Bob Dylan 2000.03.25 Regensburg

Date: Sat, 27 May 2000 12:44:46 +0200
Subject: reviews Regensburg + Berlin
From: Sven Lewandowski (Sven.Lewandowski@stud.uni-hannover.de)

Dylan at Regensburg It sure has been a hard and long trip to
Dylan's last show in Germany. So we had time to discuss what
would (or could) happen at this farewell show (we left the tour
that night). Dirk expected 'Girl From the Noth County', Peter was
hoping for 'Mozambique'(as always, altought knowing it'll remain
a fantasy) and I guessed Dylan might open with 'Duncan & Brady'
and that he would also do 'Positively 4th Street' ('cause I
tought it would fit well after 'Tom Thumb's Blues' the night
before). (All in all: that's 2 points for me, one for Dirk and
(once againÊ!): Mozambique: zero points).

As usual the show started at 8.15 p.m. and it was time to welcome
Columbia recording artistÉ for the last time this year (at least
for me) - but there was no welcomeÊ! So Dylan started immedeately
with 'Duncan & Brady' (seems that he has been on the job (doing
'Roving Gamler') for too long., which I enjoyed very much - so
much, that I was able to stand 'The Times They Are A-Chingin'
another time. But this time Dylan got it right and managed to
remember every line, so that now maybe the spell is broken and he
might leave it behind for the rest of the tour. 'Desolation Row'
followed, but I think the versions he offered before were better.

The 4th song was a real surprise - it turned out to be 'Delia'
and Dylan offered a passionate performance (exept for a little
mistake). I was really glad to hear this song because it was the
only reason why I was a little sad having not been to ZŸrich. And
I also think it was the only chance for me to hear a song from
'World Gone Wrong' live. As always 'Tangled Up In Blue' followed
and this time even I enjoyed it. Like the night before (at
Dresden) the last acoustic was 'To Ramona'. It was okay, but the
night before it was better.

The electric set offered 'Country Pie', 'Watchtower' and
'Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat' - all performed in the way like so
many times before. 'Drifter's Escape' (for the third show in a
rowÊ!) was done the raw way and once again it was really great !
As a surprise Dylan played 'Make You Feel my Love' (for the first
time on this lag of the tour). It sounded different (compared to
the 98-version) but I can't really tell what the difference was.
Although I suppose it was in the way he pronounced the words.
Anyway, it sure was another highlight. Another one was 'Postively
4th Street'. At the beginning I (and all other people standing
next to me) tought it was 'I Shall Be Released' but soon we found
out that we were wrong - but I think nobody was crying because he
or she had to listen to 4th Street. Dylan did it the slow way and
it sounded great. The encores were more or less the usuals, but
performed in a rather unsual order, so that quite a lot of people
weren't really sure which song followed which.

In fact the encores stared with 'Love Sick' and 'Rolling Stone'.
Especially 'Love Sick' was another very good performance, maybe
the best one this year in Germany (but I'm not really sure on
that). At the first acoustic encore we found out that Dirk was
right (one point for him !): Dylan did 'Girl From The North
Country'. Then once again 'Not Fade Away' was left out and they
did 'Highway 61' again. This time it wasn't as good as at Dresden
and I'd prefered 'Not Fade Away'. After a rather slow, but quite
normal performance of 'Don't Think Twice', the band surprisingly
started to do 'Not Fade Away' - instead of 'Rainy Day Women' as
it seemed - but I was wrong againÊ! 'Rainy Day Women' follow
immedeately without any acoustic song in between.

The show was finally finished with 'Blowin' In The Wind' and then
Dylan left both - the stage and GermanyÉ As I realized later the
show featured 20 songs instead of 19 like the shows before and it
was the longest show Dylan did in Germany - 2 hours and 5
minutes. Especially the acoustic set turned out to be very long)
about 40 minutes and featured three songs with a lot of text
(D'Row, Delia, Tangled).

After the show we drove back to Hannover - that's about 600
kilometers; so all in all we had to go 1000 km to hear 'Duncan
And Brady' and 'Delia' - but I think that it was that worthÊ! And
as a personal note: It was my 22nd Dylan-concert and 'Delia' was
the 100th (different) song that Dylan performed for me. To come
to the end let me add a note on Charlie Sexton: For I'm not a
musician I can't really tell if he is a good guitar player or
not. But to me it seemed that he is only allowed to do chords and
hardly any solo. At the first shows I rather tought that he is a
kind of H&M-model and his function is rather to attract new -
especially female - fans than to play the guitar.

