Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 14:06:58 BST From: david lindsey (dfl1@UNIX.YORK.AC.UK) Subject: the continuing tour of england. wednesday. april 5th. manchester. set list. down in the flood if not for you watchtower queen jane watching the river flow heaven's door tambourine man boots of spanish leather hard rain tombstone blues she belongs to me rainy day women thin man my back pages maggies farm I suppose most of your correspondents are still out on the road, chasing Bob around england. I have been disappointed by the lack of reports about recent concerts, but maybe most people, like me, write from terminals at work rather than home. Anyway I went to two shows this week in manchester. Standing downstairs does give you the opportunity to get a really good view if you are prepared to queue for long enough. On both nights I was within 3 feet of the stage, dead centre. There was no support band, Dylan came straight on at 8.10 p.m. and the shows finished round about 10 p.m. I've never had a better view of a show and let me say straight away that both nights were really terrific. Dylan is in complete command of the band and his material, singing with real conviction, not wrecking songs by taking them at breakneck pace but letting the lyrics work, using his full voice. It does appear that he's thinking about what he's singing unlike 4 years ago. But the shows were better than hammersmith 93 certainly the shows I saw. Over the last year Dylan seems to have re-discovered his singing voice and re-thought his material. He is looking fine, older certainly, but not alcohol flabby and his eyes are bright. You need to be close to see this because he is rarely fully lit from the front, still performing in relative gloom and standing back under the various colours. On wednesday we also got Bob the axeman. Suddenly he wanted to be a guitar hero, playing lead equally with Jackson, long solos completely self absorbed, eyes down searching for a riff, playing over 5 or 6 notes again and again. So what's the problem ?? Well nothing really, like I said they were great shows. Maybe I'd always felt that those people lucky enough to get right to the front saw something extra something special that the rest of us were denied. Now I know that isn't so. For the whole two hours he was completely impassive, a couple of 'thank you everybody's, introduce the band at the end and that was it. Perhaps I shouldn't trade tapes and read this digest. Then each tour every two years or so would be a fresh experience. I wouldn't have been expecting the hand held mike, the slowed down mr. tambourine man, the dobro and mandolin, the arrangement of watchtower, down in the flood would be staggering. But that's not what happens. I read and listen and trade so for two hours I'm briefly in the same hall with this individual whose music means so much to me, and what do I want ?? Maybe some acknowledgement that would separate this show from the 2 hundred before it and the hundreds to come. I wonder what Bob thinks about his audiences, does he think about them, is he enjoying himself ?? So many unanswered questions. And being right on the front row twice last week brought me no nearer to answering them. david lindsey