Outside Counsel

To Bob Dylan at Shea's last night, just about the perfect sized venue for a show like that. You hear a lot about what Dylan is like live these days; very little of it is encouraging; a great deal is outright disparaging. We went with the thought that it might be great or it might be terrible, but no matter what it'd be interesting. It turned out to be a terrific show, from the opening notes to the finish.

When I last saw Dylan I was better familiar with his catalogue, which at that point extended to "Desire". I didn't know it all, but I had a handle on it. At this point, nearly 30 years on, he has expanded his book to the point where he could easily play for weeks before I'd hear a song that sounded familiar, but this wasn't that set. He is well known for reworking his familiar old songs so that they are strange and alien sounding, but this wasn't that set either. This was a mix of stuff I'd never heard, stuff from his last couple of releases that I know, but not well, and familiar standards that had been re-worked in interesting ways and sounded great. Set list:
1. The Wicked Messenger (Neither Tom nor I recognized this. It was terrific.)
2. She Belongs To Me (I love this song.)
3. It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)(A slinky sounding arrangement that popped along and carried the right tone of menace.)
4. Queen Jane Approximately (A nice surprise. Not a number that I think of very often, but classic Bob.)
5. Cold Irons Bound(Still a new enough number that he played it pretty much as it is heard on the album. He can still write 'em.)
6. Desolation Row (Completely re-worked, in a way that emphasized how strong the melody is in a song that I never thought of as having any.)
7. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again (Ahh. One of the greatest songs of our times, I think. Kinda country in this arrangement.)
8. Man In the Long Black Coat (New to me, and a fine Dylan song, but I don't know that I'm running out and buying "Oh Mercy" on the basis of this performance.)
9. Cat's In The Well (Growled right along. This is a side that I might pick up.)
10. Ballad Of Hollis Brown (A good example of the sort of obscurity that Dylan has always had in his catalogue. It sure didn't sound like this on "The Times They Are A Changin".)
11. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Don't you love Dylan songs like this? He played it straight, and it was mighty fine.)
12. Like A Rolling Stone (A show-stopper. Mike Bloomfield's guitar part on the original is iconic. I would buy a bootleg of this show just for the solo we got on this song. As powerful as ever.)
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13. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Everybody's favorite Dylan song changes from time to time I think, but this is always on my list.)
14. All Along The Watchtower (It is a given that Dylan heard Hendrix's version and thought the world of it. Played like this it'll always be fresh, even though nobody will ever have any idea of what the hell it is supposed to mean.)

A terrific band: two guitars, bass, solid drumming, a violin and a pedal steel player who frequently added a second violin, and stepped in on banjo for one number. Bob sticks to electric piano, stepping out in front from time to time to blow some excellent harp-- really, the best harmonica I've ever heard him play, improvising on the solos in a way that established once and for all that he knows what he is doing musically.

Here's how good it was: I'd see him again tomorrow if I could. If I can, I'll catch him on this tour again. If you can, you should too.