Entertainment For Lively Minds
I have seen Dylan live and wish to discuss it...
Anyone going to see Dylan on this tour? Just got back from the O2 and thought it was pretty so-so (at best). I've had a quick look on the expecting rain forum and was suprised (I don't know why I was suprised) to see people saying they had just got in from a great gig.
I know I've only got myself to blame really. I have all the usual things to say: That singing style that makes every song sound almost identical. The fact he didn't say a word to the audience until the encore, etc, etc. But tonight there was no big screen and for all I know Bob Dylan wasn't even in the building and some old bloke in a big white hat mimed the whole evening to a pre-recorded tape. In a place the size of the O2 to not have the screens on seems almost contemputous of your audience. We were towards the back of the floor seats and couldn't make out much but if I'd have been towards the back, I think I might just have left. (Some people near us did leave because they said they couldn't see anything and there was no point staying.) I've never seen so many people leave before the encore but that may have been partly due to the travel situation.
Seen him once before in 2000 and I remember that as being a lot better. And I'll never go to the O2 again when the tube is not running. We were quite likely to get a bus fairly quickly but it still took an hour to get the two miles or less to where we parked the car. Really interested to hear the views of anyone else.
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I wasn't there
but still feel like saying "told you so". There have been many threads on here about how awful Dylan is in concert these days. I think the last one culminated in David Hepworth saying something about how he's been getting away with delivering a shoddy show for years now.
I agree with that. I gave up after Brixton a few years ago, but actually don't know why I persisted that long. The funniest bit was hearing the audience trying to sing along to LARS while Dylan destroyed it and ignored the melody completely.
The devout will disagree and tell you that he's re-interpreting his material. Nonsense. He can no longer sing, no longer play, and treats his audience with contempt.
Shame
Sounds like the wrong venue. I saw Dylan at Wembley Arena two years ago, and he was the best I've seen him. His singing was the tightest and most articulate I've heard in six concert appearances over the last 18 years. A warning, though: Expecting Rain is a good site but there are quite a few people on there who will forgive Bob Dylan anything, particularly live.
I don't hold with the "told you so" camp - he could easily have have been wonderful; his voice may not be what it was, but he's still more than capable of creating a memorable evening - but I'm sorry it wasn't a good one. I've only been to the O2 once, to see Bruce Springsteen, and wasn't impressed with the sound or with the impersonal sprawl.
So, are you buying the album tomorrow then?
Expecting Rain does attract a fair number of visitors...
who would applaud Bob Dylan if he came onstage and offered up interpretations of Agadoo and The Birdie Song.
But only...
...because he's never performed them live before.
I'm going to Birmingham
Never seen him before - curious to see what he's like. Reports suggest "massively variable". Because of travel, I've ended up going to see him on my own - if anyone in the massive would like to meet up for a pint beforehand, let me know/
The album
I'd planned to go into an actual shop and buy it! But I don't know now. I might look at the different versions in HMV Victoria Station and then compare the price with Amazon and go from there. After last night, I'm not in such a rush.
Feel free to go for the 'I told you so'. My friends went last year and were not into it, but I thought I knew better. You have to see (well, not literally see) for yourself. Even though I've downloaded bootlegs from last years tour I still wanted to go and top up my Bob worship level in person.
I was there, and I really
I was there, and I really enjoyed it. Any time an artist is completely absorbed in his art, I find it mesmerising. His gruff voice was used to maximum effect, I thought. And both his music and his demeanor came across to me as exceedingly jaunty, which was appealing. Then again, I had my trusty opera glasses with me, so I could see his face when I wanted to, which from Block 102 (side block, left of stage) would not have been possible otherwise. I do understand that some artists don't like media contraptions, such as cameras, cellphones, and in this case, big screens, detracting from their focus, but in the cavernous O2, a big screen is necessary. Leonard Cohen also loathes media devices (that make him feel self-conscious, out of the zone), and though he forbade photography, he had two massive screens nonetheless, when he was at the O2 in July last year. Bob Dylan, I thought, was great, Leonard Cohen, transcendent. He's on again in Surrey soon. :)
Saw Dylan last summer
And I actually enjoyed it. And I am no fan of the man. The only problem I had, was with the section of the crowd wanting to spend an evening talking with their friends whilst listening to music. But that was solved by moving away from the bars.
We got him on a night when he was in a good mood, he even waved at the crowd! We understood what he was singing.
Dylan at Roundhouse
Felt really fortunate to even get tickets for this (cheers Roundhouse online ticketing).
Main motivation was chance to see Dylan in reasonably intimate venue.
After collecting wristband & tickets for self and lovely patient wife had nice time mooching around Camden to kill time. After dinner realised I was now royally drunk.
Had a FANTASTIC time at the concert!
Check at least two happy customers, Bob!
Liverpool
well he is what he is, but dont tell me he is completely apathetic to his audience when he took the roof off the Liverpool Arena tonight by singing (OK I use the word loosely) George Harrison's Something. A genuinely lovely moment