Headin’ For Another Joint

Home Headin’ For Another Joint

Welcome to Headin’ for Another Joint! Here we share our our tales and reflections from the road.

Wheatland 5/18/25   ...it ain't made in no Hollywood wheat germ-Kait

Wheatland in located in the rural inland of central California. A major agricultural center of California, it’s nothing like LA or SF. 23% of the agricultural land in the Sacramento Valley is dedicated to rice, grown by the mighty Sacramento River.
I’ve spent more time in Sacramento over the last couple years that the rest of my life I imagine. I spent 2 nights of my 21st birthday trip with Bob at Memorial Auditorium. On my 21st, lucky enough to have him grace me with a “hey, good to see ya” and a great rendition of End Of The Innocence. I’d mostly steered clear of the Sac area while I lived in California. But here I am again, for the second year in a row, back to see Bob and loving it.
I managed to get myself on to an earlier flight than scheduled dodging tornadoes rolling into the midwest. I arrived early enough to take in the parched, golden hills contrasting the blue sky thinking sentimentally how I missed driving through the golden mountains of Mendocino on our many trips to the Bay Area and beyond. I sat outside the sleepy airport enjoying the warm, dry breeze and watched the sunset over the construction area across from baggage claim.
Caroline was by remarkably quickly considering she had work most of the day and was a couple hundred miles away. We took the usual routing for our trips. Stopping and pausing a little less quickly at the liquor store for some supplies and viewing of the revival taking place in the parking lot. The man on tiny stage promised Al Pastor tacos on Sunday for anyone who managed to make it because “Jesus is on FIRE.” Pondering that, I thought that I might drop by if we weren’t on our way to the show that day.
We checked into our modest but completely adequate motel for the night and settled in for a few drinks and snacks while we watched a few numbers for the last couple nights on Youtube. Bob looking happy and in fine form leveled up my excitement for Sunday. We snoozed out and had a leisurely morning walking back and forth to lobby for Keurig coffee.
The last part of our trio had not been able to get on the flight he initially planned on and would be instead arriving very early in the morning on Sunday after spending an overnight at the Vegas airport. Not an ideal place to get rested up for a show. So rather than go to stay with our friend Jim in Oakland, it was decided we would stay around Sacramento to mitigate having to head out at the crack of dawn to drive back from the bay to the airport in Sac. Our plan was to either get a room at the place we’d stay Sunday or another cheap place that we could get a very late checkout so Mr. Juice could get a little rest before we moved hotels (again). Thinking everything would go smoothly, we hit the thrift store across the street and picked up a few fun items for future shows and hit the road to the Shadow Inn. We had stayed there a couple times previously and found it to be quite pleasant due to being seemingly vacant most of the time with a nice courtyard. We pulled up and everything seemed as usual there but things did not go as planned. We were informed that they were full for the night and that they would not be able to give us any sort of early check in the next day. Disappointed and a little annoyed we got back in the car and started to look for another place to stay. We drove back and forth and back again. Led on wild goose chase to hotels that didn’t exist or did not look like a place anyone would want to stay. Discouraged and hungry, Caroline logged into Expedia and found one room left at the original intended destination and booked it.
We weren’t far from old downtown Sacramento so we headed on to yet another location to seek food. We picked out a place that looked good and routed that way. Foiled again. The worlds strongest man competition was in full swing and there was nowhere to park. Finally we found a spot and hightailed it to the restaurant we had found. Upon arrival we found that it was in a basement and blasting undesirable music. We walked back onto the street and looked around for a few minutes as tourists parted their groups and passed us. We decided maybe it wasn’t so bad and tried to walk down into that basement again and decided for good that we couldn’t take it. Walking the blocks again we decided on a burger place and followed the directions from the bartender on how to obtain nutrients wearily. As I ordered and paid for the food, the grill chef/cashier informed me he was also from Ohio. I think Ohio must produce the highest number of humans of any state. Wherever I go, I always meet someone from Ohio.
As we were eating we were alerted that our friend Jim was coming over to Sac to take us out to dinner. The point of me arriving a couple days early was so we could work on some fan club stuff together so with time limited, we got BACK in the car and drove BACK to Woodland to check into the room they said they didn’t have earlier in the day. Unfortunately it had transformed into Little League hell. In the time we had been out driving around and entire Little League team, maybe 2, and their families had checked in. Dreams of a relaxing afternoon by the pool were dashed but screaming pre-teens with baseballs, soccer balls and various other items flying through the air all around us. We hightailed it into our room and shut the curtains for a modicum of peace aside from the toddler screaming at the top of their lungs endlessly. We half heartedly looked at a few Fan Club things before my eyes were to heavy I couldn’t do anything but shut the them for 45 minutes or so until it was nearly time to go eat again. Jet Lag can be a bitch.
After a pleasant dinner in West Sac at an old Italian place and beer at one of Caroline’s preferred brewery, we headed back to the thankfully calmer hotel. Just some coaches and parents swilling case upon case of alcoholic beverage remained in the gated courtyard enclosures that once contained hot tubs. A few restless kids with office chairs from their rooms rolled wistfully down the outside corridors but it was a relief to see they had mostly settled down for the night. Exhausted, we watched a little TV and shut it down for the night before too very late.

Up bright and early again, we again checked to see if the second room might be available before we had to head to show. Maybe…. Check back later. So off to the airport we went to collect our third. He was in better spirits than I would have been after a night in the Vegas airport. We all piled into the one room we were holding onto and flopped down for a few minutes. Soon Mr Juice was out cold so we put on our new matching (thanks Caroline) bikinis and sat in the sun by the pool. The condition of the pool was a little less than desirable with debris from both the children and the wind floating on the surface. I made do with the warm sunshine since summer has yet to arrive in Ohio, just happy to not be wearing a sweatshirt.
Before long it was time to get ourselves ready for the show and our 3:30 date at the box office. The drive to venue was much easier than last year and we got a very good parking spot compared to last year when the walk back to the car was confusing and extended. We tailgated for a tiny bit and then got into the loooooong line to get inside. After security we made it in, picking up tickets and waited near the box office for the rest of the gang.
The first part of the day was spent wandering in and out of the seats visiting with friends that I only see at these events. However I made back to my seat in time for Billy Strings who put on a relatively mellow show compared to other times I’ve see him. Our friends were sitting in the seats a section back come to visit us several times only to be shut down by the security who were much more strict than last year. The last hurrah being During Bob when security nearly dragged them out as the insisted we get a oicture of all of us with Bob.

Finally it was time for BOB! Bob as very thankful in Wheatland, thanking the audience between most songs.
Forgetful Heart was powerful with intense and caustic guitar and drum interludes in between verses. I’d say that this is my favorite version of FH so far, bob playing bluesy accompaniment on the piano with a strong and clear voice. I loved in interlude towards the end going back and forth between major and minor keys.
I am a big fan of Bob’s covers. Some people don’t understand why I wouldn’t rather hear him play his own songs. I wouldn’t mind, but I think it’s equally as fun to hear him cover songs that he obviously really likes. I find it a good way to see what he’s been thinking about and drawing inspiration from. So Axe An The Wind was welcome to me in it’s standard blues form.
It was fun to give Bob a giggle trying to quickly rip our bandanas off for the “wave your handkerchief in the air” line. This one hadn’t changed much since the last time I saw it, which is fine as it always holds it’s own.
One of my favorites throughout these Outlaw tours has been Under The Red Sky. This year’s version is a little closer to the album version with more of a 90’s feel to the beat. I don’t know what it is about that song, but I just love to close my eyes and sway to this one. Bob was having fun on the piano and adding a couple fun words in there here in there. Like “Everything for you is going to be BRAND new” with a wry smile. And “there was an old man *looks left then right* as if he’s trying to find an old man anywhere near him.
Bob turned to Doug and gave a huge smile at the end before launching into another tender cover of I’ll Make It All Up To You. As Bob stood at the piano singing directly to us I was overcome by a wonderful feeling of warmth and happiness to be there with my gang with Bob as the sun was setting. No need to make anything up to us Bob, you have and continue to give us everything you can.
I am IN LOVE with the new Watchtower. Again, it reminded me of something from the 90’s in the best possible way. I love the chord changes the full sound of Doug’s strumming the guitar between lines with Bob Britts muted solo in the middle. Again, giving the lyrics a little extra something with “you know, the hour getting sooooo late.”
Up next was out surprise of the evening! Till I Fell In Love With You! I can’t tell you how much I like hearing Time Out Of Mind songs. They have been such a fixture in my bob career one the years, and it sort of sends me “home” when I hear them. Hoe being right where I wanna be, there in the atmosphere with Bob. Bob really got into this one. Drawing out “I just don’t know I’m gonna do, OHHHHHHHH till I fell in love with you.” “I’ going to win my way” (Filps coat back dramatically) “ til I fell in love with you. Other moments of note were the piano solo with the band rocking behind him into a breakdown then a couple more verses into another breakdown. Later, “I thought it would rain” *jaunty hand on hip* but the clouds passed by. “I know god is my shield *Jazzhand* “and he won’t lead me astray”.

Desolation row as really settled nicely into this new version since the wrench incident. I give all credit to Anton Fig who is a spectacular and really fits Bob’s current desires perfectly. Bob was having a lot of fun on this one. “The only sound that’s left *Chuckle* after the ambulances go.” When the band breaks into the instrumental parts they are right there with Bob in a perfect way.

Anton does some really spooky, ethereal percussion before Lovesick to set the mood. Bob was goofing a lot during this one saying “I see sillhouettes*huh* in the window” as the sun had gone down by this point, commenting on the dark crowd before him as he has very few lights on this tour. Followed by another stellar country styled crooner in Share Your Love Love With Me.

Blind Willie is nice bluesy version as fitting as the dark brooding version on the album. Bob spent a lot of time concentrating on this number.

As we’re wrapping up to the end, Bob launches into one of the best Don’t Think Twice with a short harmonica solo. His singing to so so focused and deliberate. Weigh and saying each word like it’s the most important word in the song. “You know, I give my heart but she wanted my soul…too bad (in a sad way).” Into another extended harmonic solo with the band noodling behind him softly. “Goodbye’s too fair a word, so I’ll just wish you fare thee well.” Another chorus into ANOTHER extended harmonica solo featuring a couple nice jazzhands.
And with that, Bob walks back to his new spot next to the drums with his hand on his hip. He gives us a glance, back to the crowd with a nod, back to us and then one more nod to the crowd and he was gone.

