Bob Dylan 961101 in Tupelo, Mississippi
Subject: Tupelo Honey
From: Jim Tillman (jimt@MAIL.TECLINK.NET)
Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 14:21:57 -0600
Where do I begin...
Tupelo...the coldest wettest night of the year, Kenny Wayne Shepard and his band
quickly got the 3500 folks at the Coliseum warmed up with a rocking set that
ended with Voodoo Chile and a the riff from Purple Haze, but his playing
is more akin to Stevie Ray Vaughn's rapid fire blues attack.
The incense was lit on the stage and the crowd rose to their feet to welcome
Bob, who arrived in Black motorcycle boots, silvery metallic snakeskin
patterned pants with a black tuxedo stripe, a silver shirt, Black jacket and
a white cowboy hat..."the electric horseman" as my wife called him.
CRASH ON THE LEVEE rocked fairly well, and Bob 's voice was well in front of
the mix, LAY LADY LAY drew a big response from the audience who remained
standing for the entire show...Bucky's steel playing was perfect, and Bob
let it rip on the vocals...WATCHTOWER was good, and although it didn't seem
quite as intense as the Winston versions, there was a lot of spacey guitar
jams...JUST LIKE A WOMAN was as near perfect to the album version as one
would care to get...the intros seemed so well timed and Bob's vocal were
pasionate and understandable...JUST LIKE TOM THUMB's BLUEs rocked at a
galloping pace and Bob seemed to be enjoying himself and starting to make
eye contact with the folks on Tony's side of the stage and smiling back and
forth with Tony a lot. SILVIO rocked and JJ and Bucky added the vocals on
the stripped down choruses...Bob and JJ traded a few solos on this one.
MR. TAMBOURINE MAN was next and the drummer added a nice beat and it
seemed more lively than before ... more celebratory than last year's...the
back drops were good, but did not oeverpower the performance the MASTERS OF
WAR backdrop was an interesting array of faces and distorted bodies and the
performance was rather spooky and prophetic...Tony used a bow on his standup
bass for IT'S ALL OVER NOW, BABY BLUE and everything jelled for a beautiful
rendition...
GOD KNOWS started the electricity going again with the slow first verse
before kicking into overdrive. IT TAKES A LOT LAUGH, IT TAKES A TRAIN TO
CRY was a scorcher and people were dancing like crazy and the area between
the first row and the stage was filled with people...(Due to the setup of
the rows the only way to get to the front was from the far sides, so the
people in the front were mostly folks who had climbed over seats from the
first ten or so rows) a young college girl was waving the Milton Glaser
post with the Jokerman hair at Bob and he kept giving her looks, then she
hopped up on stage and did a kinda rain dance around Bob before giving him a
kiss and then dancing in front of him while he shot guitar solos and BIG
grins her way, she finally went and danced with Tony a while and made him
blush and look away from the crowd while Bob actually stopped and laughed at
him.. When the song was over Bob gave her a big hug and signed her poster.
LIKE A ROLLING STONE was next and was the best version I've heard him do in
years, WHen it was over Bob walked right in front of Tony reached over my
wife's head and shook my hand, I felt like a teenybopper at a Beatles
concert. He gave my wife a high five and then started back towards the
middle of the front of the stage and shook more hands until some guy named
Jim that looked kinda like Wierd AL Yankovich gave Bob a copy of an early
ELVIS album and Bob looked/squinted at it closedly and then shook his hand
and said Thank You...Someone else gave him a necklace and he walked
backstage with his hands full.
He came back out with HIGHWAY 61 and jammed it hard and long...No trouble
in Paradise but JJ did seem a little bit left out of the action as Bob took
most of the solos during this song and stayed on Tony's side.. ONE TOO MANY
MORNINGS cooled things down a bit, Tony played a Bass Dobro on this one, and
Bob sang with a lot of emotion...RAINY DAY WOMEN, after singing the verses
Bob was really jamming on the guitar and I told my wife she should jump up
there with him...She was in "a short black dress and not drunk enough"--
however, Bob kept looking our way and shooting his guitar towards her and
then he nodded at Tony and Tony gave her the "OK, come on up look" so we
hoisted her over the rail and she made her way towards Bob who was crouched
and waiting for her... they danced a little chuck berry jig and she gave him
a kiss and told him something (SHe can't remember now) he gave her a big
grin and leaned into her for a guitar solo...She then ran over and danced
with Tony and a few more girls came up on stage- Each one running up to Bob
giving him a kiss as he leaned their way and then running and kissing Tony
and running off stage...Finally as the song was winding down with a slow
burn several guys and girls got on stage and Bob was surrounded by about ten
folks with more coming up. He quickly waved to the crowd and exited on JJ
side...Tony asked my wife her name and where she was from and...She told him
that she's seen them in concert twelve times and he gave her little hug and
thanked her...She said he then helped her over to the Roadies who were very
nice and helped her down...
Overall, It was the FUNNEST Dylan show I've ever witnessed and Bob seemed to
be having even more fun than we were...BTW The wife says that Bob eyes are
VERY blue and haven't lost any sparkle....
PS No band introduction, harmonica
jimt@teclink.net
Subject: notes from tupelo.....honey!
From: Christine Consolvo (consolvo@ix.netcom.com)
Date: Tue, 05 Nov 1996 00:11:43 GMT
Well, down I went to the land of magnolia trees and Elvis...
Once again, Bob was fairly warmed up when he hit the stage in
Tupelo... The hat is fast becoming a fixture...and a welcome one!
Shiny silver fake snakeskin pants tonight (which looked like he may
have been seated on concrete in them a time or two) and the same black
jacket as OKC. As you could probably tell from the setlist, the show
was along the lines of Greatest Hits. They *were* great, too!
Tonight's versions of Just Like A Woman & Positively 4th Street were
way up there with the best I've seen. The dancing, bopping Bob I had
gotten used to returned...very light on his feet, gliding around the
stage on his toes and being very animated...even taking a few bounces
between songs.
After the rush, there was a girl/woman down front holding up a Milton
Glaser poster from the Greatest Hits album and an ink pen. She was
very insistent, but not getting much attention from Bob, if any.
Finally, during I think it was It takes A Lot to Laugh, she went over
the barricade and with the help of a well-placed chair (coincidence? I
think not) she proceeded to get on the stage and start dancing the old
bump and grind. First with Bob, then for the audience, then with Tony.
She stayed until the song ended and pleaded with Bob for an autograph,
which he gave willingly and with a big grin...Several went up after
her during other songs, but none wore out their welcome and all
behaved fairly well. Just a kiss on the cheek and/or a few words then
they were on their way. The ratio of teenagers has increased at the
shows lately...
random notes...
He has allowed his hair to grow longer in back...looks great!
Harmonicas must have been ruled out for the time being...he doesn't
even have any available for use if he chose. This being the case, they
need to get rid of that big microphone. It is a major obstruction to
the view of his face...
Just thought I'd mention it...
Christine