On Friday 24 April I went with Sue and Chris to see Dylan at Sheffield Arena.
I got the usual frisson of excitement before the gig - of a quality that I never get before any other concert. The band came on to what is now the usual introduction, a potted history of Bob's progress in music over the past fifty years and started with Cat's in the Well. This is not one of my favourites but it rocked along well and indicated that the band was really tight and Dylan's voice was as good as it gets these days. As usual, most of the songs had been deconstructed by Dylan; different tunes, different phrasing, which I'm sure is disorientating for concert-goers expecting to hear the familiarity of the original albums. The highlights for me were Boots of Spanish Leather - an excellent new version and the only song on which Dylan played guitar rather than keyboards - Love Sick, Rolling Stone - the best live version I've heard for years - and Watchtower - a superb wall of sound. As usual, it all passed too quickly. It'll be another long wait before I get to see him again but I'm sure I will see him again. Sixty-eight this month but he keeps on keeping on and I have no doubt that he'll never retire, he'll die on the road.
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A few days after you saw Bob Dylan in Sheffield Lyn and I heard him in Cardiff. He was wearing a large white hat which, with the addition of a couple of tigers, would have looked good at Ranthambore. To get a better view Lyn took to sitting on the metal fence that divided the audience from the amplifying equipment. In the end a sound technician had to tell her to get down. There was a risk that if she stayed there an accidental shove by an audience member would have sent her sprawling across two or three pieces of equipment.
My favourites were the quieter items, John Brown and Nettie Moore, where you could hear the rich diversity of the great Bob’s voice in its full glory. The words of John Brown tell a story that goes down well with those of us who abhor any form of warfare.
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