I need a little break after that intense DTTIA so we head back out into “the village.” I get one more drink, Caroline declines because she’s driving. She receives a token to go across the way to cash it in. This starts us into a fairly complicated exchange that takes way longer than necessary to get a Pepsi. Thinking Willie must already be one we get back to our seats again. Passing security, which all night has involved a man who insists on seeing our tickets, and a woman who negates him saying we’re all cool. By this time, maybe the 10th, I’m thanking her/wondering what’s wrong with the guy and having a laugh. We get back to find it’s not Willie time yet… which seem impossible. A bit ragged and worn, we hit the road after a awhile.
Eventually we listen to TOOM like so many nights before as we head back to the hotel and check in, yet again. Now with two rooms, we pile into the first one holding all our stuff and crack a couple drinks. Mr. Juice is fading fast and while I’ve only spilled some water so far, I’m close on this heels. Caroline and I gather most of my things and a couple more drinks and head to the second room. We spend a lot of time giggling and listening to Bob before it’s getting very late. I crawl into bed and turn on my Bob Night mix which mostly contains the American Standards.
In the morning I am awoken but a loud rap on the door. Is it the cops? No, the maid? I struggle to say anything before approaching the door. After giving myself a heinous blood blister on my thumb with the safety lock on the door (Look at me, Mrs. Safety) I finally get the door open to find Caroline fairly bright eyed letting me know it’s time from Coffee and food. I wrangle my motorcycle boots on with my pajamas and clomp past the pool into the lobby. A couple others from the show are there but I’m unable to engage. David mentions his flight and I decide to check mine. CANCELLED. Ok, now is not the ideal time to deal with this (have I ever mentioned I hate flying) but I struggle through the prompts and get myself onto a plane leaving more in line with Mr. Juice and home an hour and a half early. This time it’s my turn to go to Vegas. Without many problems, I’m back in Ohio. Not even minding that I had a middle seat all the way back.

See you in a month, Bob!

Reuniting For A Triumphant Outlaw Return To Wheatland CA: Old Friends And Stunning New Arrangements - Caroline, May 2025

I love going to see Bob Dylan at the Outlaw Festivals! Though the sets are a few songs shorter than when he plays his own shows, the songs are entirely different than on the recent Rough and Rowdy Ways tours, with many older chestnuts offered and more often than not this year, a surprise or two. The looser crowd allows for the ability to get up and dance, and Bob is on during daylight – so a treat for both the body and the eyes along with the ears!

For the second year in a row he played in Wheatland, a mere five hours from my home, and this time it was May instead of August so it wasn’t 110 degrees. My intrepid traveling friends Kait Flower and Mr. Jinx made the trip, special thanks to the latter who overnighted for 7 hours in the Las Vegas airport to join the fun! Jim had secured excellent seats for us in the 4th row at the perfect angle for where Bob and his piano face. We made it enjoyably through the wonderful opening acts of Sierra Hull and Billy Strings until at last anticipation gave way to a ready and willing launch as Bob took the stage!

Bob was in great form, looking dapper in a beige blazer that nicely matched his hair, with feathery black embroidery, a black shirt underneath with diamond shaped buttons, hatless with his still-handsome crown of hair that he so endearingly fluffs up in between songs. He was focused and also jovial as he worked his way through 13 of his own songs written between 1963 and 2012.

Similar to how he does some of his older songs during RARW shows, the arrangement of the opener Things Have Changed fluctuates between a slinky, swinging beat and interludes where the music drops out and Bob’s voice and piano take over during a mesmerizing few bars – this happens three or so times during this song, almost like a fake-out to the audience each time that the song is winding down but then, oh, here we go again! It’s amusing and fun, almost like some sort of game. Then at the end it slides right into Simple Twist Of Fate without a stop, and it’s a smooth, contemplative version very focused on emphatic piano notes. Bob’s singing is transportive, carrying us way back to when the song was written and right up to the present moment simultaneously. Like magic These days he sing-speaks a lot of the songs and it’s like hearing a recital of an old beat poet sharing the stories of his life. I loved this little rewrite, and the way he sang it, of a song that’s been constantly rewritten down the years:

“People tell me it’s a sin

Way down deep to FAR within

I let her get under my skin

Under my skin toooo late

I had another date

A date that couldn’t wait

You can blame it on

A simple twist of fate”

Forgetful Heart is a song that a year or so ago I mentioned on The Bob Dylan Fan Club Facebook page would be a great one for Bob to bring back with his current sound, so I’m glad he’s reading the posts there (LOL). It did not disappoint. It’s done with a longing, haunting, almost foreboding style and the band, including Anton Fig drumming behind Bob with mallets, does a perfect job of ebbing and flowing, crescendoing and falling back, the music wrapping around Bob’s singing so effectively. It’s one of the highlights of the show.

The night’s first cover, Willie Dixon’s Axe And The Wind, is a slow, swinging blues in the style of Bob’s own False Prophet or Goodbye Jimmy Reed that suits him perfectly. The other two covers are country-sounding love songs, kind of sad crooners, that also suit Bob since, well, he’s a man of many moods. To Ramona is one I haven’t heard in a long time and is perhaps the most changed of his songs he plays tonight. It’s a choppy sort of waltz that has Bob singing in that staccato almost rapping style he sometimes employs, with piano plonking to match. Vocally he starts each verse way down in his lower register and then climbs up as he goes along. It’s very good.

During Early Roman Kings Bob lets out one of a couple of big chuckles of the night; is it because during the ‘wave your handkerchief in the air’ line Kait and I both simultaneously tug on the bandanas we are wearing around our necks? Can he see that far? Well, regardless, I’m glad to see he’s having his fun, having his flings!

Undoubtedly one of the grooviest songs in this current show, in the literal sense of the word, is Under The Red Sky. Bob sings and plays it so expressively. It’s got such movement and melody, and a swinging harmonica solo to end it.

My three highlights of the night are still to come, though. One is undoubtedly All Along The Watchtower, a version that is stunning in its newness and how pretty it is. This song has been many things down the years, with many appropriate descriptors, but ‘pretty’ has never been one of them. The melody and instrumentation has an ethereal feel to it, with really beautiful guitar work and a gentleness to the song that its never had before. Bob emphasizes, “Ya know the hour gettin’ soooooooooo late.” This is followed by what seems to be an unplanned, audibly called (by the way Bob Britt and Anton Fig seem to momentarily panic until Tony calms them down), first time in ten years played, ‘Til I Fell In Love With You! After a tentative few seconds the song quickly finds its legs, Bob singing loudly and lustily and banging on the keys and the band chugging bluesily along – whew! Absolutely great!

From here on time stands still but slowly and inevitably slips by with a powerful Desolation Row played to a marching type of beat with Bob hamming it up nicely on the lyrics including another chuckle or two. I love the way he’ll sing a line and then kind of answer himself with a few emphatic piano notes. The unmistakable foreboding notes of Love Sick take us on that ride as Bob first scolds us for going through his pockets while he was sleeping but then can’t hide a little giggle the next line, “I see silhouettes (heheh) in the shadows” (is it us?). It’s awesome to welcome back Blind Willie McTell, and it’s as smokey and mysterious as ever.

But, for me, Bob saved the best for last with a jaw-dropper of a version of Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright to close the show. Completely and stunningly different from the version played at the last two shows and any version that’s ever been unearthed. It is slow, thoughtful, spoken more than sung, and sounding somehow as if he is saying it all for the first time. Offering up his statements verse by verse that sound totally off-the-cuff. It starts, ends, and has two middle harmonica solos that are like the heavens opening up. I’m not even sure how to describe it. A hymn? A soliloquy? A confession? A conversation to someone on a barstool next to him? It’s all those things and more, and there’s humor, too, buried in the delivery and more outspokenly when he shares this:

“I once loved a woman

A child I’m told

You know I gave her my heart

But she wanted my soul…too bad…”

I can easily say that this ending performance is one my favorite things I’ve witnessed Bob do in recent years. He never fails to amaze, sometimes in ways and with songs which you wouldn’t necessarily expect. I’m left reeling from this one. I can’t wait to go back in June!

Bob Goes Deep, In The Heart Of Texas, For His Final Two Shows On The Spring 2024 Rough And Rowdy Ways World Tour (With Willie And Johnny And Jimmie And All The Rest) -Caroline

One line from Rough And Rowdy Ways that gives me both a chuckle and a philosophical pause is, “Pick a number between one and two” from My Own Version Of You. Upon initial contemplation, I took that directive to mean to pick an actual number in the middle of, or between, one and two – and since there is no such number (I mean at least not unless you start getting into fractions and I was never good at fractions), an impossible task. But then upon turning the phrase over in my head, I realize it can also be taken as a request to choose between two options: one or two. Maybe easier than trying to find that mystery number in between one and two. However if the choices – one or two – are the first and second Austin TX shows that conclude the spring U.S. leg of the Rough And Rowdy Ways tour, the task is equally impossible! Well, if someone were to take out a sword and hack off my arm if I didn’t pick one, I would go with the first one. That said, rarely have I attended back-to-back shows that were both so equally exhilarating and yet so different (yes, even though the songs played were mostly the same).

Before delving into the details of the shows, though, it must first be noted how joyful it was to arrive, converge, and convene with some of my best friends the day before. We came in from Ohio, Colorado, California, and one local, who was such a caring and efficient tour guide and driver. Though some of us had had flights as early as 5 AM, once landed we hit the ground running with Jello-O shots proffered upon airport pick-up and then the fulfillment of my lunch request at Curra’s Grill for their unique avocado margaritas and delicious Mexican cuisine. A great evening hang with everyone goes late but not too late (general admission shows, so line duty tomorrow and we want to get there early!), with more drinks and a walkabout from our AirBnb that leads us to a fine dive bar with live band karaoke for a late dinner and a couple more drinks for the final hour or so of the long day.

Yes, as mentioned, GA shows! Rare in Bobland these days, though they used to be more the norm; since the opportunities are scarce, travel to those few shows where you can secure a front row spot by lining up early is a must-do when possible! A couple of crazier crazies than us and long-time good friends are there already when we arrive (wait, are those homeless people or Robin and Lex??) and we all spend a good long day in the shadow of the Willie Nelson statue that greets everyone at the ACL Live Moody Theater. It really is so fun! We see old friends and make new ones, and the day passes quickly between the fine art of just hanging out before a concert, laughing about so much shit past and present, and making mini-excursions to find food and do a bit of sightseeing around the downtown area.

