July 04, 2008

Curious George wants to ask about you and Bob. What's your Bob Dylan story?

Turns out that Dylan is playing down the street from me in August, so I bought a ticket. I've seen him before, but I was wondering... Dylan's concerts are, by reputation, either fantastic or lousy. If you've seen him give a show, how was he? I've seen him twice now, myself, once at the Gardens in a double-bill with this lady, skipping a final exam to do it. And it was nothing short of awesome. For years I'd heard that Dylan gave crap shows, but after that, I'd no idea what they were talking about. Many years later, I saw him in another arena show, which was great, but apparently left a lot of people disappointed in his total lack of audience acknowledgment. I was there for the music. Enh. So what's your story? How did you find the show?

posted by Capt. Renault 15 years ago
  • I don't have a Bob Dylan story. Sorry. I did once find a record voucher in the street, which I used to buy a double live album by The Band. I later regretted that decision and should have spent it on Sigue Sigue Sputnik limited edition 12" singles instead. This statement describes me quite well, I think.
  • Yes. Yes it does.
  • I've never liked Bob Dylan, but if Lenny Henry hates him I may need to reconsider.
  • Cap'n, I think I may have caught the same concert series as you, the one with Joni Mitchell. She was wearing a red dress if i remember right and sang like the blazes. She was amazing. Bob wasn't bad either. That was a great concert. The last Dylan concert i went to, almost ten years ago I guess was baaaaaad. The backup band was great. But Bob was in his mumbley mood. One of my favorites, "Just Like Tom Thumb Blues", sounded like "jeskf liuer Toouyls Buuuuh". My buddy and I had some fun trying to figure out what song he was doing. Never been to one of his concerts since.
  • We went to see him at the Tower Theater near Philadelphia (though the wiki doesn't mention his concert). The most notable thing about it though was that the person previously sitting behind us had barfed all over the backs of our seats. Then in the bathroom even farther upstairs, some people got busted for passing joints. Clearly a case of *Tag, you're IT!*
  • The last time I saw him, he was opened up for by the Foo Fighters. All these kids were there for the Foo Fighters, and not Bob. Two things were clear: a) after so many years of fighting Foo, the Foo was obviously winning, and b) Dave Grohl was not the main talent in Nirvana. They were simply terrible, yet all the kids kept eating that shit up. I just stood there, thinking "come ON, hurry UP..." To my surprise, the kids didn't leave, but they also really didn't have a Bob appreciation. Mostly stood around smoking pot, waiting for the Foo Fighters to make something to happen. Bob probably wasn't putting 100% in, but he ran circles around the Fighters, and everyone else, for that matter. A much older crowd was there for Bob, and they didn't do much, just stood around smoking pot, waiting for Bob to make something to happen. There was something in the air that night...
  • I, uh, really wanted to see Ani DiFranco perform, and this one time, she was opening for Bob. So I saw Ani DiFranco. And then I left. (Hell of an expensive way to see a concert, lemme tell you.)
  • *gob is smacked*
  • Isn't he the guy who played Gilligan? Or did he sing "Rocky Mountain High?" Oh, no - he wrote "A Child's Christmas in Wales."
  • Go gently into that good night, you breltard...
  • I liked Robert Zimmerman until the 80's when he tried to pretend that he was still some kind of hungry vagabonding street musician when he was actually a comfortable multi-millionaire. Ever since the mid 90's I would say that his voice sounds more like bleating than singing. There is no doubt, however, that he has some extremely large laurels to rest on, having at one time been the catalyst for just about every kind of change that popular music was undergoing. Never seen him live, but once I arrived late when he was opening for Neil Young, just missing him. People were complaining about his singing. Neil Young was pretty good.
  • Bob Dylan killed Gilligan.
  • *smacks Bob Dylan with captain's hat*
  • Never heard of him.
  • I saw him once, at Hamilton Place, back in or around 1992 or so (about 12th row centre). I think he was touring Good As I Been To You, which was an album of covers of old folk songs. I happen to love that album of his, so I loved the numbers he did from there. The best part, for me, was that when he did his old standards he reworked them so much that he was usually into the second verse before I figured out what the song was. Some people seemed miffed by this...they wanted to hear the songs just like they were on their records, but for me it was another glimpse of his awesome creativity as a songwriter.