Bob Dylan 2001.11.06 in Grand Rapids
From: "mike frayer" mfrayer@prodigy.net To: webmaster@dylanite.com Subject: review from 11/6 Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 17:48:28 -0500 It was 366 days from my last Dylan show and with Bob being here so close to home, I thought it was worth the effort to drive two hours to go see Bob and the band and Van Andel. I got there early enough to hear the band running through a last sound check. I was hopeful for a good show as they were playing "stone walls and steel bars." Bob and the boys hit the stage about 10 minutes late. He looked literally like he just woke up. He actually was rubbing his eyes with his hand and looked weary. I must say that his black suit with the stars along with the black guitar with the white pickguards was extremely sharp. I normally wouldn't pass along this information, but I was front row center on the main floor and I noticed a lot of little nuances that I'd never picked up on. After the formal intro, the band launched into hummingbird. I'd never seen it before. And, I thought it was a pretty typical opening for a Bob show. A good get 'em up and singing song. He betrayed no emotion and as he launched into Tambourine Man, I was pretty disappointed. It's one of my least favorite songs of his and he was doing a formulaic version and it seemed that he was just going to "mail" in this show. But I got to thinking that in all the times that I've seen Bob, that most of the time, he seems pretty unsure of himself in the first half hour of the show. Like it almost seems like he's thinking: "I wonder if these people are gonna like me?" It seems that he gains confidence as the show goes along. Surprising really. I'd think he'd seem more confident. It's alright ma, was next and it was fantastic. Words all dragged out and growled. This world can't stand long. I have to say, that at this point the band really stood out. Charlie and Larry and Bob all doing harmony on the refrain was very powerful. Even people who didn't know the song couldn't help but join in on the chorus. Everyone but Bob was all grins during the song. The best part about this show was the quality and the quantity of the new songs in the set list. Bye bye T.U.I.B.! (Not very upset about that.) Instead we got cry a-while and Bob really cares about this new material. Delivering it with such passion and deliberate phrasing, that you can tell that he is proud of this new stuff. And he should be I think. Every grain of sand was a surprise to me. I don't know it very well. But it seemed a solid addition. Floater was fantastic. However, I was so close, that I did make an observation at this point and in other songs as well. Bob's not playing on his guitar. He's doing a lot of miming. He's waving his pick over the strings and he's noodling occassionally in parts of the songs but his guitar is turned way down and he's not playing. I felt kind of sad about it. I started playing guitar because of him. It seemed silly that he be posturing up there. In a way, it's a relief. Bob has been sloppy of late on the guitar. I don't think there's anything wrong with letting Larry and Charlie do their thing. They're very good. I don't know if this is because his dexterity is gone or because he was mailing the show in. But it was a bummer of sorts. Like finding the man behind the curtain. Tombstone was a solid performance. Very bluesy, very well arranged and nicely held together. They were having fun and Bob seemed to know that he was being well received. And then Po' boy. Simply fantastic. I am amazed by his lyrical recall. He has about 100 songs in rotation right now and it seems that he throws out a new one or an obscure one here and there and I'm amazed that he can do all the words. I.e. in It's all right ma, he nailed it. I'm sure that I've probably heard it as many times as he's sang it and I couldn't say it out loud in front of people. John Brown with Larry on Bouzouki was simply fantastic. A slowed down tempo. Very deliberate performance. Bob was pretty happy, He shuffled right up to Larry after and he said something to the effect. "that was very nice." and Larry was beaming. I thought that was nice. People always wonder, does he talk to the band or anything? Apparently he does. It was very nice. And I hope that Bob plays the song for awhile in that format. It's a treat. Other Highlights. Summer days. Charlie made a mistake in that descending chord pattern that comes back just before the refrain. It appeared that he forgot to hit a toggle switch or something like that and Bob shot him a withering glance. I was kind of surprised. I mean, BOB is not PLAYING at all. He's miming playing. And he shoots Charlie a glance when he screwed up. It didn't seem right. Sugar baby. Bob actually shone on this one. Spotlight on him, he played and sang this one. It was magical. I hope you all get to see it. At the point of R.D.W.....a young girl muscled her way in front of me and flashed Bob and Tony. He backed up, said something to Tony and Charlie while playing and then proceeded to ham it up with her the rest of the show. It was classic. All the smiling, sneering, duckwalking, throwing his leg out, impress the hell out of her rockstar posing. It was beautiful. I hope to see more of it on Friday night in Detroit. Boiled Guts of Birds