At last, the scramble to get in – always at least a bit stressful, and this night is no exception as in an instant after getting the tickets I have on my phone for our whole group scanned, I am diving to my knees as the handoff of my ticket (actually the flimsy little paper slip they print out of their device after the mobile ticket scan) from Mr. Jinx does not go as planned but instead wafts just out of my reach, out the doorway, and back outside toward the long stairs we just came up! I dive down on my knees to grab it and then I’m literally crawling back out into the crowd of people getting in, slapping my hand at it three or more times as it is taken in tormenting puffs by the wind… just…beyond…my reach. I finally slap my hand down on that bitch, pin it to the ground and grab it, start back in the correct direction again, give my phone to the pouch people, undergo the frantic chaos of then getting a wrist band for GA floor access, and somehow after all that still beating most of my group to stand in yet another line to get in. Tensions are running high and chaos is on the verge of ensuing. I mean, maybe not quite chaos but I gotta say that, for a venue that boasts the proud honor of hosting the ACL Live music series (and their impeccable sound quality certainly rises to that standard, we’ll soon find out), they seem in a way like they’ve never put on a general admission show before tonight. But at last we’re let in and we secure great spots just left of center so a nice clear semi profile view of Bob.

What a night it is! You always hope that something like a rare GA standing show combined with the last shows before a break will yield something special, and tonight it does. By far my favorite of the ones I’ve seen this tour (well until tomorrow night and maybe still so… pick a show between one and two, ya know…?). Bob is in a jolly mood, laughing out loud spontaneously at multiple times throughout the show, giving every song his all right out of the gates. No warm up required. The band’s really tuned into him, too, ebbing and flowing in volume and tempo nicely along with each sung phrase. After the opener of Watching The River Flow, he quotes the opening lines of the Willie Nelson song “Funny How Time Slips Away,” starting, “Well hello there (some plinking on the piano)… it’s been a long, long time (plink plink)… How’m I doin’?…” and he gives a little giggle (his first of many tonight) at the end. It’s made more amusing by the crowd’s slight confusion, thinking he’s just giving a greeting vs. quoting Willie’s song, and some responding with a hello of their own and approving cheers when he asks “How’m I doing?” And they say Bob doesn’t converse with the crowd!

Starting on Most Likely Bob goes high-pitch squeaky on random words as if for emphasis, little accenting squeals of delight to accompany his delightful piano key accents. “You KNOW you could be wrong!” “I can’t beg-a YOU anymoooore!” “I’m just gonna LET you pass!” False Prophet is so crazy and funny. Bob guffaws when he declares, “I opened my heart to the world and the world huhuhuh came huhuhuh iiiin!” It’s impossible to say if he is getting a kick out of seeing fans so close as to be able to appreciate our reactions, but he is definitely amused at many points throughout the show. And they’re playing this song loud! With crazy piano riffs and runs and the band is chugging behind him; Bob and band, firing on all cylinders. I do in fact feel that he is letting the band play a lot more than at the other recent shows I’ve seen; I don’t notice any disapproving sideways glances or motioning to one player or another to quiet down or even not play. So a lot of this night is really rockin and the GA crowd is enthusiastically responsive at all the right moments and quiet when the songs call for being quiet. Maybe cuz of that early on ‘hello’ exchange there really is a kind of call and response feel to the show, with dramatically delivered lines cueing boisterous audience reaction throughout the night. On Goodbye Jimmy Reed it even becomes a singalong, when during some of the climactic lines like, “I can’t play the record cuz the needle got stuck!” loads of people in the front rows are singing the lines in raucous enjoyment which Bob clearly loves! I love it when the crowd is egging Bob on and vice versa, building on each others’ enthusiasm and everyone is having such a great time. Absolute appreciation between Bob and fans and it just doesn’t get any better. Everything flowing all at the same time. Bob starts saying thank you after almost every song.

It’s really one of those nights where every song is a highlight, so I will mention a few more that shine most brightly for me. I get to hear my first Big River which has changed a lot since the early versions of this tour; it’s gone more the way of sparser piano focused arrangements and at times is almost a cappella. So unique and enjoyable.

But the evening’s crowning glory is a stunning performance of Across The Borderline, which is exquisitely perfect. Stripped down to a mostly piano and vocal arrangement in line with Bob’s current musical stylings. His singing is so good. He sounds weary, hopeful, compassionate, heartbroken, solemn, tender, as he takes us on this journey through a song that is as much about America today as any other song Bob might choose to sing, and he has unmistakably chosen this one, for this place and time. If, as he tells us, Bob can’t sing a song that he don’t understand, he sure can sing the hell out of one that he does, and the way he inhabits this one performance of a song he hasn’t played publicly since 1998 leaves no question. The last piano notes have barely faded and the audience is still cheering when Bob picks up the harmonica for the relatively newly added harmonica intro, that I have yet to see since he started doing it after the Florida shows, to I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You, and the one song flows out of the other like a river winding. Possibly the Rio Grande. I’s my favorite live version I’ve heard of this song, every word and note is perfect. “I’m gonna go far away from home with HER,” and we get the flash of a sly smile. I’ll be there! Again the crowd seems to just flow with Bob and the music, hanging in the balance of every carefully set down word, and swelling in warm applause at the spaces in between.

At the end after Every Grain Of Sand, Bob comes away from his piano as he will do, and looks out at the audience as he will. Kait has brought in a small banner with The Bob Dylan Fan Club logo, which we hold up now with the help of Mr. Jinx, displaying it to Bob. He sees it right away but at first he is coy and looks around elsewhere without acknowledging. C’mon, Bob, don’t be too cool! After a few more seconds though, he returns his attention to our side, and settles his gaze on us. He takes a slight step forward in his cool Bob way, and gives us a power fist pump and a nod. Fan Club in da house! A thrill to end the evening!

Ah but the evening of course hasn’t ended, and props to Nancy for organizing a lovely post-show meet up at a swanky cool place nearby, where we get to soak up the company of new, old, and somewhere-in-between friends alike in some comfy surroundings with tasty bevs.

New day, same place! Line time again is fun and passes enjoyably, having the additional conversation topic of last night’s show to compare and discuss with fellow fans. It’s always fun to exchange experiences especially after such a hands-down great show, and since different people pick up on different things sometimes, the post-show debriefs can help bring a moment into a brighter light or point out some new element or perspective. Mr. Jinx and I steal away for a couple hours to Black Star Co-Op Brewery, a 20 minute Uber ride away and our Uber driver is impressed that we’re taking some time out of our visit to get into the ‘real Ausin,’ out of downtown. We’ve been to this spot on another trip, and going back today proves a fine idea. The beer list is small but satisfying with a rye IPA and a hazy IPA on the menu, and both are complex, hoppy and highly drinkable! We get some lunch, and it is nice just to get away from the noise of downtown around the venue, where the grackles never cease their grackling and even on a Sunday the nearby construction is in seemingly full swing with jack-hammers and drilling in the wall keeping up and all trying not to pay it any mind!

The time of doors opening draws near and again nerves run high, but they definitely do things a little better today so it’s not as much of a cause for blood pressure spikes. Still, it’s always nerve-wracking in the final moments and the rush to the rail! I feel like I always black out somewhat in the moments between being let in and where I end up – no time to think, just act fast and grab that spot! We’re in another good place tonight, dead center in fact which, since this stage is quite low, is actually a fantastic place to be as even when Bob is sitting his head rises above piano level. It’s an old school rail tonight, with us, Robin & Lex, Joanna, Alyson, all down the line just like a flashback to 2003 – 2005 times! I’ll take it!

Soon enough we are underway. Bob dives right in with expressive singing and playing. On both Watching The River Flow and Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine), he’s mixing up the phrasing in ways that seem almost designed to stump the band: one line with a surprisingly extended syllable followed by the next line with maybe an unexpected pause necessitating a rushing out of words at the end of the line. But they keep up and again everything is sounding great. The sound in this venue really is the best I’ve ever encountered, especially from a front row where it can sometimes be muffled. I Contain Multitudes has a calm lilting melody with almost spoken word delivery, and it starts to feel almost like a sermon with the crowd keyed in to the spaces in between the sung lines, during which to offer their cheers. In fact, the room swells with cheers every time Bob states that he contains multitudes, as if we all wholeheartedly agree. After saying that he plays Chopin’s preludes Bob does a super fancy flourish up the whole length of the keyboard that really tickles me, like, “Take that, Chopin!” My friend who has a balcony seat one night says that when he does that he uses the back of his hand, his knuckles. So much for the arthritis rumors, I guess!

We get another chuckle during the “Hello Mary Lou, hello Miss Pearl” line, perhaps aided by Mr Jinx pointing our way as Bob sings it. During Masterpiece Bob has a little aside for us and maybe for himself as he sings. “Someday everything gonna be so doggone beautiful… when? When I paint my masterpiece!” Of course! You need to ask? The reverb on Black Rider (blackriderblackriderblackriderblackriderblackrider) cracks me up. From my spot tonight I hear it really clearly and I can’t help but give a little chuckle each time at the dramatic flair. I’ll take out a sword and hack off your armyourarmyourarmyouraaaaarm.

Of course the main differentiating feature of tonight’s show proceeds next as Bob announces, “We have a guest guitar player tonight. Jimmie Vaughan is here.” Cool! Bob wants a little Texas infused into the show and that’s what we get, with Jimmie’s signature style adding embellishments for much of the remaining songs. Bob launches into I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight as Jimmie gets settled, and there is an extra anticipatory feeling to the slow beginning. Tonight it might last all throoooough the night! Then the launch and Jimmie jumps right in with gusto, highlighting the song with soaring bluesy riffs. Bob can’t contain gleeful laughter at the song’s closing.

There’s such great interplay between Bob and Jimmie on all the songs. Slower swinging songs like My Own Version Of You and Crossing The Rubicon benefit from Jimmie’s tasteful, well-placed licks contributing bluesy highlights and his playing melds well with Bob’s somewhat eccentric piano playing. He’s got a good ear for what to add to these songs that I can’t imagine he’s heard much! The crowd cheering after either one of them does something cool is like another instrument adding embellishments.

Possibly the highlight of the night is To Be Alone With You. It starts with a harmonica intro, the first on that instrument for the night, and it drives the crowd wild. Again it’s the slow buildup of anticipation leading into the rocking part of the song. Then it gets going with a superb swing and everyone is feeling it, on stage and off. We let it all hang out. Bob and Jimmie start talking to each other with their respective instruments. The audience gets involved as Bob goes into this pattern where he plays a few beats on the piano and the band follows, then, brings it up abruptly with a pause at which everyone goes, “Whoooo!” and then he does it again. He plays that run, stops short, and then everyone screams, like four times in a row. Back to the call and response theme! It’s like there’s an applause sign lighting up at each interval and everyone is following along. Of all the multitudes that Bob contains, it strikes me that THIS Bob, with an audience at his feet SO locked into and participating in what he is creating, is one thing that he really wants to be and cherishes.

