November 24, 2018
Review by Barry Gloffke
The second act of Bob's seven concert
stint at the Beacon Theatre was another gem. Overlooking some small
blemishes, Bob, the Band, and the crowd were in good form.
Tonight there was a short musical prelude... the curtain lifted... and the
band jumped immediately into a solid version of THINGS HAVE CHANGED which
was followed by a tender IT AIN'T ME, BABE. Both of them were delivered in
a strong clear voice.
A quick take on the balance of the show goes as follows: A rocking take
(as always) on HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED, then a fantastic SIMPLE TWIST OF
FATE. Next up was a menacing rendering of CRY A WHILE, one of the
standouts tonight, but not to be upstaged was another, better standout; a
beautiful impression of WHEN I PAINT MY MASTERPIECE. Bob sang the first
half of this song with barely a whisper of musical accompaniment, then was
joined midway by the band. He did a magnificent job of extending and
accentuating key lyrics. Bravo! HONEST WITH ME rocked, even though Bob
repeated a stanza. TRYIN' TO GET TO HEAVEN was dandy, SCARLET TOWN had
great atmosphere, and MAKE YOU FEEL MY LOVE was marvelous. PAY IN BLOOD is
a weak link in the set. It misses the menace it once had. That being said,
it has a nice build in intensity as it progressed. The crowd dug a really
good version of the new take on LIKE A ROLLING STONE. EARLY ROMAN KINGS
was ominous, and Charlie was wicked. The highlight of the night for me was
a tender reading of DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALRIGHT. Bob had the room at
his fingertips. LOVE SICK was deliciously threatening and the penultimate
song of the set was a warmly inviting SOON AFTER MIDNIGHT. The closer was
the newly lyrically and sonically minted, rocking edition of GOTTA SEVRE
SOMEBODY. Brilliant!
Tonight's encores were a solid version of ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER and a
scintillating BLOWIN' IN THE WIND featuring soulful harp work... which was
the case each time Bob breathed into the harmonica.
As usual the band was spot on. Tip of the hat to Bob and the Cowboys for
another great show.
PS. Nice to see the Bobcats, Sue, Mangala and Asha travel to NYC for the
show(s).
Review by Kyle Colona
Having seen Bob Dylan and His Band at the Beacon Thanksgiving weekend, all
I can say is that it's amazing he's still going 30 years after he kicked
off the so-called never ending tour --and 3,000 or so shows later, still
going strong.
Where Saturday's show would rank among those is anyone's guess, but that's
not the point. Each show is unique even if the set list sadly remains the
same. The days of anticipation over what tune from the vault or folk
rarity he might pull out may be long gone, but it still takes some doing
recognizing new arrangements....the best part of a Dylan show, imho.
No need for a song by song breakdown. As others have noted from earlier
shows, Stu Kimball's absence is addition by subtraction. The sound is less
cluttered, and the sound is really what Dylan concerts are about now. To
make high-quality music night after night is the mark of professionals,
kudos to the band.
As for highlights, classics like Simple Twist of course, Masterpiece --
first time I've seen this once in ages, and LARS - excellent vocal
delivery on all. But it's the latter days tunes that really stand out now,
Cry a While, Love Sick, Early Roman Kings, and Soon After Midnight,
exceptional musicianship, with Dylan leading the way, which leads me to
another observation.
Dylan has gotten better a being a band leader after all these years, and
the songs have a beginning a middle and an end. Back in the day, things
were prone to fall apart now and then, which of course was always a blast.
Back to the show: The standouts for me were Scarlet Town and Don't Think
Twice....show stoppers. The band closed with a rollicking Gotta Serve
Somebody, with all new and hilarious words, something like, "You might
beee Peter, you might beee Paul, you might not be anyone at all...." great
stuff.
The encores were an anti-climatic Watchtower, the arrangement was a bit
odd, but why quibble? and Blowin in the Wind, stately as ever, and still
there are no answers.
All in all, a great show, even if the crowd was a bit subdued -- at 77
Dylan has more energy than some in attendance, and a lot of people showed
up late, after being told the show would start promptly at 8 - it did. So
to anyone going to the rest of the run, get there 20 minutes or so early,
and get to your seat......Don't ya dare miss it!
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