Reviews

 
Having watched the set lists throughout the tour, I was excited to
catch my first show of november wednesday night in new haven.  First
please indulge me one quick digression.
Although I am unabashedly bias in these regard, I'm a little bummed on
the grumbling I over hear about Phil and friends.  On a personal note,
the first time I saw Lesh and Dylan was the same day, on the same stage
in akron oh, as a seventeen year old.  since then, I have enjoyed both
Dylan and Grateful Dead music in person quite a bit, and always
celebrated the opportunities to see them alone and together over the
years.  Dylan and Garcia both were great fans of each other, and each
other's work.   They both often publicly credited one another for
professional and personal inspirations.  To me, Dylan's teaming with the
Phil and friends project provides a terrific night, and the coolest
guest  stage appearances since the horn section in grand rapids earlier
this year.  If you care to, please take a peek at Lesh's thoughtful and
respectful comments on touring with Dylan at philzone.com.
When it comes to Bob Dylan I'm easy to please.  Dylan and his band are
definitely peaking, and I'm hard pressed to do anything but rave.
Although this was not the stellar set list of 11-3, I thought it was a
solid show.  Dylan struck countless rock god poses, smiling, smirking,
raised eyebrows, then a frown and a shuffle.  Highlights for me included
My Back Pages featuring killer harp solo and Larry on fiddle, One Too
Many Mornings (a personal favorite and Larry rocking the steel), and of
course West LA Fadeaway:  Smokin!..  I think it's great that Dylan is
doing lots of covers, he certainly has the blues credentials and epic
delivery to warrant these tributes to his/our heroes: Dixon, Cash,
Elisabeth Cotton, etc. and Folsom Prison was also a highlight
performance (as was Hoochie Coochie man on thursday).
Magic Moment:  As Dylan stepped back, and the band took the last
instrumental course solidly wailing through Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat,
there one was, spinning gently like a frisbee from the front of the
crowd, and settled slowly and precisely on Dylan's mike leaving him
nothing more to do or say but a wave and a big grin, leaving us to
anticipate an encore.
thanks for reading, Josh

Oh I hate getting up from bed, but this morning when the alarm sounded at
5.00 AM, I jumped from my bed ready for an eighteen hours trip from Ancona
(Italy) to New Haven (Connecticut) to assist to the first of nine concerts
up and down the East coast. So I went to Amcona's airport, flew to Rome,
then to NY (9 non smoking hours:they seemed 90 to me), rented a car, got
lost a couple of times in NJ and Connecticut and finally arrived to New
Haven.  Federica and few others were there queueing, so I went to find a
hotel a few blocks from the venue and went back to wait a couple of hours
to get in. Doors opened at 6 and with an easy run I arrived to the middle
of the first row. I suppose the others have let me be the first after such
a long trip. Thanks a lot!

What can I tell about Phil Lesh & Friends? They are great but in my opinion
they insist too much on guitar solos and after twenty minutes of guitars
talking to each other you get the impression that time has stopped and
you'll be there for a hundred years like Sleeping Beauty. I think that not
even Jimi Hendrix would have been able to play for twenty minutes the same
lick without becoming boring.  But the guys were nice, sound was good and
the simple thought of all those Van Morrison's openings last year in
England made everything acceptable.

At the end Phil&Friends left the stage, in less than half an hour
everything was prepared for Bob, incense was lit, lights went down
and..."Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen....."  here comes the Man himself!

I Am the Man, Thomas was the typical opening of nowadays: a sort of
country&western song good to warm up hands and voices before things get
hard. I think the soud was quite bad: where I was Bob's voice was almost
not audible and of course that's no good. My Back Pages followed with a
very nice fiddle by Larry, but this is one of the songs where you really
have to hear the words and if you don't, well there is no song...
John Brown is always a pain for me: I just get too much involved into the
story, I hate John's mother's stupidity, her proudness of her son beeing a
soldier. I know how things will end but I keep hoping that something will
happen to save JB from his fate and of course it never does and I always
feel the same disappointment and sadness when a cannon ball blows his eyes
away. I know it is childish but I really hate listening to this song.
Tangle Up in blue: at the beginning I always think "oh no, not again..."
but after a couple of minutes I always like it, and tonight it was really
great, with a long solo and a nice harp ending. And even if the sound is
bad, well your memory can fill all the blank parts.
On One too many mornings the sound seemed better, maybe only because
instruments are quite low and voice can emerge. It's always a pleasure
listening to it.
I could not recognize Folsom Prison Blues, a song I have not heard in the
last 25 years. 'Til I fell in Love With You was as usual and Positively 4th
street is another song where words are fundamental and if you can't hear
them the song does not exists. Most Likely You Go... was first time live
for me and I didn' like it more than the Blonde on Blonde version which
still is not one of my favourits songs. I&I reminded me my first concert,
Verona 1984, but that time sound was even worse and Bob was miles far away
from me. 
And finally Pillbox: a song that needs no good sound to be fantastic.
Charlie was free to express his skills on guitar and this combined with
Larry's old Strato and Bob's voice is something that drives me mad. I had
decided not to throw my hat, for many pheticistic reasons, but I could not
resist: when Bob made a couple of steps backwards for the last solo, my
hand went up and as in a slow motion film I could see my beloved hat flying
up and up and up and then down and down and down  and landing exactly on
Bob's microphone. Tony and Larry almost stopped playing and even Bob could
not pretend that nothing had happened. At the end of the song (the last one
of the first part) he went to the hat-covered mic and touched it with one
finger. This time Tom did not confiscate the hat as he usually does and
with a great jump I was able to recuperate it while flying back to the
audience. Now it has really become a pheticistic object and it will never
fly anywhere anymore!