Jimmie slides back in during Gotta Serve Somebody and lends a dirtier, grittier flavor to the still smooth and slinky arrangement we’ve enjoyed of late. Bob laughs again at the end of it and sticks out his tongue in a funny way at Jimmie. Next we get a great Walking By Myself, a natural to return to with Jimmie Vaughan on board! The crowd responds enthusiastically when Bob declares fervently that he just, he just wanna be our lovin’ maaaaan. Jimmie rips it in between verses and Bob responds in kind with thunderous piano hammering and a “Thank you, Jimmie!” at the end.

Big River with Jimmie is great. It starts with Bob’s piano noodling like it’s been starting but picks up mid-song and kind of goes into that snappy Johnny Cash rhythm and Jimmie’s playing all around it. Very different from last night and very good.

The final songs ensue and I just soak them in feeling oh, so grateful for these two nights. Every Grain Of Sand. How wonderful Bob has chosen to end on this song night after night these days. It’s an affirmation, a blessing, a prayer. As he sings it tonight, everything falls away, and it’s just Bob and me with a few mere feet in between us, wrapping it up one more time until the next. Onward in our journey. I am filled with gratitude; like, I can feel it physically infusing my body. Soon we are heading out into the night, saying our good-byes to all these wonderful friends through a post-show blissful haze, and making our way back to the AirBnB for a final brief but energetic blowout that includes synchronized dance moves to 2002 Bob singing Brown Sugar (Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo!) Some other shenanigans and lots and lots of laughter ensue as we make a valiant attempt to drink all the alcohol we overbought two days ago. We do a good enough job of it that I manage to fall down some stairs a little later; I think Kait falls out of a chair though no one can corroborate that, but that’s at least more sensible than falling down stairs, but at least the stairs are carpeted so I don’t really hurt myself and I don’t wake anyone up with a lot of unnecessary clattering. The going home is always sad but at least I have Mr. Jinx with me at the airport until I have to board; we get a beer to share and walk around the terminal looking for famous country music people (we actually see some, or at least some almost famous people!). Then it’s time to take the high road, take the low road, take any road you’re on, yes, even if it’s the road going back to work and non-Bob life. We’ll be back out soon enough, to see whatever the Outlaw Tour wants to bring!

Take the high road, take the low road; Austin 2024 - Kait

This chapter of of spring tour was one I really looking forward to attending. When these shows were announced I immediately knew we were going. I was reminded of when Bob announced the 2 Backyard shows in Austin in 2003, calling Caroline, trying to wait long enough to call her and express my excitement not to wake her up. I didn’t succeed that time. Austin is one of those places where I have always felt I fit in. People are out and about every night, in the days people are out with their dogs enjoying the still fast growing city. When I was younger I dreamt of moving to Austin, trading in my car for a classic convertible with horns on the front, cruising the open road. The last time I was in Austin was for SXSW, a frenetic collection of out of towners jostling to get into the big shows. Not the best time to visit IMO. Prior to that I was in town for 2 Bob shows at ACL fest and a GA show at Stubb’s, another non-ideal time to be in town. This time, despite the influx of people for the eclipse and country music awards, the city seemed more normal. I’m so grateful for the opportunity I’ve had this spring to see so many shows. A far cry from the old days, but many more than I’ve seen on one tour in years. Making it even more fun is Bob is actively rearranging the songs throughout the tour. So, despite the fact that a lot of the songs are technically the same, every night is different. For example, I saw 4 different versions of My Own Version Of You. Over the years I’ve caught some flack from people about my opinion that I much prefer Bob as a piano player than a guitar player. So, I was in heaven this tour with Bob really embracing every opportunity to show off his flair and being a new Liberace.

With my usual luck, my flight from Columbus was delayed… badly. In opposition to my usual luck, the girl at the counter was sympathetic to my very tight connect, and lack of other options, and moved me to the front of the plane from the back row adding “when I start boarding, just get on in the first group so you can make sure your bag gets on with you”. Ahhh, things were looking up. After a quick flight to Chicago I raced to my next gate just in time to board with my group. Low and behold, I was in the front row again, in business class. Somewhat over amped I decided it was a good time to have a cocktail. As I sheepishly handed the flight attendant my credit card, she smiled and shook her head. “You’re in business class honey, its free.” Man, this is a good start. A couple hours later (and a very early arrival) we were in the quaint Austin airport. Smaller than the Columbus airport even, with live music to keep you happy. I remembered when Caroline and I had schemed to visit the airport before Bob tour back in 2003 to see Charlie Sexton play. That wasn’t to be, though we considered finding a very cheap plane ticket to get into the gate area at the time.
I swiftly exited into the warm sunshine with the throngs of campers, cruisers and adventurers arriving in for what was to be an ill fated eclipse trip, sporting accents from all over the world and excitement on their faces. In a few minutes, my gracious hostess was there to pick me up and whisk me away for an extra day of adventure. Flights we prohibitively expensive to fly from Ohio on Thursday, the day before the shows, unless I arrived late at night. Erika was kind enough to let me stay with her for an extra day before we moved to our airbnb for the show nights. And kind enough to haul all of us around all weekend. Being with someone who knows everything about a city is extremely helpful, and a car means you can have your stuff nearby. An ideal and comforting situation. A topic all of us waiting in line over the next couple days would agree was important.

A woman of my own heart, she suggested that we swing by the to go daiquiri stand before we headed to her house. 3 daiquiris and a few jello shots for later, we were on the way. We spent a few hours talking with her lovely husband and watching the dogs play. Soon she suggested we head into town so see what was going on. We suited up up in (her) cowboy hats and boots and hit the town for some amazing fried chicken at Lucy’s and then went on to the famous Continental Club where we hung out with in the back with the beautiful people and caught a little of Jon Dee Graham. At some point in my past, I’d seen Jon Dee. Most likely on one of the many trips I’d taken to Austin 20 odd years ago after my first trip there to see Bob in 2002. We did it up right that night and made it home, already knowing I’d be feeling a little rough the next day, but loving every minute. The morning, as predicted, was slightly questionable. But anticipating Caroline and David arriving, and a couple breakfast tacos, I was back up to full force. We hit the road into the Austin traffic for the airport. Quickly Caroline and David were outside and it was time for welcome the jello shots from the daiquiri place. We were off to a great Mexican place with avocado margaritas and food and then to our airbnb.

Located in what we would later find out was still considered “real Austin” from our uber driver, it was in a quiet neighborhood off S. Lamar. It took a little help from the neighbor on how to get into the place which was sort of a quad condo apartment we found it spacious enough for all of us to relax in with a great screened in back porch. It was a lovely crash pad for the weekend. We spent the evening checking out the venue, snapping pictures and walking around a little bit before we went went back to our hood, took a walk and saw some bad karaoke and got in bed, knowing we’d have to be up early to… get in line.

Being in Line: Time passes Slowly when you’re lost in a dream.

Upon arrival we found someone sleeping in the line spot. I knew right away, it was Robin and Lex from Wichita. This was actually a relief for me. Friends, good. We’ve been in this position before and it’s a-ok. We hit the Starbucks around the corner and purchased our most important tool of the day, our iced latte cups. These cups would empower us to use the Starbucks bathroom all day. Having the code, it wasn’t necessary most likely, but having that cup to walk in with made things a little legit somehow. The morning moves along pretty slowly but the weather is pretty nice and we take shift switching between sitting on the blankets and in the chairs. Musical chairs of sorts. Someone in a chair goes to the bathroom, sidewalk person moves into the chair, etc. The sleepy streets of Austin start to liven up slowly and then by midday there’s a bit of a line going. Unsurprisingly, mostly people we knew.

I was thinking about being in line when I was… in line. Why we line and what we do. My husband has never stood in line all day for a concert. Another friend said they didn’t get it either. I started to think about how that all starts. It’s sort of like (at least for me) when you’re a young fan of an act that people stand in line for, you start to meet other fans and they train you how to be in line, perpetuating the cycle. If you get too far back in line, you can get screwed and get a shitty spot on the rail. With the cost of a front row seat at the theater shows, the drive to get a good spot at the rare GA show is running high. I have to say, at one time Caroline had standing in line down to a perfect science. In those days, there were a lot of GA shows and we were normally first. Not because the chance to be up front was rare in those days necessarily, but we didn’t have anywhere else to go usually, so why not sleep out at the venue and be first. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Even though we flew in, with the help of Erika we had a couple chairs, a pretty big blanket and a couple butt pillows. It was really pretty nice. Friday in line was a mostly boring affair. We saw a lot of old friends. A somewhat classic lineup of line sitters for the region. We had a phone charger nearby so we took turns charging our phones, updating as necessary. We had hoped to exchange the digital tickets for paper ones, but found that would be impossible we found.

Closer to show time things got tense, more tense than usual. Robin and Lex found out that they wouldn’t be able to get their tickets until the same time the doors open. This made the already intense Robin reach her limit. The shuffling began, shifts went to the car, changed into show clothes, hurrying back until all that was left was us, pacing around. We took turns trying to calm Robin and Lex, who had just had open heart surgery, and assure them that we had them and a spot for them up front, they were first after all. As it would turn out, it wouldn’t matter due to the complex system of entering the venue that would occur once we started the process. Soon we were in the process without any coaching or warning. First, the ticket holder scanned their QR code, then it was up to the customer to rip them apart. I felt as though I was in the relay race. Suddenly David is shoving tickets at me. I’m running to a table that has wristbands with 2 tickets. Where’s Erika??? I need to hand this off. I turn in my ticket and the wristband woman is painfully slow. I plead for her to let me put it on myself to no avail. Then, I’m in and first to shoot for the door which was closed tight. Confused I run in circles. Nope! Get in line again for the floor. As the line builds people flow in from the side, milling. Soundcheck is running late we hear. No one seems to know what’s going on. I can’t talk to or listen to anyone aside from the woman at the door. Finally we’re in. I thought to myself, I’m out of practice. We get a spot over to the left where we’d been at the seated shows earlier in the tour.

First night:

First thing that strikes me as a soon as Bob says his first word is how clear everything sounds. I said later to the group, this is the room that they film Austin City Limits in and it’s made for music. It’s definitely the best I’ve ever heard Bob sound in a room. Unlike the theaters he’s been playing that are for music, AND plays and comedy and whatever else they might find. Every little tiny different intonation and word is SO CLEAR. It’s remarkable.

River Flow features tight instrumental breaks at the beginning. “Well Hello there been a long, long time. How’m I doing?” Funny How Time Slips Away the Willie Nelson Classic.

