Topic: Bob Dylan in Scranton

[rickl]

Tonight, er well, last night.  (I've got to get to bed now.)

The highlight of the show for me was a stunning new upbeat, rockin' arrangement of Things Have Changed.  That really knocked my socks off.  There was also yet another new arrangement of Mississippi I haven't heard before, along with the usual rearrangements of some of his older songs.

I was in the eleventh row from the stage, the sound system was great, I could hear all the instruments clearly, and Dylan was full of energy and his voice was even good and clear.  And the band, as usual, was astonishingly good.  The current lineup:

Bob Dylan – vocals, organ, harmonica, guitar
Charlie Sexton – guitar
Stu Kimball – guitar
Tony Guarnier – electric and acoustic bass
Donnie Herron – pedal steel, mandolin, banjo, violin
George Recile – drums

Those guys kick butt like you wouldn't believe.  All in all, it was definitely worth the four-hour round trip.  Hell, Things Have Changed alone was worth it.

[rickl]

Here is a very good retrospective of his career.

If you want to know who Bob Dylan is, why perfectly sane people continue to find him compelling, and why he keeps on drawing in intelligent young people in wave upon generational wave, it's easy. Listen to his records.

Better yet, see him live.

It's been the case for years now that the audiences for his concerts span every age group, from grizzled old 60's veterans to teenagers, and even families with children.  They're truly "all ages" shows.

[rickl]

Oh, and on the drive up there I got to listen to the Phillies come back from a 6-0 deficit to beat the Dodgers 9-8.  A pleasant evening all around.

[Libertas]

Little Bobby Zimmerman, pride of the Iron Range.

I was too young to get into the whole folk music thing and while he was still widely popular for my generation I was largely indifferent to his music.  But I have to say he is aging better than most and his tunes of the past couple decades do seem much better to me than most of his early stuff.

[charlesoakwood]

Glad you found some joy in these crazy times.

Back in the day I didn't care for him either but that has changed.

[IronDioPriest]

He's got a home right down by that Hilltop Bar Libertas and I were talking about the other day. Wonder if ol' Bob pops in for a burger now and then?

[rickl]

Last night.  I was too tired to write anything when I got home.

I had a much better seat in Scranton, but he played a few different songs in this show, so it was worth seeing both.

What happened was this:  I try to see him whenever he comes around to my area.  As he criss-crosses the country, he doesn't always hit the same places every time.  Sometimes he doesn't stop in Philly but someplace nearby.  Back in June when the Scranton show was announced, I thought that would be the nearest place this time around so I ordered a ticket.  Sure enough, three days later, the Philly show was announced.  For a while I thought about skipping Scranton and eating the ticket, since it was a long trip by my standards.  But things worked out well and I got to see both of them.

He's got three more shows in New England over the next few days, then he's off to Europe in October.  He sure keeps busy for a 70 year old dude.