Reviews

The luck of the ticket draw had us sitting Stage Left, six seats from the
yellow caution tape that demarcated the limits of seating.  We looked
around as the concrete cavern filled slowly, thinking that we may be able
to duff to better seats like we do when we go to the opera in Kansas City.
 Then my rider says to me that these seats are all right and will give us
a different perspective.  I say that I am worried that the sound will
splash around a lot before it gets to us.  She pats my hand and says it
will be all right. All the young dudes in front of us are looking and
talking, too, but I hear them say that they will just go get some beers
and see how it goes.  So this oblique view from the side of the stage is
where we decided to stay.  From our vantage point we are able to look down
on the mixing board, out to Larry Campbell's Sho Bud, and straight on to
Bob's piano set up.  Oscar is sitting on a cabinet to Bob's right and this
is the first time I have seen Oscar. We have a muddled view of Tony,
George, and Stu but it's not all that bad and we wait in anticipation to
see the Dylan crew perp walk.  Here they come a little after 8:00 and we
are off and running with a rambunctious and rocking Down Along The Cove. 
The lyric "Down along the cove, I can see the Jackson River Queen,"
reminds me of Missouri's river boat history and brief vision of John
Hartford piloting his own paddle wheeler wherever he is paddle wheeling
these days.  I can tell that the band is ready to pick up where they left
off the night before as they move into The Times They Are A Changin' and
Bob is equally energized and picks up the harp for an extended solo, one
of many during this night's performance.  The guys in front of us are
young and pumped up, especially for the older songs.  This is good to see
because the crowd seems to be mostly an older generation, greybeards as I
saw them referred to in another review.  Anyway, they send their runner
out for more beers and he comes back with a fistful.  He does this several
times during the evening, causing the greybeards to his right to move and
be interrupted as the need for beer seems to outweigh the need to stay put
during any given song.  This is not annoying to me nor to the people who
are having to accommodate this need for drink.

I have got to give ample credit to the sound technician here.  It must be
overwhelming to walk into a concrete box in the morning and transform it
into a concert hall at night.  Since we were sitting back and above his
position I was able to watch him throughout the performance.  He is a big
man with a long pony tail who has a kind of Harley Davidson look about
him. Just before the first song, while the intro music is being played, he
reaches into a cooler and pulls out what appears to be a vintage bottle of
wine, pours some into a plastic cup, gets out a plastic bottle of water
and sets both on a cabinet shelf.  I never saw him drink any of the wine,
only the water.  He constantly monitors the big board but doesn't do much
to it. And I have to say the sound the last two nights has been
impeccable.  I saw him tweak the sound for Larry's cittern solos and
acoustic numbers, bringing the acoustic sound into and on top of the other
instruments but never interfering with Bob's vocals.  This guy is a
magician!  He really brings out Bob's voice and harp solos and we could
hear the lyrics distinctly even though we were out of the sonic line of
fire.

Here comes Tweedly Dum and Tweedly Dee in its usual spot and I like the
music better than the lyrics on this one. Stu is in good form, getting the
nods from Bob.  Now the night begins to take on a different character as
Bob and the band do the next four numbers alternating from country folk to
a kind of cabaret swing style. It was like we could be in an enlarged
concrete honky tonk and I get the impression that the band is playing for
themselves in this style and liking it.  Of course, the haunting Ballad of
Hollis Brown puts us smack dab into Ozark country even though it's set in
South Dakota. A beautiful rendition of Trying To Get To Heaven and a nice
performance of Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again add to
the ambience that begins to set in culminating in the swinging Bye and
Bye.  Then we are off and running with Highway 61 revisited.

The surprise of the evening for me was a great performance of Ballad Of A
Thin Man.  I had not heard this song in concert since St Louis in about
'73 or '74 when Bob was touring with The Band in the Before The Flood
Tour. Last night in Manhattan, I thought he was going to play it but it
turned out to be I'ts All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) and I had been
fooled by this before so I was pleasantly surprised to hear, "You walk
into the room. . ." and I knew this was going to do nothing but get
better.  Boots of Spanish Leather was a treat as well as I'll Be Your Baby
Tonight with Larry playing some excellent pedal steel guitar.  Honest With
Me was also great and Every Grain of Sand brought tears to my eyes.  Then
it was rock it up time with Summer Days and the two encore numbers.  Like
A Rolling Stone sends the boys in front of us into a cigarette lighter
frenzy.  After the song they yell at the top of their lungs, "We love you
Bob!" and "Good job, Bob!"  It just makes me feel good to see the
young'uns act like I did in '74.  When I was 24 and so much more.   Bob,
attired in a black cowboy suit accentuated with silver conches and a gold
bandanna, takes accolades at center stage and I miss the joke of the
night.  He seemed to be drawing in energy with his hands outspread as he
surveyed the crowd before launching into All Along The Watchtower.  We
talked about the five note intro to this song and just can't pinpoint the
music it comes from.  Anybody out there know?

