Bob Dylan 2000.09.23 in Cardiff, Wales

International Arena, Mary Ann Street
Capacity: 5500

From: notdarkyet@eircom.net
To: "Karl Erik Andersen" ,
        "Bill Pagel" 
Subject: Cardiff review by Markus Prieur
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 14:53:04 +0100

Now, this was a powerful show, last night in Wales. As the Welsh
audience was more responsive than the ones at the huge English
venues before, the energy was clearly flowing both ways. In front
of the nice city centre venue we met Monika and Ulrike, two of
the most faithful continental concert goers, who we had met at
many a German show. They jumped on the tour train last night,
riding along until Paris. When they were spotted by the maestro
on stage, there was a most interesting reaction, including smiles
and guitar pointing. Very amusing.

The show itself was one of the finest on this tour yet, even
though there were but three additions to the (61 by now)
song-list. Ten repetitions from the night before, but each one
was most powerful and special, as if he did not perform them
often. His voice was as good as it gets and standing in the
fourth row facing Tony, we could hear it very good. "MY BACK
PAGES" included violin and harp in harmony, and my third
"DESOLATON ROW" six verses. The guitar-less harp-dance at the end
of "DON’T THINK TWICE" was priceless. The third omission in a row
of "RDW" just added to my enjoyment of the show.

The only song I had never seen before was an acoustic version of
"THE BALLAD OF FRANKIE LEE AND JUDAS PRIEST", which was told in a
manner, which simply left me speechless. Outstanding is the only
word for it. ("Don’t go mistaking paradise for that home across
the road.") He could have sung 15 times "TANGLED" after that. But
no, there was more to come, as he pulled out one of his
eighties-masterpieces, "BLIND WILLIE MC TELL", in the number
eight surprise slot. ("God is in his heaven, and we all want
what’s his.") Dylan the band leader beckoned Charlie to play some
nice guitar breaks on this one. (We had seen this gem before in
Essen 1998. where it had not even been on the cue sheet.) The
third addition, "WATCHING THE RIVER FLOW", we witnessed already
for the third time (after Nurburgring and Bremen 1998). I always
like to hear it, especially on a night like this, although I do
think that Bob has much to say these days.

Which brings me to some comments on my two favourite songs of
this great Cardiff setlist, "HALLELUJAH I’M READY TO GO" and
"TRYIN’ TO GET TO HEAVEN". "HALLELUJAH" was performed for the
second time on this tour, and this time his voice took the chorus
to places I had not heard before. Simply amazing. The lyrics are
as challenging as can be (see the relevant page on my website
"Not Dark Yet"), and the combination with the new and slow
"TRYING" made his confession all the more direct (those two songs
appeared last together on the Horsens-setlist). While performing
"TRYING", Bob mixed up the lyrics, being "all around the world"
already at the end of verse three. He then continued with the
last verse (which he omitted in Dublin and B’ham), inserting
however the buggy ride from verse four in it, and ended with the
"sugar town" line, which I never heard him perform on stage
before. No, I am not going to read a secret message out of it. I
just noticed it, that’s all.

The third verse started with "People at the station (sic),
waiting for the train." We all know, that the train-image is an
important one for Bob. I never saw last night’s opener in
connection with that, but in hindsight he sang "HALLELUJAH" like
someone who just has been handed a vital train ticket, someone
who is "well dressed, waiting on the last train" the slow train
coming, which is picking up speed, as this world can’t stand
long. People get ready, there’s a train a-coming. Hallelujah, I’m
ready to go. - Powerful indeed.

As our car is rolling through the English rain towards Portsmouth
(we don’t have tickets for the first show yet; it might be my
30th Bob date), I am grateful that the greatest living artist
keeps on using his greatest gift to tell his audience once in a
while: "Don’t wait, before it’s too late, he’s a wonderful
Saviour to know."