The encores were quite obvious: Love Sick, It ain't me Baby and Not Fade
Away  but before this a new song (for me) West LA Fadeway.

A very good concert,despite the bad sound. Bob is in great condition,
really enjoying playing and in a very good mood. When Charlie will get more
involved with the rest of the band and more relaxed, I'm sure that the
music will be the best ever. Those two guys on guitar, supported by Tony
and "the drummer that never lies exept when he's in bed" can make the best
music ever heard since Jimi died.

Well, not being in Spain, the only thing I could get before dying asleep
was a fresh beer at the top of my hotel. Not bad after all. 

I couldn't sleep Tuesday night before the concert so I stayed up all night 
scanning jewelry and listing things on Eay. Christmas tree pins and sparkling 
snowmen, jewels and bright shiny things.  When I looked up out side it was 
suddenly dawn and a spring day in November.  Lilly my new puppy had chewed 
the boots off an antique doll but it didn't bother me. Bob was coming to New Haven.


I went through my house what wristies would I wear?  I found an amethyst cuff 
with a huge Swarovski crystal heart and all kinds of lavenders and fuschia 
stones. Perfect.


The other wristy one called Lady of the Waters, I had used the image in my 
new note card line, and it's wonderful.  A Japanese netsuke woman's face  tiny 
fish at her eyes, with Buddha's and tree fungus and bark, I thought it would 
be a timely piece as I'd been listening to live at Bodukan lately. (I knew my 
seats were too far back and up for Bob and the band to see my wristies, 
sparking bracelets  which I love to flash when I'm sitting right in front. I know 
when I'm dancing it must be quite a sight and I like to look at the reflections 
in them.

Veterans Coliseum Nov the 10. Wednesday

The minute I get in I buy the poster.

The picture of Bob on the poster is quirky, a kind of questioning scowling 
expression peering from under those eyebrows, looks like he's thinking  
"What's the matter with you? Can't you get up and dance?"
DON'T YOU DARE MISS IT!  Words In blue against black, BOB DYLAN AND 
HIS BAND plus PHIL LESH AND FRIENDS in blinding red against powder blue.
"Live on Stage One night only"  I would have bought more posters but I only 
had $10 cash with me. Anyway I can always scan it. The last show the 
posters went a long way. I made 3 new pieces for my wenDyland gellery 
gallery on my website , my Dylan inspired art.  "Paul Simon + Bob Dylan In 
Concert  Madison Square Garden With the two wonderful deco trains. 
The New York Daily News front page HOTTEST JULY EVER 
a great newsprint picture of Bob smiling behind his hand, I painted a cute 
angel with wings hovering above a small boat coming out of behind the transit 
says "inri hersal" and their's some of my word play w'english written in the 
borders. ( when designing-wendy signing when  describing ---wendy scribing.)
A Klimpt Woman torn from a book has painted red lips, peers from behind 
the poster dripping huge plastic blue teardrops. . Her hands would be just 
where the trains are; it would be good animated. A worn out blue CD of Time 
out of mind and a dragonfly flies above the concert ticket. Oh how I love that 
ticket stubs. I painted all over it.  Seems like I have been waiting for this day 
for a long time. Bob comes around here around twice a year and it's a long 
time between concerts.  DON"T YOU DARE MISS IT -shout words across the 
room.
I and I 
In Creation where one's nature neither honors nor forgives.
I and I
One says to the other, no man sees my face and lives.
Outside of two men on a train platform there's nobody in sight,
They're waiting for spring to come smoking down the track
The world could come to an end tonight, but that's all right.
She should still be there sleepin' when I get back.

