My life in Dylan concerts
Got my ticket in the mail from TicketMaster the other day. It’s official: I get to see Dylan again. Because it’s right here in town I get to take Yakko, which will be great. Three opening acts, including Junior Brown and the girl who used to sing for Hot Club Of Cowtown. Unfortunately, because I love my son and because I know that 15 Dylan songs will be test enough of his attention span, I plan to go late, hopefully just as The Poet takes the stage. I haven’t heard any of the 2006 shows yet, but i’ll try to grab one and listen to it beforehand.
For those interested, click the link to read about the Dylan shows I’ve been to.
A quick rundown of my Dylan live experience:
06/13/1990 Sioux Falls Arena - G.E. Smith was still in the band. I had only listened to Dylan for about a year, and didn’t even know bootlegs existed, so I had no idea what to expect. What I got was a generally raucous set from what experts say wasn’t a great tour. It was certainly great to me. I went with my fellow music nerd Tim, and we sat halfway up the main seating in a building that was not yet smoke-free. We could barely see the stage at times. A mid-set solo acoustic take of “One Too Many Mornings” blew my mind, and is still the thing I remember most vividly about the show.
08/27/1993 Minnesota State Fair - By this time I had discovered the joys of tape trading, and the half of my tape collection that wasn’t U2 Zoo TV shows was early-90s Dylan. But nothing I heard of the 92 tapes prepared me for the sprawling beauty he had crafted with the new version of his band. I already loved Dylan, but this was the moment that started my obsession with the post-1987 shows that people sometimes call the “Never-Ending Tour.” The then-girlfriend I was there with made me leave before the encore, so I had to hear personal favorite “Man In The Long Black Coat” on my out of the grandstand.
11/10/1996 Mankato - Took my sister with me, and met my buddy Dan there. Show-stoppers included the new arrangements of “All Along the Watchtower” and “Silvio.” Over the course of the night, women had started jumping onstage. After a while security was apparently informed to let them get up on stage, dance for a few minutes, and go back to the audience. The policy was fine until the second encore when, half a verse into “Rainy Day Women,” one of these girls grabbed Bob away from the mic. He never got back, gave one of the girls his ten-gallon hat, and led the band through an 8-minute-or-so instrumental version of “Rainy Day Women” with about 20 girls onstage. I hope Bob had fun, because everyone else did.
10/23/1998 Minneapolis - The only bad Dylan concert experience I ever had. I’ve heard recordings of the show, which apparently was quite good. I wouldn’t know from experience, however. Delays getting tickets landed Nancy and I in the one of the very last rows at the top of the Target Center (why people pay money to watch the Timberwolves or anything else from that distance boggles my mind. I certainly never will again). The sound, while probably adequate for people less than a mile from the stage, was so quiet that we could have conversations in a normal voice. I bought beer for the high school kids next to me for the use of their binoculars and some other (pharmacological) considerations. They had seen the Beastie Boys there the night before from the floor, so we talked about that and we all muddled through.
04/01/2000 Sioux Falls Arena - Just two months shy of the 10th anniversary of my first Dylan show, he returned to the same venue. I went with my man Gregory, a recent convert to the cause. As an adult, I realized then just what everyone meant when they talked about how awful the acoustics were (are) in the Arena. The show was solid but unspectacular, even compared to the other shows from the same tour. But it was the first time I’d heard the absolutely transcendent bluegrass-boogie arrangement of “Tangled Up In Blue.” It brought tears to my eyes.
08/22/2002 Sioux Falls Stadium - After two lackluster Dylan shows in two years, I had decided that it would be hard for him to live up to my expectations on any given night. So I passed on several chances to see him that were multiple-hour drives away. I could hardly pass up the chance to see him at home and on my birthday, of course, so I grabbed Gregory and Mark and off we went. The show slammed from beginning to end. Not only is it the best Dylan show I’ve attended, but my recording of it ranks right up there with any of the shows I’ve heard (we’re talking nearly a hundred, probably). “It’s Alright Ma” and another “Tangled” (that would have raised the roof had there been one) and closed out with the Hendrix-inspired triple guitar freak-out arrangement of “Watchtower.”
So there you have it. The last show made me want to see him again, but time, money, and geography conspired to keep me away for another 4 years. Suffice it to say that I’m very excited he’s back in Sioux Falls, not only so I can cherry pick a concert trip, but also to be able to share one of my greatest passions with my eldest son.
August 17th, 2006 - Posted in Music, Parentgeekness | |
