Wednesday, 1 Nov 2006
Maybe it was because last night was Halloween and I was upset that I wasn’t dressed up and stumbling door to door in the cold asking for candy from total strangers that I didn’t enjoy last night’s performance by Bob Dylan at the Kohl Center in Madison last night. Realistically, I didn’t enjoy the show because no one in Bob Dylan’s camp has bothered to bring up the fact that he can no longer cut it as a live musician. However, I have only myself to blame for the nearly three hours of pure agony I experienced.
You see, I bought Modern Times the day it came out. I love the record; it’s been a staple in my rotation since I first shelled out $11.99 for it on August 29, 2006. I admit that the album surprised me a little because I can clearly remember a night about eight years ago when my friends and I each spent about $40 to watch Bob Dylan and Phil Lesh put us through the worst 5 hours of our then relatively limited concert going experiences. I made myself a personal promise to never intentionally put myself through such a situation like that again. Granted, I realize that it’s certainly fair to lay a large amount of blame on our displeasure with that night on Phil Lesh and his 3 hours of pure misery. Nonetheless, I walked out of the venue that night in Milwaukee knowing that the Bob Dylan that I liked to listen to no longer existed in a live setting. That person died a long time ago and if I wanted to remain a Dylan fan I would have to stay as far away from his concerts as possible. So when started to really enjoy Modern Times combined with the ease of Craigslist, I really couldn’t say no to a $25 opportunity to give a living legend one more try.
Thankfully, I had my worst concert experience those eight years ago otherwise this show would hands down take first prize. Dylan’s voice is so terrible and mumbled that I couldn’t even realize he was playing “Tangled Up In Blue” until about three verses in. Not only that but the anthem that used to be “Like A Rolling Stone,” has now been reduced to nothing but Dylan and his band going through the motions, which is quite unfortunate. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that someone whose records that I’ve listened to countless times could also be the same person that would provide me with the two worst concerts experiences of my life.
Keep those studio records coming Bob, but it’s time to close up the road cases for good.
November 1st, 2006 at 1:55 pm
I warned you. That concert 8 years ago was just down right disgusting. That’s was the first, and hopefully last, concert that I went and sat out in the Atrium and had a more enjoyable time than watching him. By the sounds of it, this one wasn’t much better. I think a good word to describe Dylan is “Weathered”, and he needs to hang it up.
November 1st, 2006 at 2:43 pm
I caught Dylan a couple weeks ago in SF and I enjoyed the show, but there was a sadness that went with it. When will it be appropriate to suggest that Bob stop performing all together and continue his career by writing great songs for other people to sing. Like a bizarro Tony Bennett.
November 1st, 2006 at 4:13 pm
So how’d you like the foo?
November 1st, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Not what I want to see 4 days before I see him in Ottawa! Hopefully he just had an off night.
November 1st, 2006 at 5:14 pm
that’s too bad, the St. Paul show on Sunday night was fantastic. up there with the best i’ve seen him actually.
November 1st, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Judas !
j/k.
A.D.
November 1st, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Seeing Dylan in his 60’s is nothing like seeing Dylan in the 60’s, for sure!
November 1st, 2006 at 9:26 pm
I’ve seen ol’ Bob 7 times…some good, some bad, some horrid…
What’s interesting here is that the best Dylan show I’ve seen was just 2 months ago in Lexington, KY. Kind of what Solace wrote (see above)…
Maybe it is indeed time for “The Never Ending Tour” to stop…or at least slow down a bit. That’s what I thought after seeing him a few years ago (a terrible, terrible show in New Orleans). But after this Lexington gig, maybe not…
November 2nd, 2006 at 7:35 pm
I don’t believe you…you’re a liar! (play f-ing loud, everyone). Dylan’s voice is different, true, but like all other Dylan music, you have to understand the heart of it to understand the style. Otherwise, you end up with a bunch of folkies booing electric music because they don’t understand what’s happening around them (their paper-thin ideology wearing through) or pop fans (of an overly technical age) booing because dylan’s vocals aren’t crystal-clear. for heaven’s sake, can anybody on the face of the planet understand robert johnson or charley patton? NO! Take your crisp, clear, uninspired pop, I’ll take my Dylan.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:05 am
Kyle,
I appreciate the comment and understand your point. But this is Bob Dylan we’re talking about here. He’s a legend and one of the greatest musicians of all time. He has standards to live up to and doesn’t deserve a pass (at least in my book) for poor and uninspired performances.
It could be very likely that we got him on a bad night based on other comments. Needless to say I would love to have been able to see Dylan in the 60’s. Thankfully there are great videos and records I can turn to for that.
November 3rd, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Why anybody would endure 5 hours of misery is beyond me. Get up and leave if you don’t like it/don’t get it/can’t stand it - whatever. I saw Dylan in the 60s and I saw him 2 years ago in Jacksonville, Florida and several times in between and if he comes within a 100 mile radius I’ll see him again despite all this whining I see here and one of the reasons is that he never does the same thing twice - you always have to listen for 3 verses before you know what he’s singing - DUH. How boring to sound like a record. Anyway, Jax was one of the best performances ever but I’ve seen him phone it in too. So what? You take your chances with Mr. D. I love Bob Dylan and I hope he keeps it up til he drops. I hope he goes out like Richard Avedon - on the job!
November 3rd, 2006 at 2:37 pm
I would have left two songs in had I not been with a group of people scattered about, some of whom did enjoy it…plus I was driving, so I was stuck.
November 3rd, 2006 at 6:00 pm
I saw Bob the previous Friday in Chicago, and I thought the performance was poor as well. I knew going in that the set list would be short, and about half the songs would come from recent albums, but what was disappointing was the voice. He sounds good on the recent albums, but that kind of voice super amplified in a half filled arena was really bad. You couldn’t understand what he was singing if you didn’t already know the lyrics. All these professional critics who keep piling on praise, I think, are letting their nostalgia get in the way of a sound critique.
November 15th, 2006 at 9:05 am
Leona Naess (singer/songwriter/awesome) wrote recently that she was going to see Bob and I was excited for her, but hesitant. She just posted the following blog to her MySpace:
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Subject: dylan live
driving out to long island may have done it. the rain. or the worst jam band music, that the kind man that was driving us was listening to, may have done it. or maybe the fact that i had not eaten since breakfast did it. i will never know. but it was one of the worst musical experiances in my life. i love dylan. i consider myself a proper fan and not just someone who says they love him cause they heard like a rolling stone and blowing in the wind a few times. i have most of his records and i still listen to them when ever i can. i have my favorite songs. that made me want to start writing, and now make me question why i bother but thats beside the point. i should have let him be. i should have stayed at home and listened to new morning while fighting with my leaking fridge.
The seats were great. not close but just right.
he started with ‘ maggies farm ‘ which i did not recognise, then into ‘ she belongs to me’ i love these 2 songs but i could not distinguish them from the following 5 . he is known to have his off days and i guess this was an off day. i did not like his band. he was playing electric piano the whole time, no guitar. as i write this i am feeling a guilty like i am commiting blasphemy. i am sure my thoughts on dylan’s live show will not matter and this is only a ripple in a vast ocean but i just want to warn you loyal fans out there to not expect the records you have grown to love. and now i sound like my parents. with that i have to go…oh on a posative note he looked cool as shit.