Review by Christof Graf
"Bob Dylan's Zen-Moments in Paris" - Bob Dylan live in Paris 2025
- Review 2nd Night, 31.10.25 - Paris II (2025) is my fifth concert in
six days. In America, at the third leg of the 2025 Outlaw Festival Tour, I
once managed three Outlaw Dylan concerts in three different cities in one
weekend. After three consecutive days in Brussels, "Paris II" follows for
me as a second helping in terms of consumption, a multiple repetition of a
concert format that has not changed this year. Would anything change at my
fifth concert in six days? Why would Dylan want to change anything at all?
Dylan does not perform for those who want to attend the performance of his
works repeatedly. He also doesn't play for those who, even in 2025,
are still looking for a "Best Of..." with songs like "Blowin' in the Wind" or
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door". He plays for himself and for his work. You
have to want to face his high art of repetition. This is always associated
with expenses. Tickets, travel and, if necessary, overnight stays make the
art experience complex. But with Dylan you get around, travel alot, see a
lot. In this way, too, he opens up horizons. Paris, 31 October 2025.That
is 13 days before the 10th anniversary of the horrific attack on
the Bataclan on November 13, 2015. At a concert of the "Eagles Of The
Death Metal" there, 89 people were murdered by a terrorist attack. Paris,
31 October 2025. This is also a visit to the "Pere Lachaise", the legendary
Parisian cemetery, where Edith Piaf, George Moustaki and Jim Morrison,
among others, are buried. Paris, 31 October 2025. This also
means "Halloween" in Paris. I don't see cobwebs and huge skeletons on
the houses, as I had seen them en masse at Dylan's concert in Montreal two
years earlier, for example, in Paris. All somehow symbols, which Dylan's
album "Rough And Rowdy Ways" also stands for: reflection on past
and present, search for a lost time, awareness of transience, thoughts
about life and death. After the Dylan concert, I meet many young people in
Halloween costumes in downtown Parisor stand in front of clubs in such
costumes. More than in Brussels. From the boomer generation to Gen Y to Gen
Z, everything is present. In the Paris Palais, too, there is a whiff of
farewell and the melancholy of possibly being able to experience Dylan for
the last time in the French capital. At some point, instead of Bob Dylan's
concerts, only his avatar will be seen and heard. At some point, only
biopics about Dylan will be shown instead of being able to experience him
"live in concert". Speaking of promotion: There are hardly any posters to
advertise the Paris concerts in 2025, the concerts were quickly sold out.
Only occasionally can you still see an old poster hanging somewhere in a
metro shaft on October 31. On the other hand, the poster advertising for
the "Like A Complete Unknown" film, which is currently starting on the
Disney TV channel, is omnipresent. All small details that you pay attention
to when you make a pilgrimage through foreign cities on the way to Dylan
concerts. Likewise, you also pay attention to the small details of the
change in the respective concerts, if you visit some of them within short
intervals. Paris II has a few of them to offer again.
This time I'm at the Palais about an hour before the concert starts on time
at 8:00 p.m. The entrance controls are moderate again. Many Parisians do
not comply with the compulsory surrender of their smartphones, and
occasionally look at them until shortly before 8:00 p.m. to check the time
or possibly read the latest news. But they stick to Dylan's "wish" not to
use the smartphones during the concert. Not once do you see a display light
up during Dylan's 100-minute devotional. If you had bought tickets for the
not much cheaper seats in the back, even upper area of the palace (for
about 150 Euros), the view of Dylan is no worse than if you sit on the
ground floor and in the first 20-30 front seats. I find the acoustics
beneficial. Better than the day before. The sound doesn't come close to the
last two concerts at the Bozar. Despite better control compared to the
first evening, the sound reverberates too "cold" in the walls of the
congress hall. But it fits the spartan performance, the little light and
the atmosphere in the hall. The atmosphere is almost reminiscent of that in
a "Zendo", a spiritual Dojo in Zen temples where "zazen", i.e.
meditation, is practiced. Yes, Paris II offers me such "Zenmoments".
The first "Zen moment" opens up to me with "Black Rider". Later, more "Zen
moments" are added, especially in the "spoken word" songs such as "My Own
Version Of You", "Key West" or even in the waltz-like "Mother Of Muses". -
I withdraw from the still image on stage, which doesn't have much variety
to offer, close my eyes and first get into the song "Black Rider"
and mentally accompany the black rider. He talks about coming to terms with
his life, going ahead with dignity, and finally saying goodbye just as
dignified.
