Bob Dylan 980113 in New London, Connecticut - Garde Arts Center
Address: 325 State St.
Capacity: 1631
Reserved seating
Showtime: 8 PM
Ticket price: $37.00
Subject: Re: Bob on organ!!!
From: Sadiejane (sadiejane@folly.org)
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 14:01:03 -0800
Seth Kulick wrote:
>
> Anybody there with more detail? Was it Bob solo on organ, or with the
> band? what was Bucky doing? Sitting next to him on the pedal steel?
> Standing playing mandolin? Was the rest of band still using acoustic
> instruments, etc.?
>
it was the electric set up with bucky on pedal steel. Bob played
harmony the whole time (chords) and so both larry and bucky were
providing the melodic material (apart from bob's great vocals).
a really wonderful version of the song. Better than the record - but
because it was so fresh sounding. As he sang, he altered the melody
line.
It was one of those moments....that takes your breath away.
> uh-oh, this is starting to sound a bit too obsessive.
>
really? I hadn't noticed ;+}
xx
sj
Subject: New (Sadie's) London Report
From: Sadiejane (sadiejane@folly.org)
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 1998 13:42:59 -0800
> New London, Connecticut
> January 13, 1998
> Garde Arts Center
wonderful wonderful venue!!! yes yes yes!!!!! about to undergo a huge
restoration/renovation which will provide bob and the band with nicer
dressing rooms and us with art deco restored walls and new seats etc.
It is being managed by the same people who brought you the now defunct
State Theater in Portland, ME and they've given it the same down home
warm fuzzy - but always professional and efficiently run touch. The
sound in there was GREAT! Intimate theater (seated 1600 or so) but had
a wide open space feeling about it. Sight lines were fab - every seat
the house had a great view. Let's hope Bob makes this theater a regular
stop on his everlasting gobstopping tour.
>
> 1. Absolutely Sweet Marie
> 2. The Man In Me
Bob looked and sounded great, wearing the same maroon pants with hearts
up the side in a stripe I had seen at the Avalon show, paired with a
sparkly maroon jacket. He appears to be back down to his naturally
skinny self. No love handles no more. I was in the standing room only
orchestra pit which was very very low - the stage just below my
shoulders (so as we stood thru out the show we didn't block those seated
behind us in the least). From this vantage point I had a great view of
his round-toed-shiny black boots. He did a lot of toe tapping and
dancing about on stage. Seemed to be having a GREAT time - but didn't
play to the audience too much - which was really great (I think). He
was very focussed and would go deep into the music on every number -
seemed to allow and acknowledge the audience without getting distracted
by it. His voice sounded very clear and healthy - and he sang TMIM (a
personal favorite) with plenty of detail and depth of feeling.
> 3. Cold Irons Bound
> 4. Just Like A Woman
I think one of the best ever JLAW. Sang the song as if it were a sad
love song - not at all ironic. Very tender and touching. As though he
were singing about a good friend on hard times. Very full singing -
throwing in all sorts of vocal melismas (sp?) and extending the
phrases. Looking forward to hearing this one on tape one day.
At this poing the audience in the pit (mostly students) came to life.
They had been standing quite stony faced until hearing a song they
finally recognized (i.e. off a GH album).
> 5. Can't Wait
> 6. Silvio
> 7. Desolation Row (acoustic)
wow. half spoken/half sung. very effective.
> 8. Tomorrow Is A Long Time (acoustic)
wow wow!!!!!! I've been waiting to hear this one. Sort of a light
touch to it - not slow at all, almost whimsical. Nice tone to it - just
the perfect tone. Regretful and wise.
> 9. Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)
the usual 2 note solos which seemed to drive the crowd of youngsters
around me wild! He did quite a bit of guitar hero-esque posing during
this familiar number.
> 10. Make You Feel My Love
The band walks off after putting their acoustic instruments down. The
techs start getting the electric stuff set up and crew bring out this
vox organ, the one bucky was playing during the small club gigs. they
plant it right smack in front of bob's mic, facing the audience. "Okay
- what gives" I think, "Is carol king here or something?" Then the band
walks back onstage and picks up their instruments. Bob steps up to the
organ and messes with it (of course) moves it so that it is facing the
house left corner of the stage. The mic is now a bit far a way (they
should have adjusted it for him - but they'd probably been rehearsing
all week with the organ straight ahead of him and now bob decides last
minute to change things. God love him!
