Expecting Rain

Hello --

I've been reading the expectations and the post-comments about Rio concert for the last few days and have been a bit puzzled for some misconceptions, so I think it wouldn’t hurt much to address to some of these criticisms based on what I saw last Sunday night.

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way a Dylan expert. I don’t have all his albuns and I am not able to recognize some of his most obscure songs. Sunday night was only my third Dylan gig -- the previous two were Rio'98 and Rio'08. So, I know that several things I will write here regarding the songs must be old news to the ones who follows all his concerts and listen to the every single bootleg tape. Still…

To put it right in front, Dylan delievered a really good concert. Wouldn’t call it as great as the one in 2008, but very good – as one shall expect from a warm-up gig as he hadn’t played live in five months. As you all know by now, tickets were outrageously expensive. Citibank Hall’s capacity was 3,000 people but we only had a half-full venue. I also believe the all-seated choice didn’t help much, but the audience behaved quite warmly and Dylan was definitely in good spirits, being a bit sarcastic and even teasing the crowd.

He started 10-15 minutes late as it is common, launching with Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat. The beginning of the concert was a bit messy as several people who had bought the cheapest tickets rushed to the front in order to occupy the seats that would remain empty anyway – I ‘upgraded’ my seat from the 26th row to the 9th row dead center. The next two songs – It Ain’t Me Babe and Things Have Changed – were surprinsingly fast-paced, a complete detour from what I’ve heard on the 2008 concert and one I didn’t like it as much.

Things began to really change on the fourth song, Tangled up-in Blue, beautifully played by the band. The Levee’s Gonna Break had a long version and Dylan started to loose things up a bit, doing some strange leg moves while playing the organ. Sometimes he would just incline to the speakers and look at the band playing while sometimes he would tease the audience with some funny, sarcastic looks. Tryin’ to Get to Heaven was definitely one of the peaks of the night – as would be Forgetful Heart - with a soulful version. The bluesy Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ was played before he launched onto Desolation Row, a song I’ve been wanting to hear forever, with a nice reception of the crowd.

Summer Days is a tune I could do without, but Simple Twist of Fate put everything else back on the track. From this song on, the show would start to climb up to its climax, with the audience getting warmer and warmer till it bursted on Ballad on a Thin Man/Like a Rolling Stone with everybody finally standing up – despite some efforts from the security team to restrain it which they would eventually manage in Watchtower.

Regarding the complaints here about the setlist, it might makes sense if you follow every single show, but it is a whole other deal when you’re there and I can not imagine a Dylan fan not having a ball on one of his concerts. As I’ve told before, I’ve been on Rio concert in 2008. Four years later, he repeated only seven of the 17 songs he played then. For me, this is pretty satisfactory. I am pretty confident he and the band will evolve during this South American leg and have major expectations for Porto Alegre (only GA) and Buenos Aires concerts.

Sorry for my English mistakes.

Thanks for posting, Patrick! I enjoyed reading your review and your English is just fine!

Hi Patrick, thanks a lot for the review!
One question: Is he playing the keyboards at the right side of the stage as he did in 2008?

Cheers!
CD

Raging Glory, thanks a lot.

Cdropp, yes, he still plays it at the right side, just like in 2008. Alas, I don't think he went to the left side once last Sunday.

Thanks Patrick!!!!

Thanks!

Well, right side from the audience's point of view. I believe it's called "stage left", but anyway.

Here's a picture fof the Rio stage setup:

http://dylanesco.com/wp-content/uploads ... 95x446.jpg

That was a wonderful review, PatrickM! Thank you for clarifying and putting our minds at ease - and your English is great!

Nice photo. The only difference I can see is the position of the steel guitar in front of the keyboard.

The angle of the keyboard was tweaked last tour too. More toward the audience than the band now.

What fun to read about your experience! This is what I imagined (minus the lounging around!) when I read Mr. Pagel's posting of the set list. Thank you so much for being willing to write your review for us! - a labor of lovER

Thanks, Patrick. Nice review.

Many thanks Patrick for this first and excellent review of a brand new tour

Thanks, everybody. You're all very kind.

One more thing: Security was very tight regarding videos and photos even with mobile phones (which I personally appreciate. I can't stand people that goes to the concerts to watch it through their gadgets). So, it explains why there's so little footage.

Let's see what he comes up with tonight.

Are you going tonight, too?

Patrick! As others have noted, we thank you very much for this post AND a BIG WELCOME to ER! We look forward to hearing more from you! Excellent post.

Unfortunately not. Rio was probably my only Dylan's concert this year -- this could change if he tours Europe till late-August which seems to be highly unlikely...

Good report!!! Tanks a lot and welcome!!!!

Thanks for the review!