I rememberthe book "Bargainin' for Salvation: Bob Dylan, a Zen Master?"
by Steven Heine of Floria International University from 2009. In it, he
expresses thoughts on how Bob Dylan's vocabulary can be associated with
Zen. I also remember a 2016 article titled "Bob Dylan's Zen Garden –
Cross-Cultural Currents in his approach to religiosity" by the FIU Asian
Studies Program by the same author, which explores Zen parallels in Dylan's
work.(https://asian.fiu.edu/jsr/heine-dylanzen-article2.pdf)
Yes, Bob Dylan showed an affinity for Zen long before "Black Rider" in
the past, even at the beginning of his career, as many of his lyrics
reflect the Buddhist concepts of "seeing how things really are", moral
causality (karma) and dealing with emptiness. Zen-like aspects such as
seeing how things really are can be seen in some of his songs. Especially
in lyrics influenced by the Beat poets, Dylan seems to mirror the Zen
attitude by overcoming deceptions. The theme of "karma", the idea that
"everyone has to give something back for something they get" is already
addressed in earlier songs such as "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis
Blues Again". And this is also addressed in "4th Time Around" and is similar
to the Buddhist concept of karma. In songs from "The BasementTapes" such
as "Too Much of Nothing" and "Nothing Was Delivered", Dylan explores the
effects of emptiness or spiritual emptiness.
Already on the first evening, and perhaps it is really only due to the
atmosphere of this congress hall, I develop the association with "Black
Rider" to combine Dylan's poetry with Zen. No, there is no direct, proven
connection between Bob Dylan's songs and Zen Buddhism, nor is there a
blueprint for the interpretation of his lyrics. In my view, however, some
of the RARW texts have thematic parallels that are reminiscent of Zen. This
includes the search for truth, the portrayal of paradoxes and the
confrontation with existential questions, be it death and approaching
transience in "Black Rider" (Song No. 6), love in "My Own Version Of You"
(Song No. 7) or life in "To Be Alone With You" (Song No. 8) and in
"Crossing the Rubicon"(Song No. 9).
Much of his (not only) RARW songs are about a search for a deeper
understanding or truth,similar to the spiritual quest in Zen. Dylan often
criticizes values that aim to overcome attachment, which can also be
explained by the Zen teachings.Dylan's texts often contain paradoxical
images and deal with existential questions that are reminiscent of the
paradoxes of Zen and that are intended to encourage the overcoming of
dualistic thinking. Especially in the RARW texts,he reflects on human
existence and the difficulties of life, which is also a central theme in
Zen. In Paris II, I feel that Dylan's 17 songs are particularly an offer
for meditation "in concert" due to the sober, distanced atmosphere. An
offer to experience the present moment, the present consciousness. It does
not presuppose faith and religion. Nevertheless, he demands that he engage
with his lyrics, which in the fall of 2025, since he has virtually eluded
the visualization of himself during the lecture and does nottolerate
disturbing elements such as "show elements", light and, for example,
smartphones. For those who want to get involved consciously
or unconsciously, he creates space, time and emptiness with his
current performance, almost like in a Zendō. And it leaves room for new
details. In "When I Paint My Masterpiece" he plays guitar for a third time,
in contrast to Paris I. In contrast to Paris I, in addition to the
previously known "Harp" songs, he also takes up the harmonica again
on "Watching The River Flow" and "Goodbye Jimmie Reed". This is his way of
interacting with the audience, he does not address words to the audience.
After a few brief elevations from his piano stool and standing for seconds,
the half-minute farewell is the most obvious interaction with the Parisian
audience, which is louder and more intensely cheering than the previous
evening. The Parisian audience also honors Dylan's "offer "of depth and
musical diversity between a lot of spoken word, blues, jazz and bossa nova,
some older songs and nine out of ten "RARW" songs with spontaneous standing
ovations between the songs. After 100 minutes, the "pilgrimage" in Dylan's
"Zen" is over. Dylan stands in the middle of the stage in an oversized blue
jacket and black pants and his usual bent arm at the hip, turns around and
leaves. The "zazen" is over.
German Version and some photo-impressions you can see on my blog:
https://leonardcohen.de/?p=33613
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