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Bob Dylan 2000.07.21 in Hartford, CT


Subject: Re: July 21, 2000 - Hartford, Connecticut - setlist
From: George Klotzbaugh  cklotzbaugh@snet.net 
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 23:43:25 -0400

First show I've seen since New Haven and Amherst, Nov 1999 and
first one I've heard since May 2000 CDRs.  The guitar work just
keeps getting tighter and tighter.  Campbell's ability to base
his leads on the same riffs and figures that he was using in
support is a joy.  Always inventive, always tasteful, in lead or
support.

Tears Of Rage was a real highlight.  Larry and Charlie sang
harmony responses to Bob's lead on the chorus.  Sounded like
homage to The Band's version.

Dylan was quire animated, doing his weird little dance steps and
poses from virtually beginning to end.  As for The Formation,
Campbell broke ranks well in advance of the others.  I wondered
whether this is standard procedure or whether he is not entirely
comfortable with it.

If Not For You was passionate and tight.  Not just the run
through that it can sometimes be.  The modified arrangement of
Cold Irons Bound is somewhat startling. A lot of the dancers,
groovers and twirlers couldn't seem to find their groove. 
Bummer.

As has been the case on this tour (judging from set lists), the
encore numbers were competent but unexceptional.  God I miss Not
Fade Away.  I always love it when a great band closes with a
great cover...  passing the torch... the beat goes on.

Tomorrow I head for Great Woods.  I refuse to call it The Tweeter
Center. The only permissible use of the word "tweeter" in a
sentence is by using the phrase "funkier than a skeeter's
tweeter."

I'm going with a friend who's last concert was the original
Woodstock (I'm not kidding), his 13 year old son and the 15 year
old girl his son fancies.  I had to talk the son into going,
sying "In 30 years, you'll be glad you did."