Bob’s in a jovial mood, playing with his voice and phrasing. He thanks the crowd several times over the course of the show smiling and darting around.

False Prophet has been one of my favorites this run. Every show Bob’s piano playing and vocals have been fantastic. I laughs int he middle of the line “I climbed the mountain of swords on my bare feet” after a particularly nice piano flourish.

My favorite new line is “read their faces just like a book” during Masterpiece. Bob’s slamming it out on the piano laughing and running up the keyboard during “Sailing round the world through a world of crimson and clover”.

Another great things about these shows is how quiet the crowd is during the appropriate times, like Black Rider. They’re some of the best enthusiastic crowd members at the right times too!

Baby Tonight is great as it always Bob really putting his all into signing “toNI-heeeat” and throwing in a harp solo in the middle between the slower intro and the surfy part with a great piano solo. “Bring that bottle over here… shit man” was a little surprise.

The crowd went silent immediately at the beginning of My Own Version of You. The crowd cheering madly after “I’ll bring someone to life…You know exactly what I mean”

To Be Alone with you opens with a harp solo. Bob’s been really ramping up and building on the harp solos since the shows at the beginning of the tour. “I won’t sleep a wink til I’m (hahah) alone with you” They’re getting into some good instrumental breaks that will culminate at the show the next night. Even Doug gets a few good licks in.

Serve somebody is the new, smooth version I LOVE. I adore how smooth and 70’s it feels. It gets a little of the brown sound, muddles smooth sound I’m so fond of. “You might have a day they call you nothing at all”. Bob’s vocals are amazing. Laughing during the last “gotta serve somebody lines”

Of course the most AMAZING part of the night was Across The Borderline. Bob, so gently and compassionately play the most perfect song he could in Austin or anywhere in Texas. I feel so honored to have been there listening to his beautiful piano.

“When you reach the broken promised land
Every dream slips through your hands
And you’ll know it’s too late to change your mind
‘Cause you pay the price to come so far
Just to wind up where you are”

So pertinent and so true. I felt so stunned, maybe I teared up. I don’t know, but it’s really indescribable what it was like to hear that now, there.

I was lucky enough to hear all the covers aside from a couple. That is my most cherished moment of the tour and one of the most of all the years. The way he went into Made Up My Mind To Give My Mind was one the most perfect transitions I’ve witnessed as well. The crowd was virtually silent and hung on every word aside from an occasionally appropriate whoops of encouragement. Bob’s singing was immaculate and tender.

The way he sings “I’ll see you at sunrise, I’ll see YOU at dawn.” The crowd bursts into enthusiastic applause at the end. Next, Bob busted out his new signature style of piano playing for Big River. It changed, like so many others since the first shows I saw this spring. Jimmy Reed is another that never disappoints me (aside from it indicating the end of the show). It’ll be another good one to take into the summer tour. It’s got a lot of oomph.

Too soon, It’s time for EGOS. Bob sings it thoughtfully and adds beautiful piano emphasis in throughout and adds another beautiful harp solo, which have really shaped up nicely over the the course of the tour.

Afterwards we’re all high on the show and run into a our pals on the road outside the show. All raving about how great it was we headed to a meet up organized by Nancy in a swanky hotel near the venue. Everyone in the place seems glamourous. Nancy treats us to a drink and we park ourselves in one of the booths she’s reserved. We chat and take some pictures and head back to the BNB to continue celebrating a great show and for a few ZZZs before we get to do it all over again.

Austin 2: I’m first among equals, Second to none, The last of the best, You can bury the rest

Morning comes too early and we slowly make our way to line. Today we’re in the 3rd spot behind Kevin and his wife, who I’ve never heard speak a word aside to Kevin over all these years, and Robin and Lex. Robin goads us a bit saying she thought wed be there earlier. Well, we aren’t. We drearily make our way to Starbucks. “Hi, it’s just us again.” Nicely, Lex had already scoped out the bathroom code for the place across the street and informs us they also sell cocktails, wine and beer to go. Interesting. Time passes by a little more quickly. More quickly than the extra hour of sleep would seem to merit. We know what’s going to happen tonight so it’s not quite as stressful. I take a walk and grab a latte at an offsite, but nearby coffee house to stretch my legs and body out a bit. It’s outfitted like a post modern warehouse of sorts. Everything is concrete and and as I sit on their concrete pillar, I think, this isn’t much of an upgrade from sitting on the street is it? All day its been spitting rain off and on and as it seems to have let up of the moment I take a little stroll. First a circuitous route down by a stream to the river which is a little jungle and transports my mind to somewhere more tropical and pleasant. Popping out the end of that trail, I realize I’m nearly back where I started and head south, towards the river. I see town lake (the river) and I think about the bats that live under one of the bridges, but not sure which one. A sight I once took in on a vacation to Austin so many years ago. I don’t particularly care for bats but I’d been reminded they have special bats here that people watch in the evenings, and I mutter to myself something along the lines of “one of these fucking bridges has bats…” while I gaze wistfully upon the lake river in my second show haze. I find myself thinking about how Zilker is a lot more scenic and how I could use a swim. My mind is wandering, and I find myself lost in what’s happening and Caroline messages to say that she and David are going to the brewery. I snap back to real life and start walking back to the venue. Erika has been off for lunch with a friend and it’s time for me to man the chairs again. Field trip over. I stop quickly for a sandwich and wine in a can and head back to the relative comfort of the folding chair. It starts to spit rain again. Queries for any spare rain jackets go unanswered and I hunker down hoping the red dye from my vintage jacket, fondly known as Mr. Leggs, doesn’t stain my arms. Not to say my winter white Ohio skin couldn’t us a little sunny glow. I purchased Mr. Leggs in SLC when I flew out to see Masked and Anonymous at Sundance in 2002. It’s amazing it’s stayed with me through so many moves and adventures.

I stare at the wall, the sky, the dogs walking by… then the whole gang is back. It’s time to change. Erika gives me directions to the car and I think I’m listening but clearly I’m not. We get to the garage entrance and I realize I have no idea where we’re supposed to go. Erika kindly walks over and guides us in. I’m not taking information in very well, thinking about too many other things, most of all Bob. We get changed and back to the line. A nice venue person comes forward with Robin and Lex’s tickets for the day so that drama is under control for the day. They switch it up a little for entering the floor today, instead of wristbands they give us invisible stamps. Not sure how that’s better but whatever. We’re all a little more calm (and/or weary) today anyway.

When we’re inside waiting, I hear an unfamiliar guitar being tuned somewhere off stage. I began feeling the energy that something special is going to happen. Will Bob play guitar? Will there be a special guest? Soon we will find that it will be a very special show with our old friend Jimmie Vaughn, one of our biggest fans from the old days. Perhaps unsurprisingly we had become pretty good pals with the Jimmie gang when he was touring with Bob before, like the Willie gang before them.

The show starts as normal, with a maybe slightly more laid back honky tonk River Flow. As the show gets going, I can hear that the crowd behind is more (rough and) rowdy than last night.

Most Likely is in it’s slow groove and Bob’s playing with his vocals “Some times it gets so hard to caaaarrrrre” with a drawn out middle and his pointed piano playing.The energy keeps up in the next song with various people in the crowd chime in responses to Bob during False Prophet.

Then the surprise is revealed as Bob says “we have a guest guitar player tonight” Jimmie Vaughn! I didn’t expect him at all of anyone I thought maybe would turn up.

Baby Tonight great with Jimmie Vaughn, so much applause. On point frillishes during the slow parts. Bob laughing and sticking his tongue out at Jimmie several times as Jimmie added some killer licks. Bob is so happy and smiling during all the Jimmie songs which would be the rest of the show aside from Ket West and Mother of Muses.

My Own Version the crowd settled down. The performance was intense with the quietness and the great sound in the Moody Theatre.

Bob starts with harp on To Be Alone With You as it sounds like one person in the crowd is about to lose their mind in ecstasy. And there’s the call and response to the instrumental breaks from last night in full form.

Serve Somebody is more angular with Jimmie on guitar, but still carrying that same smooth 70’s groove with Bob laughing at Jimmie at the end.

Walking by Myself is also of course with the addition of Jimmie.

Big River is great with Bob essentially a cappella for the first verses and then heading into an extended song and then going a cappella again for the next verses with the band slowly coming in.

“Im traveling light and I’m slow going homeeeee” really hits me with no more shows to look forward to per se.

Jimmy Reed is more of a jukebox dance number with the addition of Jimmie. It’s got a good groove. His guitar solos really add to the song tonight.

Bob says something to the band and gives one last “thank you Jimmie”

Then it’s EGOS and it’s bittersweet. I’ve never heard a bad version of EGOS but it’s been especially good this leg.

After the show we stand out front and chat with our buds and invite a few over to help us get through the alcohol we really over purchased and then we get out of downtown pretty quickly. After we get home, we make some cocktails and give cheers to a great weekend. We start listening to an old show when I get a text that our friend Liz is outside! I managed to get her the right address after the show in my gleeful state. We continue listening to shows, dancing to a 2002 show with our drinks and celebrating the weekend. At some point we send Liz off in and uber with the rest of the booze, aside from a barely touched bottle of rum from Key West that I love. Caroline decides she will check it in her bag with her. I have zero room so It’s not an option for me. We bumble around and finally lay down in our various places.

Sunday Morning comes way, way, way too early. I look at the clock, ascertain that I’m still wearing parts of my outfit from the night before and grab a very quick shower while I try and figure out what I need to do to get out of town. Caroline, David and I are the last at the house and after a vague clean up and some coffee, we grab an uber to the airport. We get a nice youngish guy who picks us up in a truck and tells us a story about being at a music festival with his grandma when he was 13 and getting thrown a joint. He smoked it. I’m the last to leave that day, so I float around the airport with various friends from the road who are also fleeing town. It’s a small airport so it’s easy to run into folks you know. I see one off, then another and another and finally make my way to my gate. I rest my weary feet upon my carry on and reflect on everything that’s happen that weekend. No regrets making the journey back to Austin for this great weekend and fabulous shows.