Markus Prieur / http://notdarkyet.tripod.com / notdarkyet@eircom.net



From: "Linda.k.edwards"  Linda.k.edwards@btinternet.com 
To:  karlerik@expectingrain.com 
Subject: Dylan at Cardiff
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 17:47:49 +0100

For those there on the night the memory will last a lifetime. 
Bob Dylan at the Cardiff Arena on 23rd September of the year
2000.   The concert was like a microcosm of the world that night.
  Japanese, French, Spanish, Russian, a healthy crop of over 70's
and an upcoming generation of the under 18 year olds.  There was
of course the usual pre-concert speculation about who the support
band would be, whether he would be jaded after a full March
 - September tour of the USA and Europe.  Perhaps we would be
getting the leftovers, after all Dylan in his 60th year and only
recently recovered from a serious heart disorder, could be
excused for a small lapse of performance.  But nothing prepared
us for what we were about to experience.

At 7.40pm the lights dimmed and a hush descended in the Arena as
shadows of the band began to take their places on the stage.
Suddenly, a wave of excitement swept us on our feet as Dylan came
out of nowhere and  walked on to the stage.  Immediately the
lights came on to the first chord of  a joyful, gospel - fearin',
spirit liftin',  "Hallelulia, I'm Ready to Go", followed by a
nostalgic but poignant slow rendering of "My Back Pages",  
speaking once again for a whole generation, "Oh but I was so much
older then, I'm younger than that, now".  The 72 year old man on
my left was tearful singing every word and exclaiming  as an
encore "Magic, Bobby, just magic".  Scarcely recovered from this
wave of emotion we were walking down "Desolation Row", a 
muscular version of the song with a  tight acoustic set.

For the next two hours the audience was stunned.   No support
group, no interval, no substitutes, just pure undiluted, vintage
Dylan.  His voice was amazing - light and mocking on tracks like
ÔFrankie Lee' and ÔApple Pie',  Clear and demonstrative with  the
single harmonica solo of the night -on Tangled up in Blue, but
the passion and the power of the slow soft ballad of Blind Willie
McTell brought the audience to its knees.  The song wound down to
a lingering end, then silence,  for a few seconds hardly anyone
amongst the 5,000 gathering moved.  We were in a spell.  In the
power of the  maestro.  In the presence of a living legend.  I
know I was not the only one to feel it.  Then the hypnotic
splattered  mist slowly lifted and the thunder of the eternal
applause rocked the Arena.  Even Dylan smiled and bowed to us
all.  Words would have been superfluous.  After that he could do
what he liked with us, and he did. Storming without mercy into a
searing version of Tombstone Blues followed by the sad winsome 
evocative pilgrimage of "Tryin' to get to Heaven".

He sang 19 songs in all, most of them wonderfully reworked and
fresh, with strong and skilful  support from singer-guitarists
Larry Campbell and Charlie Sexton, hardy bass player Tony Garnier
and drummer David Kemper. His seven-song encore included  the
litany Forever Young, written for his son Jakob, but a hope for
us all.  The advance of years had not drained his energy or
desire for live performance.  For nearly two unabated hours the
Cardiff audience were satiated with pleasure.  And even the 20
stone bouncer who worked there admitted, "He's better than Daniel
O'Donnell".



Subject: Cardiff Concert
From: Annie White  annie@aj1966.freeserve.co.uk 
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 22:55:52 +0100

What can I say!!  What a concert!  Starting at around 7.45 with
'Hallelujah I'm Ready To Go' - through to the final 'Blowin' In
The Wind' - it was just superb.  Where did two hours go?  By the
time it had finished I was just ready for it to start all over
again.

Cardiff CIA is a really nice venue - not too big- we had seats on
the side but with a good view - even without binoculars. And
there also seemed to be plenty of room for those standing to move
around without being hemmed in.

The absolute highlight for me was the harp solo on 'Don't Think
Twice' - sooooo emotional - also the slow, studied 'Tryin' To Get
To Heaven'. And whilst I do love 'It's Alright Ma' I was so
hoping for 'Desolation Row' - and there it was!  (Whilst driving
across the Downs in Bristol prior to going to Cardiff for the
concert I couldn't help but notice the Moscow State Circus was in
town - was this an omen - the circus *was* in town - yes it was!)

A friend of mine (Hi, there Phil!) said just before the concert
that it would be really nice if Bob did 'Blind Willie McTell' -
can you think of a more obscure choice - but there it was at
number 8!!