Subject: Re: Post #2 From: PresidentDudley dudley@cloud9.net Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 21:34:20 -0400 First off, I should say that I've never felt so old as I walked through the remaining Deadhead ensemblage in the parking lots. I felt I probably should have brought one of my daughters, but I'm glad I didn't. I'm an Auld Fart goin' on Geezer & bear my stripes w/Pride. The show was scheduled to start at 8pm, but as we all know mostly the starting time is meant to get people to their seats by maybe twenty minutes after. In fact a young person near me said "O it's late" at about 7:55; don't they teach our kidz anything anymore? Show started promptly. The lesson here is don't be late. Dylan & His Band strolled out & broke into a song I'd never heard before. Remember it was 6 years ago since I last saw him after 40 years of knowing him. It was two nights before Woodstock '94, and in a venue just up the road from us, a "ski resort" called Big Birch that wasn't much more than a glorified beginner's slope & the people running it were trying to figure how to make a little extra money since the winters at that time had been droughtlike & so they put on some concerts. Our older daughter Sara (named after Sara Dylan) was just beginning a serious illness that led to a long slow decline that eventually fell off a cliff & we almost lost her but today that's just a bad memory like it never happened, but when I got the tickets my missus said "Well we shouldn't leave Sara home alone" since she was beginning in her illness to blackout so I said "OK I'll call Richie & see if he wants to go" knowing full well that Richie wouldn't turn down anything free & would even probably pay for all the watered-down over-priced beer. Then Sara said "I'll go". Her mother & I exchanged glances that conveyed volumes (any of you who are parents know what I'm saying) and I said "OK we'll see." Sara & I went, her first "Rock & Roll concert" she was 14 I thnik, certainly her first Bob Dylan show & she held up like a trouper even when I saw her flagging with tiredness from being sick & said "It's OK, we'll go home if you want", she hung in there. Of course the best part was that the proprietors of the Skislope were such newbies to the concert biz they sold me tickets exactly where the soundboard went. To make good, they had to add a row in front of the first row which in spite of my protestations that we would gladly sit onstage is where we ended up. I've had good seats to Dylan shows, but this was nonpareil. So now (2000) Dylan & His Band kicked into Duncan & Brady as I've since learned here, even tho' I swear it's the song muh Grandma useta sing but she called it "Been on the Job Too Long", said she learned it offa Huddie Ledbetter. I was happy to see Tony Guarnieri or whoever he is still on string bass, but by now you'd think he could afford a new hat. What I did notice over the show was that even going back to G.E. Smith days the show wd start acoustic with band, go electric, then a "solo acoustic" middle bit, returning to acoustic/electric/encore, often a solo acoustic ending. Now, maybe because he's an opening act, it goes, acoustic thru electric thru a varied encore. Mebbe 'cuz now he's "just an opening act". Second song was To Ramona with Mr. Campbell on mandolin for the intro & outro & fills. Even though, as is usually the case, Bob reworked the song, I felt that in the tempo it was the same as the original... waltz time or as Pete said of Winterlude "you can iceskate to it". Desolation Row was next, a familiar chugging backdrop slowly building to the first warm audience response. This is where the kidz began their headbobbing deadstyle freeform dance (twirling?). Also their momz. The song seemed in artistic sense foreshortened, for example I missed "Einstein disguised as Robin Hood" verse, but if anyone can send me a tape, I'll gladly be proved wrong. Where I was sitting, BTW, the kidz did remarkably well at hiding their embarrassment at their momz groooovin'. Nobody said "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, cut it out!!!!!!!!!!!!" Out of an intro that could have been "Blowin' in the Wind", Tomorrow is a Long Time emerged, one of Dylan's tenderest ballads and delivered as such underscored by the bowed string bass cutting thru below. It was here that I noticed that Dylan sans harp might be replacing his harmonica work with those funky if initially inadequate "lead" guitar lines he's been working on (and taking lessons on). They're coming of age & for so long as his paid staff lets him, I'm innnerested in where they'll go. His harp work often led me to wonder how he'd get out of it, and then miraculously he would. More than one fellow concertgoer has chuckled over this Song&Dance on the Edge Showmanship. You know who you are. Mebbe that's where he's going with those guitar things. Also thanks to his Band for the countrified harmonies on this number. Between numbers, I thought "Self, Revisit Your Vinyl Unplugged... He's kicked it up a notch". At this same juncture I overheard someone easily half my age talk about how much they liked Peter Paul & Mary. Next up, TUIB (in the Dylan acronymic sense). This is the 3rd person/ no topless bar version & it's here that everyone in front of me stands up (well not everyone) & starts rockin' even tho' the set is still acoustic.... this is apparently how the show grows in intensity now. It's also when audience involvement begins, the crowd chanting "Tangled Up In Blue" and finally many folks joining in on the later verses. It's also when, even tho' I'm not particularly musically astute, I begin to think that the boy's guitar lessons are taking hold. No, I'd never heard "Searching for a Soldier's Grave"... like I said it's been awhile... There's a nice mandolin bit in waltztime again... the lyrix I pick up are (by my flashlighted notes) "All the dear loved ones... across the ocean... hearts like mine buried over here" Any help wd be appreciated. Then like Newport '65(?) out came the electric... an unmistakeably & decidedly good fun "Country Pie" just like ol' saxophone Joe... If Not For You... Tombstone Blooz The guy 6 rows in front of me who has stereo mikes strapped to his hat like those beer hat things, starts holding his hands behind the mikes as if to cup the sound better. Yo guy: send me a copy, eh? Tombstone ends with a smokin' outro, if not trademarked it shd be. I can't really discuss the next & downtempo tune, Tears of Rage. The harmonies on chorus were good. I could hear only Danko & Manuel, or their ghosts. Also, it was the only time Dylan slipped on lyrics. A quasipsychedelic intro led to Cold Irons Bound, the only time I paid attention to Dylan Lighting except to watch the PC that controls it. If nowhere else in the show, this is a sonic assault. A commanding vocal devolves into an ending with just a tinge of feedback I might otherwise have expected from Frank My Uncle's Band. Bob introduces his band, whom you all apparently know. They then kick into a LSPBH that is the chooglin fatbottomed blooz it always has been. Band stands stockstill accepting accolades (the Formation)--Bob saunters off, taking his hat from a roadie. It is at this point that I begin the Newest Thing... The Beyond Cigarette Lighters Thing... I take the flashlight I've been writing notes by and point it down to where the performers are waiting & Shine the Light on 'em.... Next time I want yuh ALL to bring a powerful penlite with you & shine it down on 'em... It's really kewllll & got a good response from the folks around me.... Kinda like sayin' "Encore" w/AA batteries. Of course they return, with or without the dudley flashlight prodding. ENCORES (5): Things Have Changed proves only one thing: Going to see Dylan? Don't go to hear the record. LARS: crowdpleaser to barnburner. It's at this point I verify to myself that tonite there's been ZERO HARP. 3rd Encore, back to acoustic: Tambourine Man. Once a groundbreaking anthem, now a crowd singalong. And after which he removes guitar & handholds a miked Marine Band. God Bless Bob. Hiway 61 electric... works also as elevator music for a different skyscraper Finally, an acoustic, harmonised BITW. I heard a comment from the crowd nearby, don't know if it was young or old who spoke it: "I like this song". So do I. I don't know if it's been noted elsewhere, or if it warrants noting, but seemingly on the final chord of "Blowin'", the lightning flashed & the threatening skies opened up in a downpour sending the "festival seatees" scurrying for cover amongst the reserved seats. Where there was just enough room. That's alright now mama, I got just one more thing to say. It's official: Bob Dylan is an artform only he can master. And has. Sincerely, dudley ___________________________ What a way to make a livin' Barely gettin' by It's all takin' And no givin'
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