At the last two or three shows he did some more solo (not only on
'Country Pie') but I still think that he is not really integrated
in the band. It was quite obivious that he is rather excluded.
When there's communication on stage, Dylan usually talks to Tony
Garnier, Larry Campell and David Camper but never to Charlie
Sexton, who usually get's the information via Tony. So all in all
I don't think that Charlie Sexton will stay in the band for too
long - if he is a good guitar player, it must be frustrating to
him that he is not allowed to show his abilities and if he is
only a good looking guy and not a good guitar player - why does
he work for Dylan (who, by the way, seems to turn out and/or to
become an inspired guitar player himself !) ?

Sven



Date: Mon, 29 May 2000 22:24:50 +0200
From: gerrits@student.uni-kassel.de
To: karlerik@monet.no (Karl Erik -- Expecting Rain) 
Subject: Review - Bob Dylan in Regensburg 25/05/2000.

Review - Bob Dylan in Regensburg 25/05/2000 - by Gerrit.

So this was Regensburg ...  I hadn't been to Bavaria for a while,
so it was quite nice to be back.  People really have a funny
accent there, which they just can't seem to hide.

The Donauarena is not really a good place for concerts.  Just
steel and concrete, so it was no surprise that the sound was
rather mediocre. Loads of older people in the crowd.  Germany
still seems to have the highest number of moustaches per capita
in the civilised world, and Germans can only clap on the
downbeats -- nothing new here either. Austrians have the same
problems, so they numerous presence didn't help much.

Duncan And Brady started the show.  Nicely done, although Bob
sang several verses twice, and a welcome change from Roving
Gambler.

The Times They Are A-Changing.  I wouldn't have minded not
hearing it again, although it was definitely better than in
Oberhausen and in Hanover.  It was lovely, actually.  They played
very tenderly, and Bob finally managed not to cofuse the verses.

Desolation Row.  The beginning was buggered, as Tony couldn't
seem to find his bow.  But once the confusion was over, they
managed to play a solid, but not very inspired version of this
song.

Delia.  Yes!  More of that!  A nice choice, very well played and
sung. An extra round of applause for Bob's soloing efforts.

Tangled Up In Blue.  Not bad at all, but of course no surprise.

To Ramona.  They played it as a country waltz.  Larry contributed
some mandolin.  Very nice, but not very assertive, even a little
insecure. The arrangement was pretty, though, and should be
worked on a little more.

Country Pie.  All right, the songs from Nashville Skyline tend to
be a bit banal.  But I think there's something sublime about some
of them, and even if I should be wrong, they would still be
good-natured and funny.  Country Pie should be a point in case.

Positively 4th Street.  Shame on me.  I did not recognise this
all-time classic.  It was very slow and very melancholy.  A very
convincing interpretation.

All Along The Watchtower required extra hands to hold the roof
down.

Make You Feel My Love.  See my thoughts on Country Pie.  You have
never been in love if you do not understand what this song is
about.  Not brainy, just very simple, and straight into your
face.

Drifter's Escape was great, and the long harmonica solo was just
the icing on the cake.

Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat.  Nothing new here, just solid
craftmanship.

Love Sick started the second part of the show.  A true classic. 
Hank Williams, who donated the title, would have loved the song.

Like A Rolling Stone.  Business as usual, which means it was
really good.  Slow and menacing, with great, but barely audible
guitar from Charlie.

Girl Of The North Country.  Brilliant.  A wonderful song,
beautifully played.  One for all the girls in the north country. 
Bob's solos were way above average on this one.

Highway 61 Revisited.  Nice one, although I would have preferred
a quieter choice.  It seemed really rough after North Country.

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right.  Another song I can hear every
day and never grow tired of.

Not Fade Away.  Dancing time.

Rainy Day Women.  Keep on dancing.

Blowin' In The Wind.  No. 20 in the show.  One to dream of on the
journey home.


All in all, a very enjoyable night.  A very engaged performance
from Bob and the band.  As usual, the highlights were mainly in
the acoustic set.  The audience seemed to be quieter than the one
in Hanover, and consequently the show was not quite as intense. 
Not as much brilliant soloing from Bob, either.  But as long as a
not quite so special show is as good as this, I sure won't
complain.

Thank you for reading,

Gerrit.




