Reviews

Bob Dylan and His Band – Beacon Theater New York, NY - November 29, 2018 Like 
so many Novembers before, the 2018 NET winds down in NYC at the venerable 
Beacon, with Bob in residence. Unlike so many artists who have hit the road to earn 
their living off us baby boomers, Bob has always been out there, using the NET to 
constantly reinvent his work. This year was not like last year. Stu guitar gone; Bob
standing to croon pop standards-gone. When was the last time you were in a public 
place without the distraction of cell phones? There is nothing like this out there. 
Dylan has turned the rearrangements of his gigantic library into an art form. It’s like 
he’s realized that he doesn’t need to stand up and sing the American pop standards 
of others, just dip into his own extensive library and rework his own standards. This 
was never more evident than five numbers in, when he moves into When I Paint 
My Masterpiece, pretty much solo from behind the grand piano, which was very 
much emblematic of the entire show. Don’t Think Twice and several others were 
afforded similar arrangements, which focused on Bob’s voice and piano, with the 
band happy to move further into the background, focused on perfecting the 
rearrangements of nearly every song. There were some up-tempo offerings, with 
the most surprising being Gotta Serve Somebody, totally unrecognizable from the 
original and one of the best set closers I’ve ever seen Bob pull off.  Dylan and his 
band ran through 20 songs in an hour forty-five and we were out in the street 
before the Broadway theater curtains closed. It seems like the audience (even 
those who don’t attend a lot of these shows) is figuring out that they are 
witnessing one of the last vestiges of authentic American music from the only 
guy left, willing to take the risks to reinvent and deliver it up night after night, 
year after year.  

Mike in NJ

What a difference a day makes. 

After a scintillating show at the Beacon on Tuesday where everything seemed to flow 
l ike honey, Thursday was more like oatmeal down the drain. It was an uneven show 
that only seemed to find its groove in spurts, as Bob did not seem to be on the same
page as the Cowboys. Certainly there were short flashes of brilliance to be found such 
as in CRY A WHILE, SCARLET TOWN, EARLY ROMAN KINGS and LOVE SICK. Bob also 
had some good harp play during SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE, MAKE YOU FEEL MY LOVE, 
BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND and DON’T THINK TWICE, IT’S ALRIGHT… which was 
unfortunately marred by several rude audience members in different sections who 
had to be shouted down to keep quiet. Very frustrating. In addition the audience 
was also a bit lackluster. But even with the impediments of a dull, tasteless crowd and 
an off night for Bob the last part of the show ended rather robustly (from song 13, 
ERK to the set closer, song 18 GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY). As a matter of fact SOON 
AFTER MIDNIGHT and GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY rescued the show and brought it 
to a just conclusion.

The encores were solid if not spectacular, excepting the great harp work from Bob on 
BITW. And although Bob was off a bit tonight, the Band wove beautiful melodies 
throughout.

Look forward to a rebound from Bob on Friday.

I will see you Bobcats then.

As a life long fan since ‘67 and at my 50th plus show since ‘74, I was excited seeing 
the sets, reviews, and especially the reports on the miraculous state of Bob’s voice 
on this’s tour. The new arrangement of the opener, Things Have Changed, was
pretty weird and disappointing but the band sounded terrific and Bob’s voice was 
borderline miraculous. He sounded somewhere between late ‘70s and Time Out Of 
mind era. Hard to believe after the past fifteen years and makes you wonder if he 
managed his sound over that period intentionally...to his great artistic credit. The 
next three sounds were stupendous, as good as I have ever seen. As a second 
song in the set, It Ain’t Me Babe was a throwback to his first electric sets with the 
Hawks in ‘65, delivered at the piano with nothing short of gusto. Highway 61 rocked
in a subdued but subtly compelling way. And A Simple Twist Of Fate , with the band 
laying back, brought a tear to my eye. Just superb.

Sadly the middle of the show was tedious to the point of boring. Even a few great
songs like Make You Feel My Love and, shockingly, Like A Rolling Stone with its 
slowdown before the chorus ( where Bob amazingly revived his amazing, original 
sneer) were pedestrian at best and monotonous and the newer songs with radical
rearranging simply.. hate to say it..unworthy. Really bad song choices in the middle 
part of the set and overall the performance needs variety... be it a guitar song, 
counter melody through an organ or less heavy handed George R drumming trying 
to be Mickey Jones Jr. from 1966. The subsequent breakthrough of Bob essentially 
alone at the piano on an absolutely brilliant version of Don’t Think Twice was marred 
by a fight in the audience for the first two verses. But the most surprising element 
to a long time New Yorker was the audience subdued throughout, essentially 
reverent like a ‘60’s solo acoustic set. No energy except for a few greatest hits clap 
alongs on greatest hits choruses. Bob was great, as was the band, but they 
devolved into a somewhat meaningless drone for most of the show.

Sorry not to be another fanboy and know this likely won’t make the review section 
of Expecting Rain. Thrilled to see Bob back where he belongs performance wise... 
somewhat. Just needs some urgency and musical variety. And thank the Lord the 
Sinatra era is over!

Greg A