Reviews

There was no pat down at the doors, but security was tight inside.  I saw one taper (possibly video)
being escorted to the back, there he had to turn over his tape to security (whoever that was in the 
orange vest - that was too bad).  A second taper was escorted out.  As with Irvine, the crowd was 
subdued.  

The incense was lit, and the "beef music" started.  Out popped Bob with his troop in their matching 
black suits.  (They had been light grey in Irvine).  George's little grey hat however did not match 
his black suit, so maybe Bob will crack the whip on that dress code.  I notice that George drums 
without his jacket on, but always wears it when he goes up for "the pose".  Tonight, Stu had 
absolutely solid leads - very melodic.  I still know that if Larry was given the chance - it would 
be clear that Larry is the master, and who would be the apprentice.  It puzzles me why Larry does 
not get more leads.  I almost got my money's worth from 3 songs.  The opener, "Down along the Cove" 
was excellent.  "God Knows" was the best of the night - I think because Dylan enjoyed it the most 
and that excitement rubbed off on the band.  Dylan gave a good effort on Most Likely, but the 
fumbling of words was a drag.  I understand if he is getting older and can not remember words -- 
get a teleprompter.  Having my expectations lowered by Irvine a few days ago did wonders for the 
Boulder show.  As with Irvine, Bob again tried to pull the band together on Hwy 61, this time, the 
band seemed together.  Both Lay Lady Lay and Positively 4th Street were a mess.  At times you could 
hear the keyboard in the mix.  Then, a new highlight, a new "Dylanism".  Dylan does "the monkey!"  
During a couple of the songs, Dylan appeared to be meticulously grooming himself, like watching 
Gorillas in the Mist picking fleas from their face and fur.  He would alternate between the face, 
ears and hair during the song.  If he is this bored, why wouldn't his audience be also?  

Finally, the extremely sweet college girl sitting next to me, got up and left with her date during 
"Rolling Stone".  I stuck it out to hear "All Along the Watchtower".  Though some thought it was 
bloated - I thought it was a nice version - better than anything I've heard off tour '74.  While 
speaking with a friend on the way home, he said we may have seen the best of Bob a few years 
earlier - but I don't know if I would agree.  I have been in this place before where I swore I 
would not attend another Dylan show - then came the mesmerizing show at the El Rey in '97, the 
opening of the Mandalay in Vegas, and the great show in Casper, WY with the harmonies on Blowin 
in the Wind - not to mention the rest of the great shows between 97 and 02 - a time when Dylan in 
his golden years was putting the "kids" and veterans alike to shame.  It has been 26 years and 7 
days since by first Dylan show, Boulder in 2004 was a shadowy recollection of the power of that 
first show.  Dylan has once again be come one of the crowd.  It was refreshing however to see a 
band, and a man, who delivered music without a political speech - for this reason alone - I'll 
continue to fork over cash for his shows.
 

I read with interest the review from one of the CA shows where the 
father took his kids to their first Dylan show.  I too introduced 2 of my
sons to Bob last night. Other folks must have had the same thought because
I saw more kids at this show than any other.  Unfortunately, although the
show had some highlights - Highway 61 and Positively 4th Street- I was a
little disappointed in the show overall especially because I was hoping
for a great one for my boys.  I had told them ahead of time that the
acoustics might be bad and he might be hard to understand, and that proved
to be true.  A basketball arena is just not the best place for a concert
and I heard some folks walking ahead of me as we left saying the same
thing.  Bob's first song was one I did not recognize.  I had to go to the
set list on this site last night when I got home to find out what it was. 
He played harp right away and continued to play it on the next 2 songs. 
God Knows was good and though Tweedle Dee is not one of my favorites, I
enjoyed last night because it was the first time we heard the band really
kick it in.  My boys liked Lay Lady Lay, but I thought the band was too
loud and overpowered Bob's vocals - this happened on several songs
including one (can't remember now which one) when Bob was really getting
into some great harmonica, but the band came up on him and overwhelmed
him. Highway 61 was great and had me dancing like a fool,  Can't Wait,
Most Likely You'll go your Way and High Water I thought were all
unremarkable and kind of blended together.  I really enjoyed Positively
4th Street , but it was hard to recognize.  Over the last several years
that one has become one of my absolute favorites, my sons and I listened
to it on the way up to Boulder and it was great to hear it live.  Don't
Think Twice was good, again had the crowd dancing, and so did Summer Days.
I liked Forever Young because it is just such a great song with timeless
lyrics, but Bob's voice sounded weak.  Like a Rolling Stone and All Along
the Watchtower were both really good and my boys liked those best, had all
three of us on our feet dancing,  although one of them remarked that he
still likes Hendrix' version of  Watchtower better. 

My boys asked a lot of questions and it was fun reliving my favorite Dylan
shows with them and telling them what song he was playing but, it was a
fairly subdued evening, very low energy and I don't know if it was the
crowd or just one of those nights. The band just seems to work better with
Bob on guitar instead of keyboard and the longs have more life. Dylan
looked the same, small and getting old.  He gave us some herky jerky
little movements in between songs and at the end when he introduced the
band - made some lame joke about "windshield vipers" and off he went into
the Boulder night. 

