Sunday, June 13, 2010

Bob Dylan Ljubliana review

Phew. 33 degrees all day, and 29 degrees at night in a stuffy little gym in Ljubliana. Everybody was baking, none more than Bob, who was pouring sweat after just a few minutes. But this didnt stop the hardest worker in show business (now that James Brown is dead) giving us an extremely good show. I,m on the road (and using a peculiar keyboad, so apols for any unusual punctuation), and don, have much time, so I,ll just make a series of general pointsm rather than write a long review;

- This tour seems to be a step up in standard again, even from the US and Japanese shows
- He seems fit and healthy (and sporting a wedding ring)
- He is extremely engaged and animated
- He is out at the front of stage for approx 8 of the 16 songs
- lots of great harp playing
- he has a new guitar, looks like a dull brown strat, not as nice as last year,s Duisenberg
- Tony Garnier was seated for the entire show, rumours of a leg injury( Bob may end up the last man standing of his NET band, not to mention, he,ll probably outlive us all!(
- the crowd was fantastic, extremely young, and no doubt in good form partly due to having just beaten Algeria in the World Cup!
- continuing the football theme, for me the only ,own goal, of the night was Rolling and Tumbling (he has so many much better blues songs than this one)
- but that minor blip aside, there were simply incredible versions of many songs tonight, Don,t Think Twice, Tryin to get to Heaven, Just Like a Woman, plus a lovely new arrangement of Simple Twist of Fate
- The main highlights for me though were the (by now) tour de force Ballad of a Thin Man, and maybe the best Blind Willie McTell I,ve ever seen!
- The band have matured, Charlie really fits in now, and Donnie was even audible on a few occasions!

That,s all I,ve time for. Maybe will update again after Padua. Ljubliana is a beautiful town, and Slovenia has some stunning scenery. Gonna drive to Padua via Lake Bled and down the Adriatic via Trieste.

Ken