Bob Dylan 961120 in East Lansing, Michigan

 
Subject: Dylan - 11/21/96 East Lansing, MI
From: Eric Constant (constan8@pilot.msu.edu)
Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 05:54:15 GMT

I'm a student at Michigan State University and I just got back from a
Bob Dylan concert here on campus.  This was my first ever Dylan
concert and it was great.  Sorry for this rambling post but I'm pretty
tired..

First of all, I lucked out because I had 35th row tickets but when I
got to the venue (a small -4000 capacity - auditorium) the
sound/lighting console's (whatever that thing is) was right were my
seats were supposed to be so they gived me new tickets.  So I got 6th
row, dead center (so I only paid $23 for great $40 seats)!!!  I was
only about 15 - 20 feet away from the stage!  It was great, I'd never
been so close at any concert (31st row or so for Neil Young this
summer had been my closest).  

The opening act was Kenny Wayne Shepard.  Wow, he is one gifted
guitarist -- an excellent, excellent player.  I think he's only 19
years old too.  Played some great blues and a searing Voodoo Chile.

THen Dylan came on.  He started a little slow and was obviously very
tired.  He even joked with the drummer early in the concert and
overexagerated a yawn.  The audience (mainly MSU students) was very
into it and really liked Dylan.  Dylan seemed to feed on this and
gradually got more and more into it.  After he did get into it, he
really seemed to start enjoying himself.  Dylan really seemed to like
the crowd's extreme enthusiasm.  Three different times the people in
the first 3 or 4 rows jumped up on stage (between 50 - 75 people each
time) during a couple of his longer guitar solos in Highway 61
Revisited, Like A Rolling Stone and Rainy Day Women and were dancing
all around (I myself didnt go up).  Dylan handled it real well and
seemed to really enjoy all the stage dancers as he kept playing.

Dylan played an exceptional concert with an excellent set list.  He
played with intensity, energy and vitality.  He really seemed to enjoy
himself and although he didnt say much, if anything, to the crowd, he
made a lot of gestures to the crowd and gave more than a few high
fives to the front rows.  This was my first Dylan concert and I had
always heard that he was usually aloof and uninterested in concert -
but this was definately not the case tonight.

Sorry for the rambling, NNC.

Eric