Each concert is very different and special also this time at the Zenith he performed mostly his own legendary repertoire and a few songs from Triplicate, the Sinatra crooners and an Yves Montand rendition of Autumn Leaves. This man is bigger than life, each song has a history, depth and lines so well crafted one can only aspire. The late Leonard Cohen described him as "The Picasso of the Song". Over the years I have been reading a lot about him, including Chronicles Volume One (2004), a must read for Dylanologists and Dylan on Dylan (2006) with 31 of the most significant and revealing conversations and interviews. Admiring Dylan one must invest and study him, its so fascinating, brilliant, smart and totally from the heart what he has been doing all this years. His writing and singing has influences, or maybe better, and inspired generations, artists, business men, perhaps the church and yes...politicians. Many people have studied him, there is even a class at Harvard. I believe very few really know who Bob Dylan is, myself included, and thats part of the admiration and mystery. He never provides a background or explanation behind his material and that by itself is already brilliant, we always want to know everything and his point is: why should i explain that to you, who do think you are to comprehend who I am and what I write about, I don't know who you are and not your capabilities to comprehend. Maybe this is an elitist approach but at least a consistent one, as shown in D.A. Pennebaker's movie: "Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back" (1967).
During Dylan's 50 years as a singer/songwriter he always evolved his music in a very progressive way, from his early albums to his latest original Tempest his style is different yet great and refreshing. Many artists were great in e.g. the 60-70-80ies and produced new stuff e.g. Kinks, Hollies etc and it turns into mediocrity. This never happened with Dylan from The Times They Are Changing, Nashville Skyline, Blood on the Tracks, Time Out of Mind till Tempest all are rather different yet these albums portray continuity and interesting quality! Thats one reason he stands out of the crowd. Seeing Dylan and his band perform its really a mix of his Dylanyzed music styles such as folk, blues, country, jazz and rock.
At 75 he still performs about 4 nights a week, for this tour its a standard set-list but not just a list, its an outstanding lists of "Classics", see below. There is no sense of slowing down, his repertoire is timeless and sometimes his songs are adapted to his current voice and ... his 75 years. Highlight of the gig was the contemporary adaption of Desolation Row.
The''re selling postcards of the hanging
They're painting the postcards brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner
They've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tightrope walker
The other to his pants
And the riot squad there restless
The need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight
From Desolation Row
The Parisians enjoy Dylan and show their respect by not yepping too much during the show, nonetheless I noticed that the majority is not really familiar with his latest works. The show lasted exactly 1 hour and 40 minutes, short compared to a Springsteen extravaganza, but it was 100 minutes spend with a man who inspired millions and certainly had a big influence on me. Will we ever see him on stage again, who knows, will I be listening to his music till my final hours: you bet!
- Things Have Changed
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(Frank Sinatra cover)
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(Frank Sinatra cover)
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(Harold Arlen cover)
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(Frank Sinatra cover)
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(Johnny Mercer cover)
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(Yves Montand cover)
- Encore:
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