Bob Dylan at Agganis Arena, BU, Nov 16, 2017

Cecelia and I were lucky enough to see Bob Dylan at BU's Agganis Arena last week. We grew up in different places but we both grew up liking Bob Dylan. We met at BU. So it was right and just. And I will try to properly recall thin's here. (Above you see him playing at Tony Bennett's 90th birthday late last year but, if you can imagine the band outfits as white, you get the same picture we saw, at least on the slow crooner numbers.)

Mavis Staples opened the show and her voice is still strong. I'd be wrong not to mention. She put out a pretty good vibe that had optimism and resistance in it. Very useful this particular week.

For his part, which was the big part, Bob is really a trip, and I think he has a bit of the put-on thing going on sometimes, but it seems like good fun mostly. I think he tries in his Neverending Tour to recreate the feel of some show somewhere in some Neverland place.

I know parts of it made me recall when we saw him at Worcester's War Memorial Hall in the early '80s, or when I used to go to CYO dances as a highschool lad, or what I imagine it must have been like for swing era bands hitting a bunch of old train connected vaudeville towns in the East or Midwest, and Rod Serling at every whistle stop. That's cause he and the band wore uniforms (white long tails), they played a spectrum of music (what a great band!), and it had a bit of old show biz ramataz throughout.

His voice is kind of shot, but it mostly worked, and wasn’t hard to get used to it. He is touchy about getting having been criticized when he is at least as good as Tom Waits and inarguably better now than Leonard Cohen.

I'd have to qualify some of the stuff as Unrecognizable. But just as many were invigorated by their re-imagining. I guess it would be hard to do so many shows and do songs the same way. Cecelia and I saw a PBS show about John Coltrane the evening before, which was all about 'making it new' - two very different artists, but there is a connecting thread in there.

Did I say the band was great? I'd count them as good as The Band. Cecelia couldn't agree, because "The Band had Levon Helm". And there is no argument there. I'd point out that bass player Tony Garnier has been with him for over 20 years at this point. Wikipedia tells me the lineup is the same as The Tempest -(less that CD's guest appearer, David Hilgado).

Bob Dylan — Vocals, Piano
Tony Garnier — Bass Guitar, Double Bass
Donnie Herron — Pedal Steel, Banjo, Mandolin
Stu Kimball — Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
George Receli — Drums
Charlie Sexton — Electric Guitar, Fiddle

You know how The Band tried to do that Waltzy stuff on the Last Waltz? These guys do it better. They can play like guys at Capital Studios in the small combo days, and do rockn roll like Little Richard, Roxy Music, the Beach Boys, whatever they want. But the Night They Drove Old Dixie Chicken? No, I don't think so.

In fact, there was a heaping helping of material from Dylan's Tempest record - the last original material studio recording he released.

The songs that I liked best on that (Roll on John (about John Lennon) and Tempest (about the Titanic)) he did not do - but he sure made me want to go back and get closer to the stuff on that one. Worth digging in to!

When he did his Franks Sinatra stuff, it was sort of with a sidewise chuckle (at the end he did what had to be an Elvis pose). And they were over before you knew it and he made it back to the PNO. From time to time at PNO he would stand like Jerry Lee or Little Richard (he only either played piano or sang solo - no guitar, no harmonica). They'd turn the stage lights off between every number and the musicians would do some semi-violent tuning up. I think Berthold Brecht had a name for the effect. Google it. My meter is ticking.

You may, (if you ah from Woosta) say Jack "you ah wooly wehd" or (if from elsewhere) "Jack you are an impossibly die hard Bob Dylan fan." I am not going to argue. I am looking at a turkey in the fridge, and am torn between stuffing and dressing. The set list follows with some comment.

A word about the Agganis Arena. It's on Commonwealth Avenue on the site of what was a National Guard Armory when I got to town. Just a block or so from the site of old Braves Field, and the Warren Spahn diner. Its named after Harry Agganis, who is the greatest athlete in the history of Boston University. His was from Lynn, which is between Boston and Lowell, an All-Merican - his nickname was "The Golden Greek" and he played two sports. He was drafted by both the Cleveland Browns and Boston Red Sox, and went with the Red Sox. In his second year with team he got pneumonia, came back to play, and then had a pulmonary embolism and died, at 26. No dressing that up, it's pretty sad stuff.

1. Things Have Changed - Very good rendition
2. It Ain't Me, Babe
3. Highway 61 Revisited - Reminded of Jerry Lee, or Little Richard. Done as hard driving blues as at Woodstock or in Johnny Winter interpretation
4. Why Try to Change Me Now (Cy Coleman cover) - Frank Sinatra style, crooning, cradling mike and mike stand. Less than 2 minutes.
5. Summer Days - starts out as Cajun (Creole? Zycdeco?) blues style with fiddle - and then it morphs.
6. Melancholy Mood (Frank Sinatra cover) Crooning, cradling mike and mike stand. Less than 2 minutes.
7. Honest With Me - this was done in a rock n roll style not so far from Beach Boys (Dance, Dance, Dance) I felt like I was at a CYO dance.
8. Tryin' to Get to Heaven
9. Once Upon a Time (Tony Bennett cover) -Touching, like Tony did it.
10. Pay in Blood - I'd say this was Unrecognizable, but never got familiar with it in the first place. On this one the band really did a wild work out - which reminded me of the time (mid-'80s) we saw Roxy Music at the Orpheum, of all things
11. Tangled Up in Blue - done as a blues but otherwise Unrecognizable
12. Soon After Midnight
13. Early Roman Kings - I think I waved my bandana at the end. Lyrics include "I aint dead yet/ my bell still rings. Just like those/ early Roman kings."
14. Scarlet Town
15. Desolation Row - Exquisite. Strange lyrics over haunting calypso
16. Thunder on the Mountain - This sounded like surf music to me, and included a Wipe Out style drum solo, that also gave a fell of a CYO dance. [Shout out to Alicia Keys! Everybody!]
17. Autumn Leaves (Yves Montand cover) - Astride, as if Elvis met Frank, and yes the leaves were falling like mad outside this particular evening as winter and rain started to take hold. This was like a slow dance at a CYO dance.
18. Love Sick
19. Encore: Blowin' in the Wind - totally different treatment. But very musical. And those lyrics still kill.
20. Encore: Ballad of a Thin Man - Recognizable. The whole band takes a bow.