Subject: Regensburg review
From: Christian Zeiser  z@nikocity.de
Date: 27 May 2000 06:13:04 -0700

Regensburg, Germany, not far from the Czech and Austrian borders, an
old town, undamaged during World war II due to its lack of industrial
sites, thus a very pretty old town. Dylan played in an indoor venue
known as the Donauarena, right next to the famous river, one of those
multifunctional venues that you find everywhere.

Anyway, I managed to survice the rush that happened after they opened
the doors at 6:30 and got myself a pretty good place in the crowd,
about five rows of people away from the stage. Around me: lots of
chatter about the Dresden show the day before, lots of discussion
about what we'll be about to be treated with this time around.
Finally the lights went down and Dylan and the band launched into
Duncan & Brady, surprisingly without Al Santos doing his little
announcement speeach first. Ah, Duncan & Brady! Thanks for not doing
Roving Gambler again. I like that number, but it was time for a
change. From the very beginning, Bob was extremely concentrated,
treating every line with a lot of care, still seeming very at ease
with himself. The usual The Times They Are A-Changing was second,
lots of people have learned to grow bored with the repeated
renditions of this one, but to our surprise Dylan managed to sing the
whole song without forgetting a single line. We had already
developped a running gag during the tour, saying that Dylan will sing
this song until he either remembers every line again or until he has
forgotten them all. This day, it was perfect.

The highlights of the acoustic set were Delia, sung oh so
beautifully, and, I hardly dare to say it, Tangled Up In Blue. The
ten-thousandth rendition of this standard, and yet Dylan put a sort
of energy into it that I haven't heard before. Just like with Stuck
Inside Of Mobile the night before, he managed to give an old and
often-played, too-well-known number a whole new dimension, bringing
it to an energetic level that the songs never had before. To Ramona
was very nice as well, now thankfully missing the stupid waltz beat
that has ruined a couple of performances before. Instead, David
Kemper did some very sophisticated, low drumming that gave the song a
new sort of beauty and kindness.

The electric set: The good ole rockin' Country Pie kicked it off
before an incredibly soft and sad rendition of Positively 4th Street
marked another highlight. The version he did reminded me a lot of the
one he did in Magdeburg four years ago (go and listen to your copy of
Eyes Of The Idol again, folks, it's worth it), the harshness that
dominates the studio take being completely gone and replaced by a sad
sad kind of disappointment. Watchtower rocked as usual, To Make You
Feel My Love was as good as a mediocre song (sorry) can get, and then
Dylan blew us all away again with Drifter's Escape in its new coat.
The power that this song develops is plain incredible, and the wild
and raucious drums-and-harmonica breaks are too good to be described.
Lots of people looked pretty puzzled around me, obviously trying to
figure out what song this is. Highlight #3 in a show that was
terrific from beginning to end. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat closed the
electric set as usual, solid rocking version as usual.

The encores: Love Sick was back after a short break in Dresden,
superb as always. The reliably crowd-pleasing Like A Rolling Stone
was followed by a Girl From The North Country that brought back to
mind the line from the movie Down By Law: "It's a sad and wonderful
world". Same thing goes for Don«t Think Twice, It«s Alright, the
second acoustic number during the encores. Again, this one was played
so often that many somehow don't expect anything new from yet another
rendition, and again Dylan showed us that we couldn't be more wrong.
He did it in a very low-key, more spoken than sung style which was
intense enough for many jaws to drop. Not Fade Away rocked as usual,
getting Dylan in a mood good enough to add Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
as another electric number before closing with the usual Blowing In
The Wind and its lovely choirs. 20 songs! Dylan getting better and
better as the tour goes on. Dear folks in Italy, I am convinced that
you will be treated with some real bmoments in bliss. It's hard
enough for me to accept the fact that the tour is over for me. But
then, maybe there will be some more chances to see him again in
September.



Subject: Re: Regensburg review
From: "J.Roemer" J.Roemer@t-online.de
Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 14:43:00 +0200

...A little correction. Regensburg was very much damaged during the 2nd WW. And
about 14000 people were killed during the air raids. But the historical town
center with it's famous cathedral still exists. By the way, there is a good
industrial site there, for example the german branch of amazon.com and
toshiba, to name just a few.

Ciao
  JR



Subject: Re: Regensburg review
From: juergen.roemerNOjuSPAM@sulzbach-rosenberg.de.invalid
Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 23:43:02 -0700

...
Sorry, all wrong 406 were killed. I got puzzled, when i drove on
Thursday night through Regensburg, and saw a big lighted stone,
which seems to be a war-monument with big letters "14...".

Bye