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Dylan live

Greetings.

I am just home from a Dylan concert (going again tomorrow).  Having been to his shows more times than I can count (many dozens, over several decades) I feel he is in a place that few ever get to.  Magical is a word that comes to mind.  A great band backing him, has been the same players for a long time, they play as a unit and as individuals, and he, the man, is either at a baby grand or standing between Tony and Charlie with a stand microphone doing 5 of his more recent "Sinatra" cover, with September of My Years bringing chills and tears.  He plays mostly songs from recent discs, but also did Tangled, Highway 61, Desolation Row, and blowing/thin man as encores.  

He/his shows/his recent discs seem to polarize.

Me, I feel so fortunate to be alive while he is, and to experience the transcendence.

Richard
rpeluso
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,868 posts
 
Nope Geoff, not a word to the audience. I myself prefer that to show biz bs. I last saw Dylan in 2001 (on the "Love And Theft" tour) at The Pantages Theater in Hollywood, a great Art Deco room that seats only a couple thousand. Great show---Dylan was in high spirits, even taking guitar solos (!) as Larry Campbell watched, slightly bemused. He had a FANTASTIC band, one of the best I’ve ever seen and heard. One of the best nights of music I’ve ever witnessed!
rpeluso OP
1,080 posts
 
Well, last night, beside singing, he said not a word, nor did anyone in the band, but I did see George R singing along to a few songs with. big smile on.  And those shows with Larry Campbell and Charlie Sexton, to me, those are high-points.  I've seen Larry twice this year with his wife, and he talked only obliquely to his time in Dylan's band, seems nearly no one who ever supported Bob talks much about it.  
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,868 posts
 
Larry and his wife Teresa put out an album in 2015. He played with Levon Helm for years after leaving Dylan's band, and can be seen and heard in the recordings made there. Very talented guy.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Calling all Dylan experts. Love the YouTube video of Dylan and his band doing Cold Irons Bound. (Same band that does Thunder on the Mountain on YouTube.) What is the deal with Cold Irons Bound? What is the song really about?

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,868 posts
 

Oops, when I said Larry (Campbell) could be seen and heard in recordings made "there", I was speaking of the videos made at The Midnight Ramble shows filmed at Levon Helm's barn in Woodstock. I never made it to one, though a friend and I had talked about making the trip from California to upstate New York to do so. Levon passed away before we got the chance.

I've been listening to Levon and the rest of The Band backing Dylan (and doing their own set) on the recordings made during their '74 tour together, and released as the Before The Flood double album. Fantastic.

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