Concert Review: Bob Dylan Brings The Goods To Hollywood

Sure, there are times he seemed weary. Even discontented, perhaps. Other times he seemed to smile, and even danced a little, sort of. But who wouldn’t be weary? Just to exist under the burden of being Bob Dylan is no easy job, forever open, as he has been for decades, to disappointed fans, those who love his music who want more – they want more normal performances; they want more of the songs we have come to love; they want more talk. Or any talk.

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But this is Bob Dylan. And his pain is our pain. And every now and then, even in recent songs, he takes off one mask to show us another, or at least to explain why disguises have been necessary. In the epic “Long and Wasted Years” from Tempest, he explains himself with a directness rare in his work, and even offers an apology (!):

I wear dark glasses to cover my eyes
There are secrets in them I can’t disguise
Come back baby, if ever I hurt your feelings
I apologize…”

From Time Out Of Mind, he delivered that album’s masterpiece, “Love Sick,” another song which reflects his burden. He’s not only sick of love, he’s sick of that vulnerability of the heart, and sick of love songs in general and his propensity for writing them. It’s a trap he’s built for himself, and one he knows he’ll forever be caught within.

In the midst of performing so many of these recent years, he did turn his back, as he’s done repeatedly over the years, on so many years of miracle songs. If you were hoping to hear “Like A Rolling Stone” or “Mr. Tambourine Man” or so many other famous ones, you’d have been disappointed. And it is a justifiable disappointment, as this is the guy who wrote all those amazing songs – songs which have impacted our lives and changed the world – so it would be great to hear them.

But, at the same time, you wouldn’t expect Miles to do “Sketches of Spain” again, or for Picasso to return to his blue period. True artists reflect the art of now. As set lists from his recent shows attest, he isn’t doing those songs anywhere.

But he did include a few of our favorite old gems, although realigned, of course, for now. From Blood On The Tracks, we got both “Simple Twist of Fate” and “Tangled Up In Blue,” albeit with radically revised grooves and tunes, and even, in “Blue,” with some brand new lyrics.

And for the encore, he performed two of his most famous songs, “All Along The Watchtower” and “Blowing In The Wind.” “Watchtower’ was in a mid-tempo groove, about halfway between Dylan’s first famous acoustic recording of the song and the fiery Hendrix version. He spat out the lyrics like a Baptist preacher, wonderful to behold: “There are many here among us who feel life is but a joke.”

And though he played “Blowing In The Wind” in its usual breezy tempo, he sang a low, counterpoint to its famous melody the entire time, as if he was singing harmony, and he left it to us to sing the melody, which I was happy to do. Anytime Dylan wants to include me in a song, I am there.

Dylan’s shows, I’ve learned over many years, are not unlike the famous elephant as experienced by blind men. Each sees his own distinct elephant. There are always those who are mystified after a Dylan show just as there are those who are delighted. There’s nothing easily predictable about his shows, except just that: he will be unpredictable. He’s been confounding people for almost as long as he has thrilled them. And fortunately, the thrill is not gone. Even when singing an alternate melody, he does it with a fire only he possesses, and to experience that with the man himself is always a heady experience. I often think about how you said, “The world doesn’t need any new songs. Unless someone comes along with a pure heart.” That heart, even when it’s weary, broken or love-sick, is unlike any other.

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