Make you feel me love they play. Some old 50's love song written by
someone like Pee Wee king et al and originated by Frank Sinatra...or was
it Nat King Cole? Anyway - it was sad and tender and full of longing -
bob altered the melody line quite a bit and made it fresh as a daisy.
The lovely ballad sounded like it could have been written yesterday!
Larry Campbell had just the right sound on his electric - really old
fashioned and sweet. I melted. Bob should sing covers like this one
more often (;+})
> 11. Tears Of Rage
okay. it brought a tear to my eye. It was grand. This song is a
bigger than life epic and bob really sang the heck out of it. His
guitar work was really solid too - playing out a lovely solo
(essentially the melody line) that sounded almost like an imitation of
his singing earlier.
> 12. 'Til I Fell In Love With You
>
> (encore)
> 13. Highway 61 Revisited
David Kemper drove this one with wild abandon, illiciting smiles from
his band-mates on stage. I love his style - so dynamic and dense and
exciting. I know some people like a more stolid drum sound - less
varied. NOT ME!
> 14. My Back Pages (acoustic)
> 15. Love Sick
> 16. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
nice guitar work on Love Sick from bob - I found the vocal delivery a
bit flat though. I've always felt that this one live has never lived up
to my expectations of it.
All night bob's singing was just spectacular and his guitar work at
times really focussed and dynamic at other times not so much so. He
definately lays back and times and lets larry take solos (on songs like
H61 for instance.) during RDW it was clear that larry was setting up
Bob to join him on a duet and bob just didn't take the bait. In fact he
seemed to close the jam up sooner than is usual and the song was shorter
than I was expecting.
what a great show! simply fabulous show!!!! YES! YES! YES!
xx
sadie
delia ain't dead, she's hidin' just to keep from bein' seen
Subject: the great larry c & 1-13-98
From: (highway61@snet.net)
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 23:47:33 -0800
New London, Connecticut -- January 13, 1998
in response to requests 4 info about this show. . . i was 50 feet from
the stage. an excellent performance, musically and sound-wise. the band
never hit a wrong note all night.
larry campbell continues to excel as the hugely talented, tasteful
guitarist that he is. like steuart smith, that wonderful guitarist with
shawn colvin, i can't take my eyes off his hands when i get to see larry
play.
the higher pitch of his telecaster and the lower pitch of dylan's les
paul work well together. and he is throwing in some lines in between
dylan's vocals the way the great g.e. did to fill out the song and give
it more of an identity. he definitely seems more comfortable on stage
than, for example, in april, 1997, whe he came out at g.e. smith college
in northampton and looked like a man who thought he saw a rat scamper
across his cellar floor.
larry played some terrific-sounding lead guitar particularly on
absolutely sweet marie, highway 61 (especially), can't wait and RDW. his
use of up-strokes on "love sick" added a nice sound to the song.
the hopped-up version of can't wait (as compared with the album version),
to me, is becoming a highlight of the recent shows. and, of course,
larry's rhythm guitar-playing on tangled up in blue has redefined the
song much the same way g.e. shaped it in his own image. larry has
slightly changed how he plays the chords in this song, i think, and it's
very nice.
i find it interesting that larry campbell is able to work so obviously
comfortably in a rock n roll vein when he has such a folkie background.
it's a credit to his wonderful musicianship that he blends as well as he
does and adds so much to the band. he also has very, very sound
technique. good guitarists make it look easy, and he does make it look
like a breeze up there. along with david kemper, who is a very tight
drummer, larry campbell is the driving force behind this group.
so, pay attention, folks, to the man in the long gray coat. after g.e.
and robbie robertson, larry campbell may well be the very best guitarist
dylan has toured with.
before i forget to mention, i will be getting one and probably two tapes
of this show (as well as 1-14) from two folks who DATaped it. i listened
to one of the 1-13 tapes in the car on the way home, and it was so clear
i thought i was on stage. so, if anyone wants copies . . . (yes, larry,
even you can get a copy from me because we all know how stingy bob is
about this sort of thing. have jack, your friend from schooldays back in
new york email me from atlanta, and i'll get it out to you!!)