I had thought that I could well live without 'Leopard Skin Pill
Box Hat' but it was brilliant when it came.......'Watching The
River Flow', 'Forever Young' & 'Tombstone Blues' also highlights.
 Shame about no 'Mr Tambourine Man' or 'Times' but I guess he
can't do it all in one show. I'm kind of glad that I'm not so
over-Bobbed/jaded that I didn't enjoy TUIB & would also have
loved to hear RDW.

Having followed the progress of this tour via rmd & Bill Pagel's
site, the concert had a strangely deja vu feel - it was like
experiencing something that I had read about - only with subtle
differences.

Bob's band was superb (loved Tony's purple suit and his ever
watchful eye - for UK readers - do you remember the Hofmeister
ad's for 'Follow The Bear', that's just  what Tony reminded me of
- and Larry's cool- and Bob's boots (those on his feet, ok) get a
special commendation - as of course does the Main Man himself -
looking and sounding great.  To those of you who still have
concerts to enjoy - enjoy!!  My only regret is that I only booked
the one concert...I now understand why people are prepared to
spend weeks of their life following Bob around!

Finally, based on the very remote possibility that Bob might
actually read this - thanks for everything - for brilliant
concerts and brilliant recordings and just for being everything
that you've ever meant to anybody.......may God bless and keep
you always!!


-- 
Annie White



Review by Neil Dunlea (Ireland)
Dylan Live and in person Tour 2000

I decided aftermuch deliberation and some trepidation to spend a
week of my hard won holidays on the trail of Bob Dylan in
England. Little did I realise that I was effectively entering
another dimension soon to be labelled the Dylan dimension. Took a
ferry from Dublin port early in the morning before the dawn had
broken and drove furiously from Holyhead to Newcastle. Correction
- navigated while my compatriot (who shall henceforth be known as
Mr Kearns) drove. Met some Dylan people that night in Newcastle
and I have to say I was at first wary of them but also initially
surprised by the extent of their dedication to the Dylan trail.
Many tales of Dylan delights were recounted and a graph was drawn
describing the quality of Dylans' live performances over a period
of ten years. The graph bottomed out in 1992, had a high peak in
1995 and the highest peak for most present was 1999 - 2000. There
was consensus on the overalldebate centring around a switch of
peaks as in 1995 instead of 2000 being a peak. Armed with all
this information, I was still not overly excited though I could
point to exhaustion as an excuse after the early morning drive
and the tasty Spitfire ale and ferry trip.

Newcastle Tuesday Queued in the pissing rain and wind outside the
venue but met some interesting people. Time has dimmed my memory
of the show but I rememberbeing blown away by the white heat rock
and roll of  many songs once the band found their groove. I found
Dylan to be simply superbly professional in Newcastle and in
Birmingham and Sheffield. He rarely put a foot wrong except
perhaps when his guitar sounded a little out of tune on Rolling
Stone in Sheffield but even that sounded charming. I had a small
theory that Dylan was almost playing a greatest hits package in
these shows to keep his name in lights in England for his next
album. Cardiff was the real eye opener for me. Dylan was forceful
and in total command from the off. He sang with such assurance
and authority and emotional power that the combined effect was
almost overwhelming and I now have a strong inkling why people
keep coming back again and again and again. They believe in the
man and the redemptive power of his songs. They adore his ability
to come back from the brink of despair and be reborn before there
very eyes on stage. A living breathing monument to self willed
action. Something very simple happened in Cardiff. A bunch of
overexcited fans caught Dylan's eye as he was romping his merry
way through Country Pie. They made him burst into laughter
spontaneously and you could see him doubling over as the band
played on and a huge grin crossed his face. From that point on
the show seemed to explode into life as Larry and Charlie sensed
the rising energy levels of Bob. It was like a ripple of
inspiration emanating from Bob in reponse to the crowd spreading
like wildfire to the band and back to the crowd and Bob again in
an ever more active oscillating loop. His version of Frankie Lee
was poised and perfect. His voice like an archers arrow ready to
be unleashed and hitting the target with supreme precision.
Tangled up in Blue was a pure adrenalin rush of poetry and
classic rock and roll. Watching the River Flow a rythmic
masterpiece. Harp playing of sublime expressive and unusually
melodic power on Dont Think Twice. 

Man I want to hear it all again.


Neil