It's a mysterious song from Infidels I never heard live.
I printed out the words and thought about them 


I like writing these reviews knowing someone will read it.
Some people wrote to me and said they liked them, especially the details  
it seemed like there were there with me on the train coming home last time. 
That made me happy.  I was stressing all week, business is busy and I am 
overwhelmed.  I pour some cheap white wine into a cherub and jewel-decorated 
goblet and think about what I want to say about the concert last night 
The set list.
That was some set list.
I drove to meet at my friends Sheldon  and Louise Krevit sheldon@cttel.net 
at their house in New Haven.  Sheldon has these great paintings, all made of 
dots, like pointillism Georges Seurat with no figures, everything breaks down 
into these amazing colors that move you across the canvas. Like Light .  One 
was called One Thing Leads To Another and another is called here and here.
My boyfriend Johnes met us and we all had a glass of wine and headed to 
Tycoons a restaurant across from the Coliseum.
I had never been to a concert at the coliseum, a couple of antique shows. 
Marianne our friend said she had seen Frank Sinatra there years ago, so I 
guess it has been a Concert Hall for a long time. This big building with two like 
30 feet tall huge neon figures I see driving on 195 , a Rock and Roll Man playing 
the guitar and a Spinning Ice Skating  woman.  To dance beneath the diamond 
skies with one hand waving free I always hear when I see them.
We had a great table at Tycoons with my back against he wall where I could 
see everybody in the room but the food came too fast and too heavy and there 
was no time to eat.   Sheldon knew his way around the building and we got in 
with out going through many crowds. I like being around those young kids they  
have the energy I remember in the 60's, they are cute and sexy and young. 
The girls were dancing in the aisles like in the dead concerts "spinning into 
infinity." I was awed with their abandon. Lots of Dylan old timers call them "white 
girls spinning with no rthymn"  but I like them.  I walked to get a beer, as the 
intermission seemed interminable. I walked the concrete halls and looked at 
the people. There were more young ones even then at Amherst,. I ran into 
someone I knew at the ladies room .She recognized my purse .She had seen 
my website, I always run into people I know by now after so many years of Dylan 
concerts I saw Raphapel and his brother from Group W Bench the great shop 
of wonderful things Chapel street, they are at every Dylan concert too, long 
Grey beads you can always see them. Once I got a poster there of the lyrics 
to the times they are a changin that I a made into a piece of art my cousin 
Larry from Seattle bought.


The waitress was named Lolly and was she fun and all business too. NEXT she 
said forcefully trying to get our orders, when everyone else in the place was 
going to the same concert. It had a lot of wood paneling and plants but no art 
on the walls. There was a huge monstrous stuffed buffalo head.[jewels and 
binoculars hang from the head of the mule]. I liked Lolly. I thought of the 
waitress in Highlands, I had wine, couldn't eat that fast.
When we got our check and got out  Phil Lesh was playing already great a 
lot of dancing was happening in Uncle John's band. The whole downstairs
floor empty so people could dance.

There was a picture of Dorothy from Oz on ice skates on one of those Grey 
walls.   "Spend time with a friend" says my  horoscope of the concert day, 
I used it in one of the art pieces.

The picture of Bob from Albert hall 66 and above his head is the Ruby Shoe 
paved earring we did for the  wizard of Oz jewelry we did years ago. Around 
Bob's head are pasted Alfred Hitchcok stamps. macabre strangely American . 
"What America's great  art reveals about out nation character" says Time 
Magazine cover in my collage. There is a small canvas glued on a bigger 
canvas. Maybe I'll glue that one onto an even bigger canvas. The background 
is a red sequin pleated skirt and a beaded American flag, some Beatles 
buttons . There is a picture of me, reclined, looking up at the magazine.

"Oh Peter" says Wendy "I know lots of stories ".
"Wendy do come with me and tell the other boys "
… I'll teach you to jump on the winds back and away we go."
Where is the answer blowin"?
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

by permission living in some sub space place of imagination where anything 
is possible.   ( I believe in the impossible you know that I do)
Been so long since a strange woman has slept in my bed.
Look how sweet she sleeps, how free must be her dreams.
In another lifetime she must have owned the world, or been faithfully wed
To some righteous king who wrote psalms beside moonlit streams?
I and I In creation where one nature neither honors nor forgives
I and I
One says to the other no man sees my face and lives.]

