine songs from RARW and eight others - some of the 
latter in versions which are not so much new as harking back to Dylan's 
Covid-era release Shadow Kingdom (studio performance 2021, CD release 
2023). Notably, the present list consists entirely of Dylan compositions: 
breaking with a tradition dating back a good while, there are no cover 
versions.

Bob Dylan and his musicians were received rapturously by an audience 
predominantly of a certain age, though young people were not absent. The 
public was not living in the past, as applause greeted the RARW numbers 
as well as the familiar chestnuts. Local colour had its moment when one 
of the RARW songs, 'Key West', which contains a reference to Luxembourg, 
elicited a spate of cheers from the public.

Bob Dylan is 83 and it would not be reasonable to expect vocal perfection 
from him. Tonight in Esch and predictably enough, his performance was a 
shade erratic, albeit the musicians' support was constant, with a 
finger-picking guitar sound dominating alongside Dylan's own eloquent 
piano and harmonica. The newer songs featured in arrangements not 
necessarily identical to those on the album: several were performed in 
the purest of blues idioms ('False Prophet', 'Crossing the Rubicon', 
'Goodbye Jimmy Reed'), while others merited a quieter, more reflective 
treatment ('I Contain Multitudes', 'I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself 
To You.')

The eight songs selected from Dylan's back catalogue received a 
variegated treatment. One, 'To Be Alone With You', has ended up so 
radically trnsformed as to become a different song altogether from the 
1969 original – lyrically since it first appeared in Shadow Kingdom, 
and now musically, boasting a rocked-up idiom light-years away from the 
original on Dylan's (excellent) C&W album Nashville Skyline. Whether 
the changes are an improvement is another matter. 

'It Ain't Me, Babe' and 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue', two absolute 
classics from 1964 and 1965 respectively, were both given ornate 
arrangements which didn’t feel entirely compatible with Dylan's vocals. 
On 'Baby Blue' he seemed to lose his way in this lyrics here and there: 
this version did not compare well with the spare rendition of this song 
on Shadow Kingdom. 'When I Paint My Masterpiece' and 'Watching the 
River Flow' (both 1970) were among the liveliest performances of the 
evening : parts of the 'Masterpiece' lyric were a long way from the 
original ('grease' replacing 'Greece'!), but one cannot really cavil 
about sacrosanct lyrics with a song whose very title suggests process 
and evolution. The least satisfactory older song of the evening was, 
alas, 'Desolation Row' from 1965, arguably the best song Dylan has 
ever written, but - no doubt due to its ten-stanza length - liable to 
be cut in live performance: sometimes drastically, as tonight, with 
Dylan singing only five stanzas: the first three, the fifth (Einstein) 
and the last. This was only half the song, and the spectator is surely 
likely to feel short-changed. By partial way of compensation, the 
Einstein stanza is rarely heard live and Dylan did sing it with 
conviction ! 

The two best interpretations of the evening turned out to be the opener 
and the last song. The show opened with Bob Dylan's performance number 
2,289 (yes really!) of 'All Along the Watchtower' (1967), the song he 
has visited live more times than any other in his catalogue. The song 
proper was preceded by a long and ominous instrumental passage. When 
Dylan came on his delivery was firm and clear throughout, bringing out 
the sinister atmosphere of the song. He arguably didn't hit that height 
again until the closing number, 'Every Grain of Sand' from 1981. Of this,
surely one of his half-dozen best songs ever and by now familiar in 
end-of-concert position, Dylan gave us a magnificent interpretation, 
complete with harmonica solo. His performance was word perfect and 
delivered in half-sung, half-spoken mode, caressing the lyrics and 
coaxing out all the symbolic power of images like 'every leaf that 
trembles' or 'the chill of a wintry light'. The 'Master’s hand' evoked 
in the song may refer to a divine agency, but also at work is another 
master's hand, the hand of Bob Dylan. With a concluding atmosphere like 
this and its felt sense of a meaningful universe, the spectator could 
only return home entranced.

[TOP]

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