Bob Dylan: return of the never-ending tour | reviews, news & interviews
Bob Dylan: return of the never-ending tour
Bob Dylan: return of the never-ending tour
Should Dylan retire to the mountains to write more volumes of 'Chronicles'?
What the hell is wrong with Bob Dylan? As the Sage of Minnesota rolls back into London with Mark Knopfler in tow, I took a detour round YouTube to see what they've been up to on their recent European dates.
I was especially appalled by some clips somebody had taken of Mystery Bob at the Rokhal in Luxembourg, where he disembowelled "Like a Rolling Stone" with a tragicomic farrago of growling, croaking and horrific expectorant noises. It was like blues from an iron lung. Surreally, his rather fine band merely continued to play on as if this sort of thing goes on all the time... which, of course, it does.
Admittedly you can still come across reviewers who manage to find something praiseworthy in Bob's latter-day shows. The argument is usually along the lines of how artistically bold he is to reappraise his material so radically, as if all his classic records would have been even better if he'd played all the notes in the wrong order and got his pet sea lion to sing them.
However, Dylan and Knopfler were in Blighty only last month, and numerous concert-goers left less then laudatory messages on various websites. "One of the worst gigs I've had the misfortune of attending," said somebody calling themselves TheLastWaltz, having seen Bob'n'Mark in Manchester. "Mark Knopfler as usual was excellent: Dylan was appalling," added Anonymous. At the Nottingham show, mad6000 also enjoyed Knopfler, but then Dylan came on and "after an hour we couldn't bear it any longer and left. It was very sad".
After all this, I cheered myself up by listening to Bob's Live 1966 album (the one with The Hawks and the bloke shouting "Judas!" on it). Gratifyingly, it's still unimpeachably awesome after all these years. But back in the present, perhaps someone could encourage Bob to retire to a cabin in the mountains and write Chronicles volumes 2-10.
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Comments
Frankly, "Like A Rolling
Thank You. Probably the best
There are none so deaf as
Pardon?
I myself love Bob Dylans
I've seen Bob 5 times and
boring. i am so over the
The man lives to play and
Well said.
Absolutely agree. Too bad
wonderfully expressed.
It's a mystery to me why the
no one denies his voice is
Yeah, you don't "get" it,
The irony of course - an
Curious reaction to your
You are right about the
Extraordinary youtube clip -
Do you really think
If you don't think of it as
Unfortunately, this really is
I remember once seeing Dylan
Bob was in fine form on
I count myself as a die-hard
And you gotta love "It Must
And you gotta love "It Must Be Santa", the greatest new Christmas song in ages, even if most Dylan fans hated it....
I LOVE that song. Just got
I suspect that you are not
i'm used to it now. first saw
brilliant!!!
GREAT article. It is alway
LOL! Fantastic. I have to say
So, some people to do not
xoxoxoxo Saw him in the
It sounds beautiful. Truly
No point in trying to
YAY YOU! ;-) Why do these
still this conversation?
Yes, Yes and Yes... I have
I can't wait for your article
MAY ADAM SWEETING'S BRAIN
ha ha ha. very good.
If you don't like Dylan then
Funny how defensive and
like Mick and Paul?
One of the greatest artists
The commentary by the writer
I went to the Sunday gig with