Dylan in Europe: a taste of things to come?

In anticipation of 6 weeks of Dylan-mania in Europe, starting tomorrow night in Stockholm, here’s a taster of what a few of the gigs could turn out like – my review of the great London gigs of November 2003, originally published on www.musicforgrownups.co.uk:



London dates underline Dylan's iconic status

The London dates which closed Bob Dylan's 2003 tour reminded English concert-goers that the musician's status is now well above that of mere "legend".

Towering above the competition - in any musical genre - Dylan is now an icon. Like all icons, he's worshipped. At the final London concert, his every statement, every nuance of phrasing, was received with something akin to rapture. In a lifetime of concertgoing, in smoky jazz club and grand opera house, rock stadium and pop arena, you'd be lucky to see a more tumultuous reception than that accorded Dylan on Tuesday night.

The four London shows started with an arena gig (Wembley), continued (after a detour to the Rust Belt) with a small theatre show (Shepherd's Bush Empire) and finished with concerts in two mid-sized theatres (Hammersmith Apollo and Brixton Academy). Each show garnered high praise; the only disagreements among aficionados concerned shades of excellence.

Taken together, the four set lists showcased Dylan's peerless songbook. Two thirds of the 68 songs performed were played only once. Recherche classics (Romance in Durango, Yeah, Heavy..., Jokerman, Blind Willie McTell) were interleaved with 1960s anthems (Like a Rolling Stone, Mr Tambourine Man), and the cream of the ballads, from tender love songs (Boots of Spanish Leather, Girl of the North Country) to hard-edged political tracts (Desolation Row and Hard Rain).

Even the four different versions of Like A Rolling Stone, the classic that the Dylanistas affect to deride, were among the best ever heard - the very pinnacle of rock music, sung with such deliberate gusto by its creator, its smart-ass put-downs never so meanly delivered... a B Minor Mass for the Baby Boomers lucky to be contemporaries of its creator.

The re-workings of songs from “Love And Theft” were revelatory. High Water (For Charley Patton) became an epic, the Hammersmith audience waiting for delivery of each line as if for tablets from on high. Floater, with Freddy Koella on violin and Tony Garnier on acoustic bass - a high risk arrangement - lent a rare jazz tinge to a Dylan gig.

The performances were outstanding. Dylan reinterpreted his canon with striking new emphases. The voice has rarely sounded more convincing - strong, melodious, impassioned. Many, hearing The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, maybe for the hundredth time, will have experienced an involuntary dropping of the jaw as Dylan delivered the key line. Such powerful writing, so skilfully delivered, made the derisory sentence handed out to William Zanzinger sound as outrageous as it did the first time you heard it.

Dylan has always written for his own voice. His talking blues delivery is entirely appropriate for his material, so performing the catalogue doesn't need a technically refined instrument like Pavarotti's, or even a soul voice to match Van Morrison's. OK, you wouldn't cast Dylan as a principal at the Met. But then, Placido Domingo's Desolation Row wouldn't really be worth hearing, either.

Dylan played piano, standing, throughout, while directing the band. He's no McCoy Tyner, but his honky tonk chords added immeasurably to the mix. The piano liberated the singer.

Even the handful of slighter songs which crept into the London shows were beefed up by some soaring, competitive blues-rock riffing by the two virtuoso guitarists, Larry Campbell and Freddy Koella. The magnificent rhythm section, George Recile and Tony Garnier, anchored the shows, as well as contributing many telling passages.

The London shows underlined Dylan's claim to be regarded as one of the great creative forces of the age. It's no longer sufficient to discuss Dylan in the context of other popular musicians. Comparisons with poprock contemporaries - the Beatles, say, or the Stones, or the army of superannuated hoofers still peddling heritage entertainment to eager nostalgics - do Dylan a disservice.

Dylan should be judged, instead, by reference to the musical giants from all genres - Mozart, Bach, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Callas... . And against the great writers, in all media, from all eras - Shakespeare, Joyce, Goethe, Cervantes... .

Bob Dylan's writing and performance art bridge the gap between popular entertainment and high culture. His is quintessential music for grown-ups.


Gerry Smith