Down by the Gulf of Mexico Beyond the sea, beyond the shifting sand - Kait

Early Spring 2024
I’ve made many trips to Florida over the years. Usually to Key West, but only twice for Bob. So when the news that Bob would be gracing the Sunshine state the wheels started turning. I’d promised family friend I would help her clear out her condos for sale earlier in the year. Low and behold Bob would be nearby for 2 nights. A perfect opportunity to pack up the Roo and hit the road. Driving long days and nights occupied a large part of my life in the past so I welcomed the opportunity to take it a little further. After a couple days of organizing, unwinding and helping Aunt Linda flip, dig and toss a few decades of her life there, it was time for Bob. I underestimated my rush hour drive time to Clearwater by the time I parked myself in my preferred spot right next to the exit, it was dangerously close to show time. I said my hellos to a few friends outside, I hightailed it in. The venue was sort of sterile for my taste but the drinks were fairly cheap. My seat was in row J on the right. I was actually quite pleased with it for the first night. I had a great eye line to Bob. The crowd around me was a little annoying. This is my main reason for not sitting so far back. This whole tour False Prophet was a real standout. Bob’s singing is always so strong and emotive on FP. On Black Rider, I didn’t notice the echo effect. Having seen it mainly from up front, I think it really comes through better up front.than when you sit further back, which is a shame because it sound spooky and moody. I hadn’t listened to the new version of Masterpiece, though I’d read the description and had an idea what it would be like. This is such a perfect example of why I love Bob so much. This guy has ideas. He’s thinking about his songs and there’s always a new way to try them. He’s still hungry to do what he’s always done. It’s certainly a masterpiece of a career in my eyes. Rubicon had some nice jazzy Bob piano solos. Bob was really going at on the Piano during Serve Somebody. This was the first hint of this new smooth version of Serve somebody which I really went on to love in Ft Myers. With the way Jerry is drumming really add to the vibes. It’s almost a tropical jungle feeling or a desert coaster, south Texas Blasters, Link Wray feel. I can’t make up my mind what it is to me yet, but I like it. This night featured more of the emphatic breaks of the fall tour than the upcoming night. Tired from the long days of driving in traffic I’m no longer used to I quickly made it back to the car and drove back south. Living in appalachia where the roads are open and welcoming or aboard in Stockholm where I barely ever rode in and never drove a car, it took me a minute to get back into the traffic swing of things. To add to the fun, the clouds that had been hanging over the warm gulf decided to move in and drench Tampa Bay for an hour or so. My murphy bed was looking mighty welcoming.

I woke fairly early in my retirement community apartment. After a few runs to the thrift store for Aunt Linda I decided to take an early day and get ready for the 1.5 hr (but 20 mile) journey back to the other end of the bay. With the venue sort of just out in the middle of nothing interesting, I decided to go have another bite of the delightful grouper in the gulf and take in a beach view for a little bit. The beach, full of families, spring breakers and a helluvalot more buildings than the last time I was there had me making an about face to the refuge of the upstairs tiki bar. Quiet and calm, I watched the sun set below the clouds which had been threatening, and occasionally following through, with rain. Today mother nature was more accommodating. I got to the venue and ran into a friend from years past and we chatted a little about what we heard in the shows these days. After we got caught up on each other’s “who, what, when, where and why” I saw another friend from across the porch and went to take a seat. One mentioned the Bob Dylan Fan Club, asking where we talked with Bob about starting it several times. St Paul, MN I reminded them. A few minutes later, another friend asked me the same question a couple times. To the point I thought they were fucking with me. I was happy with what happened later. My own version of you of Clearwater was more plodding and baroque feeling. Different than the closing shows of fall tour. A lot of great piano solos on mother of Muses and very gentle singing. When Big River started, I almost lost it. “I met her accidentally in St Paul, MN…!” It’s fun, the cosmic coincidences that can happen in a day. After the show I quickly called Caroline, pulled into a restaurant parking lot and waited for the night to thin out before heading back to the murphy bed. Ft. Myers

I cruised down to Ft Myers with relative ease aside from a small stent trapped on the Sunshine Skyway. Bridges like that aren’t my thing. I almost didn’t go to Ft. Myers. It’s in a basketball gym? Another few hours to drive to the list. It’s a day that I have to get a hotel on Spring Break in a Beach town in South Florida. It seemed like a lot of effort.
But, in the end, a friend down there really wanted to take his dad so there I went. We had dinner (more seafood) after I checked into my hotel full of construction workers. We arrived a little earlier, but with no where to sit as far as benches, I plopped myself down on the curb and waited…just like the old days…at the arena shows. Couple quick chats and in I went and found a wide array of kinds of people. Interesting!
After I got into my seat I started to feel more relaxed. I’ve seen Bob in some many arenas, and I don’t particularly like theatre shows, not being one who likes to sit around at shows. It felt a little more normal than the theatre shows to me. The opening Most Likely had some great soft and gentle singing. The “It Can’t Be this way Everywhere” verse had some classic Bob singing that reminded me of the way he’d sing it in the later nineties. Bob’s singing was very precise on Masterpiece this night. Every word was very sharp and enunciated. At the beginning, the band was a little subdued compared to the Clearwater shows aside from killer violin solos by Donny.Bob was gearing up for what was to come during Baby Tonight. Really slamming the keys. Of course, the real surprise came when Roll Over Beethoven started. I stayed up the rest of the show and danced with Greg. After the show Greg and some friends from up north who had been on a Key West vacation for these shows all crammed into my tightly packed car and I shuttled us to one of the only bars open past 10 in this highly retirement driven area. It was a great dive and once another friend showed up we really started to get down to how great Bob is and talk about the great moments past. Orlando 1
After the day off that I spent in St. Pete again, I heard from Caroline as soon as I was up saying she was delayed until wayyyy too close to the show. Kinda panicking, trying to pack the car, I decided to contact the air bnb and see if I could check in early. That was a go. Great! I started to head out knowing that I-4 goes straight to Orlando. The directions… they didn’t say that. Time to drive way north to drive south again. C’est La Vie. I stopped on the very windy flat farming area of central florida to get a call from a friend also on the road. He said he’d just arrived and I-4 was a parking lot. At least I missed that! Then caroline gets off and on her way. Things are looking up!
Driving to Orlando this crazy way was a trip. I got off into what was obviously going to be houses, but it was just a wind driven plain dust storm now, aside from the neatly arranged roads with evenly spaced lights and roundabouts. It felt apocalyptic. After I made it back to road civilization and a little more traffic, I saw the city. I fairly easily found our air bnb, an upstairs bungalow over a garage. Rustic but lit in a bright green glow by a neon sign, it said “good vibes.”
I quickly unpacked the car and changed into my show clothes and got fixed up just in time to head to the airport. I pulled into the cell phone lot just in time for the sun to illuminate me from under the clouds that were starting to clear. Shortly, Caroline said that she was on the ground and I crept, trying not to race out at top speed to grab her and start our mini adventure. After we got back to the Bnb, it was time to have a bev, check out our outfits and plan the night. Preparing to have a long night, we gathered everything we might need. Swimsuit, portable bar, mixers… we decided to leave our car in the garage for easy access to our needs and headed for the venue. We stopped out front to find that the venue staff seemed a little more amped than they needed to be. Why were we standing there? Uhh just waiting for someone. Our friends came and went and we headed inside. Again, the staff and one woman especially, really wanted to herd us into our seats. Wanting to get a drink we shuffled by her. We still had a few minutes so we took a seat, at a table and chatted. The same woman was back again asking where we were going. No where, lady! We’re just sitting here with a friend before the show.
We got into our seats which were essentially second row behind another friend. The crowd was pretty dead and Bob barely acknowledged the audience compared to the previous shows that were full of “thank you”s all through the shows. Bob directed the band a lot and songs were changing. That said, a standout was Serve Somebody, featuring the new smooth sound. After the show we met up with some my my very oldest Bob friends. In fact, the friends Id say I took my first wild overnight nob journey with in 2003. I had flown out to Seattle to travel down the coast from Seattle to Berkeley for my 21st birthday. I had somehow arranged to meet a guy my age and ride from Eugene to Arcata, CA where i’d catch a greyhound to Red Bluff for the day off. That drive was long, 6 or more hours. I crawled into the back seat with Mike, Drew and Jennie. Overnight during our drive through the redwoods, we saw a child on a bike on the middle of the road, a moose and a bunch of chickens I think. I remember the sun was about to come up when we got to Arcata. I hadn’t seen Drew since then I think. We had run into Michael at the last show in Evansville in the fall. It was so great to be there with them, 21 years later, so far from where we all met. We continued long into the night with other friends and had plenty of harmless misadventures for the rest of the night. Second Orlando
I woke up to a “good morning sunshine” text saying let’s go eat! Wearily we dressed, coffeed and trekked downtown. It was a beautiful day thankfully, and we settled on sushi (which I had insisted on the night before but wasn’t so sure about at that moment). We took a leisurely day, hit another tiki bar, a grocery to restock the mixers for the newly acquired Rum I’d picked up (shout out to Papa’s Pilar Blonde Rum). We couldn’t get it together to meet up with anyone before the show so we got ready slowly, called an uber and stashed our supplies in our friend’s room for later. Tonight, we had second row, but it was actually the front row on the left. Bob was on fire tonight, seemingly revived from a night in Orlando. He was locked into every song and did some funny hand gesturing on Key west. We laughed a lot, us and Bob. He was definitely Performing and having fun doing it. One of the highlights were the extra long band intro to Baby tonight. We looked at each other, as it has been our new thing to dance for the last part of the song, and the intro went on and on. Bob came out to bow a couple times. Clearly feeling it more than the first night. We had a somewhat mellow evening, only getting together with a couple friends. Again the apocalypse came back. All of the street blocked with police cars with lights flashing. We waited in the cold breeze for our uber back home. Jacksonville
We awoke to me realizing we had to be out of the place at 10, not 11. Rushing, we managed it and pulled out just as our host was pulling up. A cold front had come through but we stopped at the beach in Daytona for a very short beach walk and lunch before finding our bnb north of Jacksonville. The neighborhood seemed nice, surrounded by a pretty run down city. The immediate feature was the excess of cats. Like, A LOT of cats. We unloaded, and headed into town for a coffee date we’d set the day before. After a stroll and dolphin watching opportunity we came back to the bnb, driving through the bombed out and lost city. Later we took a little drive back to downtown for a little hang and headed home before it was too very late. During the day, we decided to head down to St. Augustine for the day for a little more lively and interesting surrounding. It was good medicine and the sun was warm despite the cold wind. We took the coast road home and leisurely go ready for the last night of our little adventure. We arrived at the venue and said our hellos and goodbyes from the road. Some old friends and some new. It always kind of brings my energy down. Saying goodbye, knowing some will travel on and wishing I could too. Wondering if that’s the last time I’l see them. Regardless, we went in, got our drinks and got down to our seats. We were in the front row today. The crowd was subdued and there was no dancing to be done this night, not because the crowd didn’t want it too, but because the security, which had corralled us into the front area with several safety checks and wrist bands, said so. The show was solid. To Be Alone With You Bob does some step down singing reminiscent of the album version. Long harp Solo. The kicker of the show was the guy who was in the front row who had been up and clapping during the show. He held up a sign saying, can I have your harmonica. Bob obliged. What a happy guy that must be! After the show everyone was tired from the last few days of excitement and we went home. Caroline to fly and drive all day, and myself driving all the way back to Ohio. Neither of us could sleep…. See you in Austin, Bob!