Stephen Darjeeling
Louisburg Kansas

Last night, when Bob Dylan was in Missouri, he got well-deserved applause as he sang the line "when 
I was in Missouri" from "Trying To Get To Heaven."  Actually, we applauded Bob throughout the night, 
however perhaps most after each harmonica break (I remember harp in Cove, Times, Bye and Bye, Baby 
Tonight, Spanish Leather, and Grain of Sand).  Yesterday's Bob Dylan concert at the Hearnes Center on 
the UMO campus in Columbia was indeed great.

Bob was, far and away, the best thing happening in Missouri last night: we saw little leaf color while 
driving from St. Louis; it was overcast after the show thereby clouding the total lunar eclipse; and 
the Cardinals lost the World Series. But, for me all was groovy, thanks to Bob Dylan and the great show 
that he and His Band delivered.  Well, and thanks to the company of my office-next-to-mine work buddy 
Jan, who had not seen Dylan since 1965 at the Orpheum Theater in Madison (listed in Olaf's Files 
Vol. 1: 166 as October-November 1965). 

I'd not seen Bob since this spring's three St. Louis shows, having had an overseas trip make me eat 
my tickets to the August 28 show with Willie Nelson in Des Moines. As such, last night was the first 
Stu Kimball show I've been to. While I've loved  each and every version of Dylan's band, I have to say 
that I really loved the new band: Stu was simply great, his restrained yet fluid fills flowing 
throughout; Larry was great on everything; George and Tony (thankfully as usual) anchored it all so 
well; and Bob's singing seemed to get smoother with each song.

Last night's show was energetic, well performed, paced, and balanced, presumably as were each of the 
all ten previous shows on this fall swing.  Last weekend, I watched the new Isis documentary "Tales 
From A Golden Age" which extolled the virtues of Freewheelin', and seemingly implied that The Times 
They Are A-Changin' was a let down. Yet, Bob singing three great songs from Times (Times, Hollis 
Brown, and Spanish Leather), but none from Freewheelin', has me wondering what Bob would say about 
the Isis video. 

Anyway, about balance and pacing, Bob sang these three older slower songs from The Times They Are 
A-Changin', yet in between each was at least one newer song from either Time Out Of Mind or Love And 
Theft. Peppered 'twix all were the mid 60s HW61 and Blonde On Blonde songs Memphis Blues Again with 
great steel pedal from Larry, a total jammin' and superbly well-positioned mid-set HW61 Revisited, 
one of my all-time favorites Mr. Jones (Ballad Of A Thin Man), and of course, as an encore, Like a 
Rolling Stone. The second encore was All Along The Watchtower, from John Wesley Harding.  Also 
performed yesterday from JWH were the opener Down Along The Cove and (ala the t-shirts) I'll Be Your 
Baby Tonight.  The fantastic Every Grain of Sand added a religious-era composition to the mix. Whew! 
Last night's show was exemplary.

John Pruski
john.pruski@mobot.org

I usually would not take an opportunity to send in a review but this is a
must.  I have grown older with Bob Dylan with him first touching my heart
at age 14 when he first started out and I have been loyal to his art and I
must call it  that ever since - through the good times and the bad.  This
is only the third time I have had the opportunity to see him through the
years and we drove nearly 400 miles to do so.  Believe me it was worth
every mintue and mile to get there.  The only words I can use to describe
it is dynamic and awsome.  While arrangements have changed and evolved
over the years, giving a new twist to each of his masterpieces, they are
vibrant and alive.  There is still of a lot of smoke in that chimney.

I can only encourage young and old alike to take an opportunity to go and
experience the Dylan Dynaminics.  He is truly like a vintage wine that
only gets better with time.

Ginny L.