there was, i thought, just a bit too much reverb on love sick; it was
very noticeable that the reverb started to drown out dylan's vocal on
this song.
overall, tho, all the time out of mind songs were played very well. at
first i couldn't figure out where the opening notes of love sick were
coming from. i thought dylan had stashed a pianist behind the amps.
then i realized it was the former mayor.
altho, as a guitarist myself, i've never been impressed with dylan's
lead-guitar-playing, he had some nice riffs in desolation row, in
particular. this song was the most interesting of the night for me. it
was reworked from how he had played it before with the guitar lines being
very prominent. good-sounding vocal from dylan, too, and if i recall
correctly, he even remembered most of the verses!
in fact, dylan's vocals were clear and he seemed very much "into" the
show. i agree wholeheartedly with our leader, the wonderful maureen, on
that point. no chat with the audience, though, no hand-shaking and no
one jumping up on stage as occurred 4-19-97 at hartford, ct, or 11-10-96
in mankato. but he seemed to be very much involved in the performance
and the music.
i've noticed that the first show or couple of shows of a tour usually
have not been as good as the ones that come a week later or so -- as if
the group still needs to warm up or get used to each other. but not
tonight. these guys were on in a big way!
just like a woman was very tasteful. i noticed on this song and on a few
others that larry campbell plays the telecaster with both the pick and
his middle, ring and pinky fingers at the same time, adding another
"voice" to the music.
a friend of mine and i were talking about how melodic this song is with
its arpeggios and that it is, in a way, a song about a lost love, or a
love in the past, whereas "to make you feel my love" is played in a much
more staccato vein, with dylan hammering the chords out on the electric
organ. if you think about it for a minute, you'd expect the more
romantic "to make you feel" would be played in a more dance-like vein, in
the style of "just like a woman," with its melodic arpeggios.
sometimes, it's just interesting to think about how dylan conceives of a
song and why he plays it the way he does. the juxtaposition of these
songs caused me to think about that.
quite a few standing o's from a good portion of the folks in the
orchestra section where i was (i couldn't see back up into the balcony)
it was a well-behaved crowd, as opposed to the snobbish gathering at
oakdale, ct, in 8/97, which so rudely snubbed ani difranco.
i was disappointed with tears of rage, one of my favorite dylan tunes.
i've heard this performed with much more passion and pathos, but it
didn't come across that way tonight. the song seemed mechanical. maybe
someone else heard it differently.
someone asked about how the organ was set up for "make you feel my love."
it was set up just behind dylan's microphone so that he had to lean
forward just a bit to reach the microphone for the vocal. everyone
else stayed put as fast as the organ was hustled onto the stage, it was
whisked off and the show continued.
hope this is somewhat informative and gives u all a clue as to what's to
come. thanks to everyone on here for their own interesting postings.
Subject: New London, CT, 13 January 1998 - review (#1 in a series of 9)
From: Carsten Wohlfeld (happyjaq@confetti.ruhr.de)
Date: 27 Jan 1998 23:07:00 +0100
Bob Dylan
New London, CT 13 January 1998
Garde's Art Center
A Review by Carsten Wohlfeld
Hey kids, I sincerely hope you'll enjoy the following review cause there's
eight more to follow, as I intend to review all the New York City and
Boston gigs as well :-) Big thanks to Larry, Sadie, Andra, Ben and all the
others who helped me getting this trip toghether and making it so much
fun!
Anyways, here we go: I arrived late in New London, and entered the venue,
a rather small and beauful old theatre in the center of the small town
that is New London, at exactly 8.02 pm to the sound of the first verse of
Absolutely Sweet Marie
I was prepared to hear "Maggie's Farm" nine times on my trip so this was a
pleasant surprise. Bob's singing was great from the beginning, as was the
sound. The Band sounded tighter as usual, the reason being either the
three week break since the last show or the fact that they arrived in New
London at few days early to rehearse.
The Man In Me
Always appreciated. Musically it was a rather perfect version, even though
they play it very often. Maybe a bit too loud and too rushed, but a
welcome alternative to the usual "Lay Lady Lay" or "Tonight..." anyways.
