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ACL: Bob Dylan at Stubb’s
It’s not that Bob Dylan is the voice of a generation. Lots of people are voices of their generation. (President Bush is as much as President Clinton.)
It’s when you can be a voice for a couple of generations — that’s when the story gets interesting. That’s why folks feel compelled to compare Dylan to Yeats or Picasso, Bergman or Basho — the dude holds up. He’s been the most creative man in popular culture (’65-’66, duh), he’s been truly awful (hello, “Down in the Groove”) but 40 years on, 20-year-olds are finding things in his work that speak to them. That said, the crowd at Dylan’s seriously soldout Stubb’s show Saturday night were closer to AARP status than high school age.
Coming off 20 days rest and sans opening act, Dylan’s craggy voice took a song to find purchase. Since that song was “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat,” nobody really minded. (Smart move, Bob.)
Of course Dylan’s band is stellar, but a word must be said about Denny Freeman, who may very well enter the pantheon of great Dylan guitarists along with Mike Bloomfield, Robbie Robertson and Mark Knopfler. (G.E. Smith, we’ll never forget you.) Freeman’s solos are perfect for the reinvigorated-yet-senior Dylan — lyrical without being corny, nuanced without sounding fussy. No wonder Dylan let him solo after nearly every verse of every song.
It was a night of serious song rethinks, per Dylan tradition. “It Ain’t Me Babe” turned from a demand into a plea. “On the Horizon” featured a signature, gestural Dylan harmonica solo. “The Levee’s Gonna Break” became a high-octane rocker with Dylan on organ and plenty of spiky Freeman. “Summer Days” became a long swingy blues.
Dylan doesn’t really have a jammy, anything-goes guitar epic in the live set, at least not this one — No “Sister Ray,” no “Dark Star,” no “Marquee Moon.” Instead, he has “Tangled Up in Blue,” one of his most mutable songs. Perhaps reflecting its multi-angled narrative, Dylan has approached this song more ways, rebooted it more times, than perhaps any other in his catalog. It starts as a low key drone before building to a strange, swinging epic. A masterpiece every time it’s played.
For those who find Dylan’s current voice exhausting or simply too gnarly, I’d point them to “Ballad of a Thin Man,” which has transformed from a snide kiss-off to a lecture from the Devil. This is Dylan the nasty, veteran con man; no wonder he’s dressing like Roman Grant from “Big Love.”
And then “All Along the Watchtower” lets everyone pretend to be Hendrix. Thank you, good night!
The Set List
Bob Dylan (Sept. 15, 2007, Stubb’s)
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
It Ain’t Me Babe
Watching the River Flow
You’re A Big Girl Now
The Levee’s Gonna Break
Spirit on the Water
Cry Awhile
Tangled Up in Blue
Workingman’s Blues #2
Honest With Me
Beyond the Horizon
Most Likely You Go Your Way And I’ll Go Mine
Nettie Moore
Summer Days
Ballad of a Thin Man
Thunder on the Mountain
All Along The Watchtower
(Dylan closes the Austin City Limits Music Festival at 8:30 p.m. Sunday on the AT&T Stage. Look for our review of that show here and in Monday’s American-Statesman.)
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Permalink | Comments (19) | Categories: ACL Festival
Comments
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By Jeff Smith
September 16, 2007 10:04 AM | Link to this
It’s hard not to see that music still turns him on like the 14 year old in Hibbing, listening to the radio late at night when the signal was clearest. It’s rare these days to see an original. He is music.
By blane
September 16, 2007 11:17 AM | Link to this
What is the name for that hat he was wearing?
Great concert. Thanks for providing the set list.
By ed monk
September 16, 2007 11:39 AM | Link to this
Dylan is my favorite and has been since 66. My wife tried to get tickets for my birthday-September 17. They sold out in less than a minute or so they said. But they had plenty of tickets to sell to outlets like ticketsnow which was selling them for 250 bucks or more, what a rip-off. Stubbs should be ashamed of not giving a damn about the regular guy and selling out to the big guys. I never will return to the place again..
By blane
September 16, 2007 11:43 AM | Link to this
great concert; thanks for the playlist.
Does anyone know the name for the hat he was wearing?
By Phil Annarino
September 16, 2007 5:21 PM | Link to this
When you mentioned the great guiartists who have played with Bob you failed to mention Larry Campbell!
By Henry Porter
September 16, 2007 5:21 PM | Link to this
Bob mailed in this show. I was disappointed.
By DuPont
September 16, 2007 8:01 PM | Link to this
Just crossed this article. Shocking! Shameful! You people are a bunch of schmuks! Dylan cannot sing, is a con artist huckster supreme, and after all these decades you yahoos are still buying it. Wake up! Show some self respect! The guy is laughing at you….