Just a few thoughts on last night's show in Boulder. I thought it was
great! The band was loud and rocking. The set list included some I was not
that familiar with, but I liked hearing things I didn't know by heart.
Forever Young was a highlight for me, but I think Summer Days, High Water,
and All Along The Watchtower were my personal favorites for this show.
Wasn't able to get seats on the floor, but we sat directly across from the
stage a few rows up from the floor level, so we could hear and see
everything. A diverse crowd as far as age goes, and the venue was not real
large, which I liked. I prefer outdoor venues, but what are you gonna
do-it's late October. I didn't think a lot of the crowd was enjoying the
show as much as others were. It was like they were somewhere else, like
thinking about how late it was gonna be when they got home, or what they
were gonna have for dinner the next night. I kinda thought maybe some were
discouraged because they didn't recognize every song right away. Highway
61 should have brought everyone to their feet, but it just kind of went by
and above the crowd, at least from where I was. Oh well, that's the way it
goes. I don't know what a lot of people expect going into a show like
this, but some of them don't get it (what they expect). Seems to me, I
heard someone say a long time ago The Times They Are A-Changin', and we
either change and grow or we stagnate. All in all, a fine show for this
trip through the Rocky Mountain state.  Thanks Bob for a great evening,
and if I can get off work Tuesday, I'll see you in Manhattan, KS.  

Marcy
Fort Collins, CO

Along in here with the great reviews seems a good opportunity to raise a
question or two about the appearance of Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in
each show of the Fall Tour so far.  From my first hearing of this song on
Love and Theft, I thought of this curious pair as Cheney and Bush, the
latter being Tweedle Dum (of course) and the former being Tweedle Dee.
While I have never read or heard of this interpretation, the regular
inclusion of the song during the countdown to the election makes me wonder
more about it.  Note some of the lyrics wherein Tweedle Dee and Tweedle
Dum are "Two big bags of dead man's bones"; and "Neither one gonna turn
and run".  Also, "His Master's Voice is calling me, Says Tweedle Dum to
Tweedle Dee"; "They're one day older and a dollar short, They've got a
parade permit and a police escort"; "They're lyin' low and they're makin'
hay, They seem determined to go all the way".  Anyway, there are many of
these scattered throughout, some subtle and some not so subtle.  The final
verse should not be overlooked: "Tweedle-dee Dee is a lowdown, sorry old
man; Tweedle-dee Dum, he'll stab you where you stand; I've had too much of
your company, says Tweedle-dee Dum to Tweedle-dee Dee".

Bob Hunt

high?
Who can judge a dylan show?
In my opinion, this show, heavy on his latest material (love and theft)
and not sticking to greatest hits nonsense. What a treat! dylan's band is
the tightest thing this side of the heartbreakers. Even without any guitar
work and at times cohesive and at others more of a distraction was Mr. D's
keyboard action. But, Mr. Dylan also blew harp on a great number of tunes
in tune and feeling right. I love the interplay between the musicians such
as dropping out and letting a lone player shine be it drums or vocals,
speaking of which I felt that bob's voice shone pretty nice for a
basketball arena. This is in Boulder a "party" town where you can't buy a
beer or smoke (unless you kneel almost to the floor and try not to
exhale...) I loved this show from Down along the Cove, next  -god
knows-then a rockin' though maybe not my first choice of tweedle dee -lots
of relly fluid guitar from the new guy(to me) stu. next we have some great
pedal steel from larry on lay lady lay, true to it's roots and bob
repeating the "big brass bed" line and really singing the outro. This show
reminded me of some of Garcia's emotive vocals towards the end of his
line, really pushing it. Dyaln really leaned into the mike, bouncing and
weaving. He also would walk out and "confer" with his bandmates pretty
much before every number. Including a rocking hwy 61 (trying to create a
third world war... for the people wanting political stuff, this said it
all to me) then holy shit,   can't wait  - this to me was a BIG highlight
from the ghostly intense time out of mind I can't begin to describe the
way they owned this tune, just incredible. Then we hear the charging tempo
of Most likely, another break out and as far as exact lyrical content,
I'll let the man who wrote the tunes decide how  he will sing them.
Positively- great to hear wasn't super , most of the crowd was just pumped
to hear an older tune. Bye and bye, again I love the new stuff, great
lyrics "last go round and so on" Dont' think twice , again another crowd
pleaser although they did lead it to a howling crescendo. Honest with me
(what can I say) this band is so good it gives me the creeps. forever
young..stellar summer days, it feels good they are not just going through
the motions, but having a great rocking rockabilly time. dylan came out
really hamming it up the band leaves dylan introduces the band with and
introduces bassist larry by saying Larry Garnier he's from Louisana they
got alot of snakes in louisana, when it rains he puts the snakes on his
windshield (the crowd roars before the punchline) then dylan pauses and
says " he calls them windshield vipers or something) rolling stone...
classic nothing much to say watchtower... wow larry on the steel really
making it howl with feedback at the appropiate times, great it's the heavy
version they have been doing for the past few tours. It was nice having a
decent vantage point just seeing Bob's little gesture for when he's about
to do a harp solo, no egos just pure professionalism.I  also enjoyed stu's
playing it remind me of trey anastachio but a little less manic and a few
less notes, but the same speedly smooth playing and you can almost forget
larry campbell because he is such a master he becomes one with the music.
I felt like bob had a fun time and he even seemed to soak up the applause
before making his final exit.And of course as we were exiting, one could
see Bob's buses already pulling on to the next campus gig. Bob rolls along
and in doing so has become more than the "sum" of his past, but excluding
the aforementioned, a seasoned troubador filled with gritty americana
hope, covering near desperation and hopelessness before like america
rising back again on the crest of a wave(dump bush)  this time not ocean
size, but a wave for us just the same. We went to roger mcguinn at the
swallow hill music music school in denver two nights earlier, it was neat
to see another artist who has remained true to their craft. Also to hear
Dylan tunes in a polished and completely different light. Just as I love
the reggae tribute to dylan, his songs morph into a million formations
none done better than the mutations Dylan himself brings forth.