Cold Irons Bound
Followed as expected and it was every bit as good as the people who saw
the fall tour kept telling me (later on my trip I discovered that this
even wasn't the best version of it). The way he stops after singing "cold
irons" just to stress the "BOUND" is just awesome! A song I really enjoyed
even though it's probabably my least favourite song on "TOOM" with the
exception of "Dirt Road Blues".
Just Like A Woman
"Yawn!", I thought at first, cause this is not the kind of song you'd want
to hear if you see Dylan frequently. Great version though that was greeted
with thunderous applaus from the audience, the first time Dylan really got
the crowd going. I missed the backing vocals from the 1996 arrangement
though.
Can't Wait
Another song that doesn't do much for me on record, but live it was
clearly one of the highlights of the night. Great song to dance too...
funky!
Silvio
"Why Am I here?" 4,000 miles from home and all I get to hear is "Just
Like A Woman" and "Silvio"? Purleeeze! Even though I never heard the
"TOOM" songs before and this version of Silvio rocked as usual with a cool
Bob solo at the end, so far the setlist looked like a typical first night
safety stunt.
Desolation Row (acoustic)
As if Bob could've read my thoughts: YESSSSSSS! THAT is what I came for!
Staggeringly good version of this great, great song that not only featured
a nice new guitar riff from Bob (who shifted from rhythm to lead guitar
for every acoustic set on this tour), but also seven verses, quite a
contrast to the "four-half-remembered-verses-and-I'm-outta here" versions
from the early 90s. Crowd: stunned.
Tomorrow Is A Long Time (acoustic)
Another much appreciated choice... couldn't figure it out a first, cause
Bob wasn't singing the first line of the song very clearly (or off-mike),
but as soon as I heard "endless highway" it was time for another
"YESSSSSSSS!" :-) Larry joined in for the chorus in a version that
sounded a bit under-rehearsed. A treat that most people around me failed
to recognize, by the way. The guy next to me had to look it up on Larry's
cuesheet (taped, quite visibly, to his amp) with his binos to figure it
out.
Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)
Standard version with the usual solo mayhem at the end and some technical
problems at the beginning. Big smiles from Bob, who started grinning
around the time of "Silvio" and Larry. After this song, Bob's guitar
technician wanted to hand him back his electric Strat but Bob shook his
head and instead two other stage-hands brought out a Vox organ. "Time for
a guest", I thought. Maybe Carole King - unlikely, since she apparently
lives in Dublin, Ireland now. Al Kooper maybe? Bob cut the speculations
short by pulling the organ towards him (the way it was positioned at first
he couldn't reach the mike) and started playing the chords of...
To Make You Feel My Love
I didn't really listen to his singing I have to admit, I was just to
stunned to see him play a keyboard on stage. First time since mid-June
1991 if I remember correctly! He only played chords and didn't even watch
what he was playing cause he had a hard time reaching the microphone and
siniging the new words at the same time. I'm wondering though: Was the
organ an impromtu idea and why didn't he chose to play piano as on the
record?
Tears Of Rage
Even though I thought it hardly could get any better, it did. Show-
stopping version of this "Basement Tapes" gem with a instrumental ending
that made the crowd go nuts.
'Til I Fell In Love With You
Sort of an anti-climax, but a version that sailed a million miles above
the album version nevertheless. It followed the standard band intros, that
included no side jokes this time.
(encore)
Highway 61 Revisited
Rocking beyond belief. Crowd: nuts
My Back Pages (acoustic)
So-so version of this crowd-pleaser with some lyric mistakes here and
there. Beautifully sung nonetheless.
Lovesick
Started out pretty rough, but got really good after the first chorus. One
of my "TOOM" favourites anyways, so my view will always be a bit biased.
Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35
Everytime a new tour starts I pray that he'll drop it. There's either no
god or he doesn't care for Bob Dylan. Houselights came up for this song as
usual.
That's it! Please note that I'm still looking for a tape of this show. If
you have one, please e-mail me! Thanks for reading, all spelling mistakes
etc. are dedicated to the people who care about that kinda stuff. English
is not my first language after all. Next up: A Review of the second New
London night!
--
carsten wohlfeld
"i'm caught in a trap and i can't get out cause i love you so much, baby!"
(elvis presley)
