Bob Dylan is a performer reborn. Yet again.
The reintroduction of Charlie Sexton to the band and Dylan's willingness to emerge from his cocoon behind the keyboards have added a much-needed spark to his concerts. As one of the locals concisely put it, "'Tis better he's getting!"
Of course, things are far from perfect. From a distance, Dylan looks like a befuddled Rumpelstiltskin on stage. He doesn't once speak to the crowd, not even to introduce the band. And his voice is as gloriously ravaged as ever.
The fun begins with a rocking – and rocky – version of ‘Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat’. The thin wild mercury sound of the original has been replaced by a cacophony of guitars that almost drowns out Dylan’s voice.
After a gruff ‘Lay Lady Lay’, the show kicks into gear with ‘Just like Tom Thumb's Blues’. Howling at the moon, Dylan’s not so much hitting the high notes as clobbering them.
A sing-along ‘Just like a Woman’ concludes with a harmonica honk-fest that draws huge cheers. Donnie Herron’s trumpet adds extra texture to ‘Beyond Here Lies Nothin'’, but ‘Tangled up in Blue’ plods along. ‘Rollin' and Tumblin'’ blasts us back out of the mud.
‘Tryin' To Get to Heaven’ is a flawed jewel. Dylan’s voice can no longer carry the song's beautiful melody, but he sings his heart out – “I can hear their hearts a-beeeeaaaating.” Unfortunately, the song loses way and a harmonic solo is unceremoniously abandoned.
On ‘Cold Irons Bound’, Dylan is centre-stage, without guitar, singing like a caged tiger over a thumping riff, thrashing against his chains. This is Dylan the lounge lizard at cabaret night in Armageddon.
After a moody ‘Love Sick’, we’re off thundering down ‘Highway 61’. On the pitch, people are dancing and wiggling like bowls of soup. Up in the seats, people are tapping their toes with dignified abandon.
An evening haze settles on the stage for ‘Workingman’s Blues #2’, a song Dylan wrote on the eve of the global recession. During a blistering ‘Thunder on the Mountain’, things threaten to descend into chaos, but the band recovers sufficiently to unleash a fantastic guitar jam.
The main set ends with the evening’s highlight, ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’. Dylan is back centre-stage without his guitar. The play of shadows and light on stage adds drama to the song. Another tremendous harmonica solo and then, without a word, Dylan and the band leave the stage.
In the encores, ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, ‘Jolene’, and ‘Blowin' in the Wind’ behave as expected. The surprise treat is ‘I Feel a Change Comin' On’: “I’m listening to Billy Joe Shaver and I’m reading James Joyce/ Some people they tell me I got the blood of the land in my voice”.
Sometimes tonight, Dylan sounded like he had the gravel of the world in his voice. But, with a reinvigorated band and a truly independent approach to his art, he proved he can still create magic from anarchy.