Orlando & Jacksonville March 9, 10 & 12, 2024-Caroline

My first venture into 2024’s Rough And Rowdy Ways World Tour starts out with thematic reverberations of a much older song than any in the currently played set list as my flight to Orlando, originally scheduled for 7:30 AM gets changed to 10:57, then 9:56, then 9:36, then 9:06, then 8:06 – yes, indeed, the times they are a-changin’! This last update sends me hastily ending a phone call and racing for the gate as I am on the other side of the terminal and the current time is 7:40. I get to the gate and barely a person is there and the door to the jetway is closed with no agents at the podium, and so for a brief, panicky moment I think somehow it’s all boarded and I can’t get on! I rush to a nearby gate that is peopled by southwest employees and, between breaths, gasp that I need to be let on my flight, I can’t miss it! With some curious looks the Southwest employees assure me that, no, that flight has not yet boarded and is still delayed. Ok, then. Back at my gate the departure time remains posted as 8:06, which by this time has already come and gone, and they apologize that they are unable to change that notification. Which doesn’t really make sense since they’ve changed it SO many times already. I endure various updates about a mechanical issue and then a missing pilot, and they have everyone line up to board and then sit down several times. But ultimately, the flight delay gods go easy on me and we end up heading for the Sunshine State, Kait, and of course Bob Dylan only an hour and a half late. I make it to Orlando with a few hours to spare before show time, enough to go back to our upstairs bungalow Airbnb, freshen up, and get a cocktail in me before heading to the venue.
Outside the venue we have various encounters, arranged and otherwise, with friends and Fan Club members from down the years. Venue workers keep coming up to us and asking us questions: are you waiting for someone? Are you valet parking? Do you know what door you are going in? While I appreciate the help, it feels a bit like an interrogation as, after all, we’re just standing outside an auditorium before a concert, which seems like a pretty normal activity – do we really look that shady (don’t answer that question)? Anyway, soon enough we are inside in our excellent seats in row three but kind of row two the way the venue is arranged, all the way on the left hand side facing the stage; right where we will be for every night of this three-show run, except we will move a row closer each night. A great situation!
I admit that I’ve lost track of the different intro music that Bob employs to signal the start of a show. But right on time it blasts out and the curtains lift and there they all are, Bob and everyone in place and some plink-plonking already going on at the piano. A surge of excitement as the show begins. It’s apparent immediately that this has really become a show centered on Bob at the piano, and of course his singing, which is strong. The band is very subdued, sometimes at Bob’s insistence as he motions one or the other of them with a hand to his side or behind his back to reduce the tempo or volume of their playing. I’m struck that Bob is in a mode of really trying to achieve a certain sound or mood and that he’s not always feeling like he’s getting there. But what is art if not a challenge and a struggle, sometimes for the artist and sometimes for the audience? Bob’s shows demand you to pay close attention and he is clearly a perfectionist right now for trying to get things “right,” whatever that is in his brain. He’s searching. And lord almighty he is playing that piano! I’m struck by his keyboard flourishes and concentrated solos that seem impromptu in any song at any moment. He laughs out loud a few times at this show, directly into the microphone, which is always endearing to hear.
While Bob has snuck a good number of cover songs into his shows the past few tours, I’ve seen a scant few of them. In fact, it sort of seems that for whatever stretch I join a tour, I get identical shows. Which I don’t really care about, because they are so good and I’ve seen so many shows and so many songs, over the years. So, true to recent form, I get three nights in Florida of the cover song Walking By Myself. This first night is the best one, in my opinion, and really one of the best moments of the evening. He really digs into it, especially during one round of the part that starts, “I love ya,” and he repeats, “love, love, love YA!” a bunch of times and then, upon the song’s closing, states into the microphone an extra, “I love ya!” to the audience. It’s special, and one of those moments when in your brain after a long day of travel and associated stresses you hear yourself say, “Yeah, that’s why I’m here!” Bob sits more than stands at the piano tonight, which actually works well for the view we have and for him not being blocked by the microphone. We also get the longest show of the three I will see, since it’s the only one where he includes Gotta Serve Somebody in the set list, so that is cool.
We round out the night with a great party at an Irish pub around the corner where old friends meet and combine effortlessly with friends just met tonight. There are locals and someone from as far away as England. We share stories about shows we’ve seen and mutual friends we have in common, and it’s a jolly time. After we close the bar we enjoy some late night continued partying and swimming at a friend’s hotel; even though our friend loses their room key in the pool and we have to go to the lobby dripping and wrapped in towels to get a new one, it’s not too difficult and gives us something more to laugh about the next day. We lose an hour with the clocks so it’s an extra-late night, but at least the show is in the same place so it’s a sleep day not a travel day!
The following day spent in Orlando is fun, with sushi and tiki drinks and strolling around Lake Eola watching swans attack dogs on leashes. The show tonight is probably my favorite of the three. I feel that Bob was totally on point through and through. There are a couple of songs with flubbed lyrics that someone afterward points out to me but honestly I barely even notice in the moment because his whole being, his whole demeanor is so focused and into it. Maybe he was too into the vibe to remember all the words! And, as Bob will do at the drop of a hat, even from last night to tonight there are some really drastically changed arrangements! Both My Own Version Of You and I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You are reworked to have more jaunty, swinging tempos. I love both new arrangements, especially My Own Version Of You, which will stay that way in Jacksonville while I Made Up My Mind goes back to a slower, or maybe an in-between kind of tempo. Bob also stands up a lot tonight, so I guess he maybe got some good rest and was feeling energized!
But now that I said the second Orlando show was my favorite, maybe the show in Jacksonville was. With a day off in between, we get situated and then spend a bunch of the show day in the lovely nearby historic town of St. Augustine, a first time visit for me there. We eat some great food, stroll around in lovely sunshine, enjoy the interesting architecture of grand Spanish Colonial churches and modest older houses, even happening upon the area’s answer to Big Pink! The show in Jacksonville features Bob at his most interactive. We’re in the front row, perfectly positioned. We get a few flashing smiles and, while he may have been adjusting his lapel or fussing with his hair, I swear Kait and I get a sly sideways point across the keyboard during False Prophet, right at the lines,
“Hello Mary Lou, hello Miss Pearl, My fleet-footed guides from the underworld. No stars in the night shine brighter than you, You girls mean business and I do tooooooo!”
Bob plays an amazing piano interlude on To Be Alone With You tonight. It’s part boogie-woogie, part weird dissonant avant garde jazz, and it seems to last a really long time. The other most exciting thing that happens tonight is the harmonica solo during I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight. You see, any show that Kait and I are at together of these Rough And Rowdy Ways shows, even the most sit-down, deadbeat audience, we always, always get up and dance during I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, the fast part. It’s the song after which Bob gave us the double point (pistol fingers) in Huntington WV late last year. It’s kind of our song with him, right now, like Standing In The Doorway or High Water was in 2003. So how thrilling it is when the jam part starts in that song in Jacksonville, and Kait and I leap from our seated positions to shake it at least for this brief minute or two that we do, and Bob concurrently grabs the harmonica and blows his lungs out in an extravagant and elegant way for the same part! It’s like he’s joining in dancing with us at the show.

Throwback to Easter Sunday 2003-Caroline

Austin, Texas / April 19 & 20, 2003

After the show in Dallas we drive three hours to The Backyard. Despite our half-night of half-sleep on the Dallas streets, which now that we’ve been electrified by Bob feels like forever ago, there’s no chance we’ll get tired soon. We’re full of excitement, full of the show, full of the incomparable feeling of having just launched into this great adventure. Full of all these things and more, we buzz along comparing mental notes and shared observations of the night. We roll in around 1:30 AM, first people there except for Robin and Lex who are already there sleeping in their truck (damn it!). We don’t get much sleep tonight, initially laying out our bedding in a little alcove by the front of the building. It’s dark, country quiet. We hear footsteps like someone stepping daintily in high heels and wonder who the heck it could be…an early arriving fan checking out the scene? No, it’s a deer walking around in the parking lot. Then a worker guy arrives at some ungodly hour in the morning while it’s still dark, and wakes us up to tell us that he’s going to let us keep sleeping for a little while…but that we’ll have to move around to a different gate. OK, duly noted, and we dive deeper into our bags, trying to secure a few more minutes of unconsciousness. But a minute later he’s back and says, actually, you should just move now. So we drag all our crap and move the car to where he tells us, and by this time the first hints of light are beginning to adorn the eastern sky. Ants wake up and begin crawling into our sleeping bags. Birds begin to sing. There is a particular bird in Texas that goes Doo-dee, doo-dee, doo-dee. More on that later. For now, we’re up to sleepily greet the day, find coffee, and while away the hours until we are next in front of Bob.

The Backyard is located outside of Austin in the town of Bee Caves, at the intersection of State Highway 7 and Farm Roads 620 and 2244. History tells us that the town of Bee Caves was named by early settlers for a large cave of wild bees found near the site where the town was established. If you ask me, that doesn’t seem like the smartest placement for a town. Hey, there’s a large cave of wild bees over here, lets settle down and make a town. Bring your EpiPen.

But it’s a nice place to spend a couple days in line. It’s a quite different setting from outside the Granada Theater; also markedly different than where our next one-two punch of shows will be, smack in the middle of downtown Houston. From city show to country show. There are wildflowers and trees and cactus all over the place. Kait squats on a cactus, trying to pee; fire ants turn out to be more of a problem for me than bees, as they swarm and sting the tops of my feet when I go for a bit of walkabout in the surrounding scrub. The only place to get any provisions is the gas station across Highway 71, where the lights are timed strictly in favor of the cars, not people trying to cross the road. But we don’t have much else to do besides take our life in our hands a couple times a day dashing across in the gaps between the cars going 60 miles per hour, and it is nice being out in the country.

It says on our tickets that the show will take place in the Live Oak Amphitheatre, and once we get inside I can see why. It’s an outdoor stage behind the bar and indoor part of the venue. Several big old oak trees tower here and there interspersed throughout the audience area, and also frame the stage magnificently. Quite a nice ambiance and a bit more room to stretch out than last night, under open sky and tree boughs.