By Christiana
September 16, 2007 8:02 PM | Link to this
Is Mr.Dylan still a born-again Christian? Why did he not play his hit song, “You gotta serve somebody”? He can reach millions of souls to win them for heaven, and to save them from the clutches of the devil, sin, darkness, drugs,emptyness, oblivion, and eternal damnation. Has Mr.Dylan returned back to the void of emptyness of just serving himself now? Whose Lord does he now serve?
By Slim a Dim Dim Dim
September 16, 2007 9:40 PM | Link to this
What can I say. A rare occasion it was last night to see a great performer in such a unique and personal setting. Concerts at big venues are overrated unless you are in the general admission section up close. I was lucky to get a ticket through front gates. It takes work. Getting online the second they go on sale. And hitting refresh over and over again until you see…. Ticket Bob Dylan 55$. I was so pleased with the show and i was only 10 feet from one of my favorite performers. And Texas is bad ***. Thanks Bob.
By leo
September 17, 2007 6:34 AM | Link to this
Bob Dylan is a piece of history. Welcome to Austin Bob Dylan! I hope you loved our city and will return often. Thanks for coming.
By Graham N. Hughes
September 17, 2007 10:09 AM | Link to this
Dear Christina. You should have known long befor you went to the show, that Bob Dylan doesn’t really perform those songs anymore. So you’re disappointment is a result of your expectations, well….it’s your own fault. It is true Dylan went back to his Jewish roots after the 2.5 albums of pure “born again” period. But I can tell you I have too and I am not Jewish. Just listen to lyrics from the new album. Dylan says “Someday I ‘ll stand beside my King” Sounds to me like Bob knows exactly what’s going on in the Spiritual realm.
By Robert
September 17, 2007 1:13 PM | Link to this
DuPont-You’re the idiot here. I’m not sure you get it; not sure I want you to get it. He isn’t laughing at me. He puts his art out there and says, ‘listen if you like’. I choose to. I would appreciate you staying far away from me while I do. Idiot.
By jim
September 17, 2007 5:07 PM | Link to this
stubbs should be ashamed but when the promoter of acl owns the place,what do you expect?it’s austin,it’s the music biz and dylan has high overhead folks!it’s a huge $$ maker,why are tickets and pieces of plastic so expensive, duh? the man can’t sign now, so what!no one expected marvin gaye, mtv wasn’t there, the melodies are timeless, the lyrics are forever!persinally the g guy may be a bitter,cynical old burned out star,but in 500 years he will be shakespeare and we were there folks!
By jim
September 17, 2007 5:07 PM | Link to this
stubbs should be ashamed but when the promoter of acl owns the place,what do you expect?it’s austin,it’s the music biz and dylan has high overhead folks!it’s a huge $$ maker,why are tickets and pieces of plastic so expensive, duh? the man can’t sign now, so what!no one expected marvin gaye, mtv wasn’t there, the melodies are timeless, the lyrics are forever!persinally the g guy may be a bitter,cynical old burned out star,but in 500 years he will be shakespeare and we were there folks!
By steve
September 17, 2007 5:22 PM | Link to this
Well said there my brother Robert, When people like DuPont speak they tell us all we need know about them. I pity DuPont and urge him to seek treatment for his ear wax and a priest about finding his soul. Hey Bob, see you in Kingston, Albany, Syracuse and Rochester.
By Joker
September 17, 2007 6:13 PM | Link to this
Given the negative reports on his voice perhaps it is time for the band to move into just go do the songs without the words. Or best yet just put the words up on a screen and let the audience sing along..
By Elderberry Evan
September 18, 2007 8:08 AM | Link to this
I loved this show. This was one of the greatest nights of my life (except for the ^#!(ing hangover I had Sunday morning. I thought he sounded great. Those who complain about his voice can tell me who could sing em better. His voice fits his songs. And he looked like a character from an old Western. This was my first time seeing Dylan. Hopefully not the last.
By alan willenzik
September 18, 2007 7:07 PM | Link to this
I saw Dylan and band both nights. The Stubb’s show was markedly better. (I was pleased to see Dylan play guitar for the first three songs at ACL, but Denny Freeman seemed a little off compared to his truly spectacular showing at Stubb’s.)
At one point in the Stubb’s show, after finishing a song where the band had really hit a particularly impressive groove, Dylan did a hand gesture to the crowd, which might have been taken as flicking off the audience, but was more like he was saying “Take that. Who says we ain’t still got it?” Dylan was expressive and smiling and obviously having fun. He seemed to be enjoying playing to the Austin crowd, and they enjoyed him right back. Seeing him at a small venue was a treat. Even though I was just as close to the stage at ACL, the festival crowd wasn’t near as mellow.
By DuPont
September 18, 2007 7:50 PM | Link to this
Robert & Steve—
Obviously the mumbling, incoherent, no-talent “spokesman for a generation” Dylan has influenced you so profoundly that you must now resort to insults and name-calling to make a point. Shame! Read Yeats and listen to Beethoven, or even Pete Seeger. Dylan is Shakespeare?!? Then George W. Bush is George Washington!