On Saturday, I went down to see The Bob Dylan Show in Phoenix at the Maricopa Events Center (formerly called the Sundome - which was a much better name). It was a very nice concert; I truly enjoyed. When I walked in, I didn't know who the opening band was. It turned out to be Merle Haggard, who I have mixed feelings about. Some of his more upbeat and rollicking' songs are fun, but his slow songs get pretty bad (not to mention cheesy). Rather than a front band, Merle Haggard was actually more of a separate concert, something I've never really seen before. He played for 45 minutes and then there was an intermission when some people left the concert and others came in.
One of the main differences about Bob Dylan now is obviously his voice, which is much deeper and has taken on a throatier/raspier quality to it. That, however, is not a bad thing. In fact, I enjoyed his voice and one of the main things I found fascinating about the concert was how he changed the pace and tone of some of his older, more famous songs so they fit better around his new, more jazzy, and blues-oriented voice.
Around half of the songs he played were his well-known songs or "greatest hits" and the others, while also older, were some of his more obscure songs. There was only one "new" song and that was "God Knows" from the album Under The Red Sky. I thought the mixture worked nicely, even enjoyed the songs I wasn't familiar with and didn't know the lyrics to and all of them had an easy, almost jazzy feel to them.
This jazzy feel was no doubt imparted on me partly because of the background and lighting of the concert. Almost every other concert I've been to (The White Stripes are the exception here) has had large LCD screens with videos or pictures flashing across and multi-color lights flashing around the stage and into the audience. At this concert, there was none of this. The background consisted of red velvet curtains pulled up with a blue starry background behind, the lights were simply white lights that lit up the stage.
Article comments
1 - Mike
You said 50% of the songs were classics and the other 50% were off newer albums like Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft. He played no songs from either of those albums on Saturday. The newest song he played was "God Knows" off the Under the Red Sky album released in 1990.
2 - Cameron Graham
Hmmm . . . not sure where you're getting that info. I could be wrong of course, but I'm pretty sure about half the material was new. If I'm wrong however, thanks for point that out. Oh, and I would consider "God Knows" to be new by Dylan standards.
3 - Cameron Graham
Sorry, I now see I was wrong. The material played was mostly old. Thanks for pointing that out Mike. I'm not sure why I thought that, I must have simply identified some of the songs wrong.
4 - RogerMDillon
Just so I'm clear, did you think the concert had a jazzy feel to it?
5 - Mike
It definitely did not have a jazzy feel to it. The "Big Band Era" of Dylan ended when Charlie Sexton left the band. It was more of an R&B/Rock 'n Roll type of vibe. I collect live Dylan shows and have several boots of the tour so far and there is a certain sound that Bob has never used before but it isn't jazzy. He hasn't sounded jazzy for more than 3 years now. For instance, at the show Saturday in Sun City, Mr. Tambourine Man had a funeral march type of feel and a few others were great rock songs. A lot of people are disappointed by the lack of Charlie Sexton in the band because he did add a really smooth flavor to the group.
6 - Cameron Graham
Roger - Lol. You're right, I might have used "jazzy" a bit too many times.
Mike - Um . . . I've always considered music to be something that everyone interprets differently. Apparently YOU don't see it that way. However, on Saturday at Sun City most of the songs were taken a slow pace and TO ME seemed to have a jazz oriented vibe, maybe not big band, but there are many types of jazz.
7 - Mike
Cameron,
I certainly don't mean to seem rude or anything of that sort. I'm in agreement with you that music is something interpreted differently. I'm a jazz musician myself so I understand that there are different forms of the genre. If you read the reviews that you can link to from www.expectingrain.com you can see that most people are hearing it as an R&B vibe more than anything else. Not that your interpretation is wrong but I'm listening to the bootleg of the show right now and have been all day. I don't hear what's jazzy about it.
8 - Cameron Graham
Where did you find a bootleg of the Saturday show? I'd be very interested in listening to one if there's one available, I did some searching on Sunday/Monday but to no avail. I'd like to see if I have the same reaction to the material hearing it again at my house. Thanks.
9 - Morrie
For Dylan boots go to dylansconcerts.com the sun city show is available there.
10 - Mike
By all means, do NOT go to that site and buy a show from some creep. $15 a show? Kiss my ass. Go to www.dimeadozen.org and set up an account. You can download entire shows for FREE. Just get a bittorrent client at www.bittorrent.com. Do not ever pay for a Dylan bootleg, that's ridiculous. Some money grubbing swine making money just like some scumbag scalper. You can download a show in a couple hours sometimes, others a few hours. Put it on your own cd-r's. Set up an account there, search for a free .flac converter on google and you'll be set. You download the show, convert the .flac files to .wav files and burn them to a cd. You can get tons of stuff there. I'll check back in case you need some help getting set up.
11 - Cameron Graham
Thanks Mike, I was a little wary of buying a bootleg off of a website like that since the nature of a bootleg is to be free and the guy selling them seemed to be just interested in making money. Anyways, thanks for the site recommendation, I just created a user account, but I can't seem to find the Bob Dylan show on Saturday no matter what I search for. How did you find it? Thanks for the help.
12 - Cameron Graham
Nevermind. I've found it and am downloading it now. Thanks for tip Mike. It'll be interesting to see my reaction hearing the material over again.
13 - Carrie
HI, I'm confused by the directions Mike gave here on how to download the bootlegs. My boyfriend and I were at the Sun City show and the El Paso show, I'd love love love to have them both on CD? Sorry! I try to be computer saavy but it doesn't work out most times. ;)
14 - Carrie
Hi again! I tried to register at dimeadozen.com but they are at their maximum allowed users, so, no luck. Would either of you, or anyone, be willing to send the file to me at the site yousendit.com or something of that nature? I would so so so greatly appreciate it! ;)
-c
15 - Cameron Graham
I'll send it too you. I haven't used yousendit.com, so please explain what I need to do. Thanks.
Cameron Graham
16 - Carrie
you know, I've never actually used it myself for uploading/sending - only for downloading/receiving. But, if you sign up for an account and upload the file, site will temporarily host the file until I can get in there an download it. It's a pretty handy way to send large files back and forth.
I imagine the file is pretty large? Probably way to huge to send through regular email, right? I wonder how much it shrinks if zipped?
Thank you so much,
I really really really appreciate it.
I've been looking all over the internet for the show and happened across this blog in my search. YAY for that! ;)
17 - Richie F
Saw good ole Bobby last night in Philly. His band is great but Bob has lost quite a bit in the last decade. Several people around me even feel asleep. If you want to see the legend then by all means go. I'm still a Dylan fan but I almost feel sorry for him. It's like a world class athelete playing past his prime and embarassing himself.
18 - Josh E
I agree with Richie F. I saw him at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, IN on Friday night. I was sadly disappointed. I was expecting to see a mind blowing legend, but left thinking "what the hell was that?" I still respect him as a musician, but I will be listening to the old stuff.