As luck would have it, I found myself at the penultimate night of Bob Dylan’s run at the Beacon Theater thanks to my favorite Bobcat Laura - after seeing a show last weekend. Why go again? I have no answer for that, or why Dylan is still on the road, after nearly 60 years. But what else are we supposed to do, stay home?
And here's the real answer: this performance was stunning, totally on from the first note, and one of the better latter day Dylan shows I've experienced.
So it was as the curtain lifted, Dylan and His Band were off and running with Things Have Changed – with a replica of the Oscar Statue for Best Song from years ago on a nearby speaker cabinet, along with Romanesque busts to accentuate the Tempest theme – Dylan’s last album of original material from 2012, perhaps his last altogether?
Buckets of ink have been spilled by countless individuals waxing poetic about the meaning of Dylan's words, but given his offbeat vocal twists, lyric changes and general inscrutability, people should get over all that - he certainly has, Nobel Prize notwithstanding.
Today, it’s the musicality of the combo, along with Dylan’s much improved piano playing that carry the evening. Then again, Dylan always thought of himself as a song and dance man. The real difference between this tour and others of late, is Bob's return to the harmonica - soulful playing at various points throughout the show.
The band is pretty much the same as it’s been for the past several years, minus rhythm guitarist Stu Kimball. One less guitar gave the songs room to breathe, as well as a chance for Charlie Sexton to fully display his chops. He handled that axe like a Buddhist chopping wood, seamlessly shifting from straight blues to rock to jazz.
Meanwhile long-time bassist Tony Garnier (29 years) and drummer George Recile never dropped the beat. And multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron played crazy licks all night on pedal and lap steel, banjo, violin, even rocking out on an electric mandolin.
Obviously, I never saw Dylan with The Band or the Rolling Thunder tour, but sonically speaking this band is the best he's ever toured with imho - with all due respect to players like G.E. Smith and Larry Campbell since those were great years too, not to mention Dylan's forays with the late, great Tom Petty and the Grateful Dead back in the 1980s. In a word, the Cowboy Band is dynamic, and they elevated their game tonight.
As for the songs, Simple Twist and Masterpiece were stellar, and the re-positioned version of Like a Rolling Stone - with the tempo shift leading into the chorus - added drama to the proceedings. Dylan's singing on these numbers was absolutely....Dylan.
But the latter day material stands up well next to the old chestnuts, especially Cry a While, Trying to Get to Heaven, the best version I've seen, Early Roman Kings, Pay in Blood, and Soon After Midnight - with Sexton and Herron copping licks from Santo and Johnny's "Sleep Walk."
On Scarlet Town Bob took to center stage with his quintessential Charlie Chaplin shuffle as he acted the song out, as if it were an opera…Dylan is also covering Too Make You Feel My Love this go around - perhaps to remind people that it's NOT an Adele song - damn it! He owned it.
Through it all there were lyrical twists aplenty -- some of them quite hilarious, like "go back home change my clothes scrape off the grease" or words to that effect on Masterpiece....
And here's an observation: Dylan is not performing the Songbook material anymore, but that period seems to have influenced his approach to arranging and singing. Outside of a few grumbles here and there, he was remarkably understandable.
The show was over far too soon, but not before Dylan hushed the crowd with a top shelf version of Don’t Think Twice in the last segment. The main set closed with the reworked Gotta Serve Somebody - it seems like he’s making up new stanzas each night on the fly.
Then came the first encore, from out of nowhere, It Takes A Lot to Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry, deviating from the set list, and not something he does often these days. Totally raucous version that threw many (myself included) into a frenzy. Closing out with Blowin in the Wind was no surprise, but Dylan's harp solo was special.
All in all, it was a great night of music and song, but not much dancing. Most remained obediently seated much of the night, with a few stray dancers jumping for joy now and again until the encores. Perhaps because of the age demographic or that security was a bit tight, and they really enforced the no e-device rule, forcing people to pay attention, which was Dylan's intention, and cheap rhymes like that could land me in a house of detention.
Surely, Dylan is not everyone’s cup of tea, but he’s not a living legend either - just a working musician. Nor is he resting on his laureate (pun intended). At 77, he looks fit and sounds, well, like Dylan...still on the road, trying to stay out of the joint.
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