I was out in the hall when Bob started and heard I am the Man Thomas and 
the beginning of My Back Pages, which I didn't even recognize from the hallway
though I could here the beautiful fiddle though very well.
My boyfriend didn't recognize the next song John Brown that is a sad song 
tragic choice for a concert for a concert I was surpassed to hear it maybe
because it was Veterans Day.  Tangled up in Blue livened things up. The guitar 
had the spot light I couldn't tell if it was Charlie or Bucky I didn't see very well 
our seats were way up yonder. Since Eye Candy stopped selling tickets on line 
I haven't gotten good seats, maybe it'll be better in Amherst next week hope so.
Before Bob started they lit candles on the soundboard.
Positively 4 Th Street was very strong and kind of nasty. One too Many 
Mornings, and Most Likely You Go Your Way and I Go Mine seem like the same 
story to me.

West LA Fadeway  really gave me the power I look for in a Dylan concert and 
then it was over.  The house lights went on.

I took a break from the computer 
I went out side to see the bright sunshine with the dogs
The water was golden in the western light.getting cold again.the one day of 
spring is over.

Driving home the next day there was a homeless guy in his usual place by the 
entrance to the highway with his cardboard sign and long hair and beard. He 
made a special sign that said Happy Veterans Day and God Bless You in 
magic marker.  I couldn't find a dollar so I just waved and he waved back.As  
I got to the light I found a dollar and went around the block and back to give 
it to him.  He gave me a big smile, I know him, and he's been there off and on 
a couple of years. He goes away in the summer.  Once I drove by the place 
he stands and he wasn't there but someone had left a plastic turtle. I had my 
video camera and shot it. It was very peculiar at the edge of a parking lot.


I can't sit down in a Bob concert, except in the ballads, how can you?
The people near me kept asking me to sit down.
Everyone else was standing, 
Alabama Getaway, West LA Fadeaway 
Tomorrow they'll be a hockey game or maybe  the Wizard of Oz on skates. 
But tonight it was Bob Dylan and the place would never be the same. The 
room was built for a sports arena; it was big like MSG.A mountian of 10,000 
faces across from us.  I'd like to see Bob in a smaller room, like my living room, 
haha, or at least a small theatre like the Palace.
that stadium was  like chaos, were there 10,000 people?
It was like being in a Borg ship without  the linked collective mind ---with 
separate minds all busy vibrating excited. Til Bob came on.

I got back to my seat and Bob was singing 
Positively 4th street was gritty and nasty 
"You've got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend 
When I was down you just stood there grinning"
The girl with sparkles on her face a  seat behind me took off her shoes and was 
laying in her chair, her socks 9 inches from my face in an empty seat. I was 
laughing would I be the brat and ruin her fun?  Thank God her feet didn't smell, 
she was funny it didn't bother me, I kept taking notes.
Bob picked up a white cowboy hat on the way out.
There wasn't a lot of harp only on it's ain't me babe I missed that.
I heard some great story about a woman who threw her leopard skin pill box 
hat onto the stage and it landed on the microphone just as Bob finished that 
song. She had come all the way from Italy to see a series of his shows.
Bob touched it and some one on the stage threw it back to her and she got 
it back  like magic.

 My Dylan buddies and I on line swap live concert tapes and that's all I listen 
to anymore. It's all I want. [ There's only one step down from here it's called 
the land of permanent bliss]

We saw a million people we knew as we left. My boyfriend Johnes is the curator 
of the art show in the lobby of the York Cinema Gallery in New Haven next door 
to the Yale bookstore. The movie theater shows all the great foreign films and 
he has been doing art shows there it for 10 years about once a month just for 
the love of art, Think how many artists that is. Johnes knows everybody. The 
streets were swirling with colors and people moving like one of Sheldon paintings. 
Colors Breaking down .We walked back to the car as the crowd thinned out, 
the road covered with autumn leaves and street lamp light.
I had on my purse, a stuffed animal, a camel decorated in the usual way with a 
cherub on her head and pearls under her feet. Her name is Josephine Camel.


She looked back at the crowd behind me as I walked on the street with 
those peacock glass eyes.

It took me 4 months to get this review finished for my website and the archives 
at Boblinks.  Who knows why, Louise holds a handful of rain tempting you to 
defy it. Maybe when I heard today that the first dates were being set opening 
in San Luis Obispo on March 11 for this year I got psyched.
and as someone wrote in one of the newsgroups
"soon we will be hearing  those twelve most beautiful words in the 
English language:

Ladies and gentlemen
would you please welcome
Columbia recording artist
Bob Dylan"




Wendy Gell   
wenDyland Gallery
http://www.wendygell.com/wendylan/DYLANamherst.html
email wendygell@cshore.com
website  http://wendygell.com/