NZ gigs

Thanks to Bob Munro:

“I only got to see the Christchurch show but there have been some excellent reviews from different points of view posted at 'Bob Links' for the three shows so far:

http://my.execpc.com/~billp61/dates.html

“And here is a discussion of the Wellington show in a podcast from Radio New Zealand:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday


“Because Dylan only comes our way about every four years there is a different dynamic each time. This may be old news to people in Europe and the States who have him touring regularly but a really obvious thing this time around is the number of teenagers attending.

“The big arenas are treated like regular concert halls with everyone in a seat and the more expensive seats are at the front. This is fine for us oldies but a bit tough on the kids who would love to be standing and reacting and dancing with their peers. How do they handle this in Europe? Surely Bob would enjoy the energy from the mosh pit as well?

“There are the usual sound problems at these arenas too as you have alluded to a number of times. In Christchurch the Modern Times songs were fine but often Bob's voice was quite distorted on other songs at least where we were sitting. You can see in the 'Bob Links' reviews that it’s happening at other arena venues as well. In a small place like New Zealand there just aren't proper concert halls with more than 2000 or so seats so the multi purpose arenas get used to cater for the demand but it's less than satisfactory.

“As you can see from the reviews the nostalgia fans get really confused as well by the newer arrangements. I think the lack of sound subtlety in these places doesn't help these fans either as they can tell what isn't there but can't hear the new things that are. One poor sod near us was so incensed he yelled out 'play it properly!' during 'Just like a Woman'. Well he obviously hasn't been keeping up for a few decades but the shading and subtle band interaction was hard to detect as it reverberated off all that concrete.”