Soon it is Bob’s vocal chords that are stretching out on a galloping Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum opener, drawing out notes in an enthusiastically nasal twang. Tell Me That It Isn’t True has Bob expressing the story in ways that are alternately longing, matter-of-fact, playful, and pissed off. Some lines frankly spoken: “You say that you’re planning, planning to put me down” almost as if he’s reading it written down in front of him, nothing but the facts, trying to reign in his feelings. But when he says ‘man’ as in ‘some other man,’ it is difficult to say and the word is edged with worry, with sorrow. The journey continues, and we get, “I just don’t understaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand,” followed by a pointed inquiry from the now angry, defiant lover: “Why would I?”

In contrast to a song like Tell Me That It Isn’t True, with its myriad nuances reflecting a range of emotional intricacies, Saving Grace is straight up. Nothing tongue in cheek about this one. It is Bob laid bare, singing with sweet and unmatched conviction, and it sends shivers down my spine to hear.

Things Have Changed bumps up the energy a notch, as it usually does, and this continues into the next song, Just Like A Woman, which is sung and played with quite a bit of vigor: “And she aaaaaaaAAACHES! A-just like a WOmaaaan. And make LUUUUUV – Yeeeaaaeeeees!” And so on, demonstrating line by line just how much can be done with a song that’s been done how many times down the years? It’s vibrant and new tonight and we’re hanging on each syllable.

But my undisputed highlight of the show, the weekend, and the tour so far, is an exquisite One Too Many Morning. Oh, this tugs at my soul. It’s a rarity, and each time I’ve heard it feels like the only time. There is a pedal steel intro that might defy description in its soft beauty. It’s almost as if I can see the notes float down from on high, like clouds or feathers. With Larry Campbell, things are always just right, never overdone or underdone. On the final note before Bob comes in singing, he puts some kind of a warp or bend on it, so that it distorts just ever so slightly in the fade out, wah wah, like a sob. Bob handles the song with great love and care, singing it sweet and simple, a whole world in each lonely word. There are great spaces of music in between the sung verses. Bob plays guitar for the second time tonight, and his searching wandering guitar licks echo the ambivalent sadness of the song, that restless hungry feeling, seeking around for an answer when there really is none. We’re both just… the lilting pedal steel notes wrap around Bob’s acoustic guitar lines. The music reflects the feeling so perfectly. Bob sings the last verse quietly, making us lean in and pay close attention. When he says, “You are right from your side,” it’s followed by just the vaguest hint of a chuckle, a subtle, ‘Huh,’ which somehow seems perfectly appropriate, a touch of the comic in the tragedy, the ability to laugh which makes us human, residing there in the sadness of irreconcilable differences.

After the show we get invited to go to The Four Seasons to have a drink with Hutch. Since tomorrow night’s in the same spot, no need for any of us to hit the road! One of the bus drivers, Sonny, is also there, and he’s funny as hell. He tells stories about driving the tour bus for Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, being given pot-laced confections by the band unbeknownst to him, and driving an all-nighter tripping on acid. Hutch looks on with mild disapproval. On the way from the Four Seasons to the hotel where we’ll be sleeping on the floor, Nicole and I smoke a joint and it throws my head into a crazy twisted space. I go from being ready to crash to having warped visions and intense auditory hallucinations. We get into an already dark hotel room where others are sleeping and I struggle with my sleeping bag for ten minutes, trying to remember how it works. Once I lay down in my spot on the floor, I can’t turn off the sound of music in my head. As I’m kind of drifting off to sleep or, more accurately, floating in some interim space between being awake and asleep, I begin to hear songs from the concert replayed in my head. It starts out that I’m remembering a song, I think it is Just Like A Woman, and thinking about it, but soon it takes on a life of its own and I’m hearing it loud and blasting and seeing Bob on stage. Then he starts to morph into weird psychedelic animals. Then he catches on fire. That makes me realize it’s a dream so I shake myself out of it and it’s just me, lying there on the floor. But I can’t for the life of me think of where I am. Then I remember, and try to root myself there…Austin, hotel room floor, Kait’s right there, Bob played tonight…Every time I close my eyes and approach what feels like sleep, my mind starts to race, I hear the music, and I’m back at this live show where inexplicable things are happening to Bob. I wonder if I’m going crazy.

But in a few hours we’re up at 6 and I’m merely tired, heading back over to the venue. It’s Easter Sunday. We stumble into line again. The line is next to a little box office that they use for some shows, and it has an electrical outlet on the outside that is perfect for plugging in our coffee maker. So we brew up coffee right there in line. I hunch in my folding chair with my purple sleeping bag wrapped around me, listening again to the birds that say doo-dee and waiting for the sun to warm up the day.

The day passes with some hands of gin rummy and walks back and forth to the store and the car. There’s a guy there from San Antonio who slept in the bushes because he thought the night security would kick him out if they saw him. Some mishaps occur on the run in tonight. Kait has a shirt mishap, a wardrobe malfunction which receives enthusiastic applause from the guys leaning on their counters in the concession booths watching us speed in. There’s a little wooden footbridge that you have to run up and over and there’s some loose gravel on the other side. Deb from Wyoming picks up a little too much speed and goes down in a cloud of dust. I make it in mishap-free and am one of the first down there and snag ourselves a spot just a bit farther right tonight, perfectly in Bob’s sightline.

Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You replaces last night’s Tell Me That It Isn’t True, in its early show positioning as well as its emotionally indecisive quality. Bob may be staying, but he sounds kind of wrecked about it, and Larry’s crying pedal steel backs him up. “LAWD I hear that station master TOO!” He sounds pained, maybe it’s a love / hate kinda thing! Or maybe he just knows he’ll have to leave tomorrow night.

Next we hit it hard with a sprawling, galloping, Tombstone Blues. It’s barely contained, with the music all spilling out around the edges of the song, and Bob kind of loses it vocally on the “John the Baptist” verse – keeps up with the pacing of the words but makes up his own. It’s phonetically more or less accurate but isn’t really words. He’s over-excited. I’m over-excited. He attacks the keyboard after that verse. George comes in and out with drumming like gunshots.

Ah, the perfect foil to the out-of-control nature of Tombstone is You Ain’t Going Nowhere, lilting and lovely and such a sweet rendition. “Ooo Eee ride me high!” Bob’s singing on this is buoyantly enthusiastic, bouncing around the edges of the melody, like he’s trying to bust out of a cage. His harmonica solo to close it out is similar, wild and unruly within the sweet confines of Larry’s pedal steel. Wonderfully contrasting sounds.

It Ain’t Me Babe is a song that continues to bring Bob to the guitar, and Larry goes to violin. Wow! More sounds in beautiful harmonious contrast to each other! A musical jam that comprises the last third of the song has Bob’s signature staccato guitar noodlings wrapped up in a violin line that ebbs and flows in intensity and sounds kind of like a bee or giant mosquito dipping and diving in and out. It’s prettier than that description would lead you to think, and most definitely unique and interesting.

Something weird happens at the end of the show. I’ve been wearing a skimpy sundress with skinny straps and have noticed, particularly as we’ve gotten into rockers like Cold Irons Bound, Dignity, Honest With Me, a fair bit of attentiveness from Bob. He’s bopping along, ducking his head down beneath his microphone at the piano and… smiling? After the All Along The Watchtower encore, he dons his black cowboy hat and stands with the other guys staring out at the audience, looking around, assessing the crowd and accepting our applause. However, he pretty quickly comes over to the side that we are on, and settles his eyes on me. We lock gazes. I blow him a kiss and tell him I love him, and he doesn’t look away. He narrows his blue eyes, the better to see me with? And he just…keeps…looking. I get the feeling he’s sizing me up. He kind of wiggles his hips a little, shifts weight from leg to leg, opens and closes his fingers into loose fists. I blow him another kiss and I think he barely, almost imperceptibly, nods and puckers his lips a little. It must be a total of a full minute that he’s staring down at me from the stage, taking me in. Is he thinking about other times he’s seen me, remembering past encounters, or trying to think where? Wondering how many more shows I’ll be at? Or thinking about what’s on the bus to eat? Who the fuck knows. All I know is that Bob Dylan staring at me for a minute feels like time without end; I kind of feel like I should look away but since he doesn’t, I don’t. Finally he turns and walks off stage with the rest of them. I feel like someone’s seen through my skin to my heart and soul, like I’ve been revealed.

It freaks me out but I want more.

He's Still Cute, and We're Still Friends: Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY Nov 23 & 24, 2021-Caroline

My first venture into Bobland this tour, this year, and this decade, was defined in large part by the reuniting after way too long with Kait and sharing in the unshakable bond between us two that is never stronger than when we are around Bob. This second excursion, all the way across the country to the Empire State, was punctuated by a whole cavalcade of connections and re-connections. There were old friends with whom I’ve kept up over the years; equally old friends with whom I’d lost total touch and was delightfully surprised to see and spend time with; friends from the internet never actually encountered in ‘real life’ but felt like we had; and brand new friends, some fleeting and some I feel confident I will see at more shows. Liz, Allyson, Joanna, Jay (I never actually saw you but knew you were there!), Don, Susan & Al (just a drive-by, but still), Michael, Martin, Bob (not THAT Bob, though he was there, too). Todd! Richard, who crossed the Rubicon, I mean, the East River, to kick things off at that strange combination of speakeasy and dive bar we almost didn’t find a mile from my junkyard-encircled hotel out by LaGuardia. And of course Mr. Jinx, ever one of my favorite traveling and show-going companions. And then at the end of it all, that chick at the airport bar in San Diego who, after I told her where I’d just been, at first declared herself “Bobby D’s biggest fan,” until she found out that I was THE Caroline, admin of The Bob Dylan Fan Club, in which she is a member and participant. I’ve rarely felt so famous! It was truly a trip from start to finish populated by characters and colored by socialization.

I always love the GA shows the best and they are few and far between now when it comes to Bob. The opportunity to get right up front so that there is no one in between me and Bob. The ability to move, dance, sway and let the feeling of the music come through in that physical way that is largely lacking when sitting (or bouncing) in a seat. That prized front and center rail spot, of course, necessitates hanging out at the venue in line all day – but even that was quite a pleasure. Catching up with people and meeting new folks, including John the fun and talkative parking enforcement guy, sipping on a couple of beers and passing the day quite pleasantly in the thankfully not too bitter cold.

As we’ve heard by now repeatedly this tour, the set list played for both Port Chester shows was identical and the same as the other shows on the tour, with the exception of the slight changes made at the very beginning. But they were quite different in feel! I was a bit worried at the outset of night one, as the vocal at first was almost inaudible; and I’m not sure whether it was a cause or a result of that sound problem that Bob stumbled on the first two lines of Watching The River Flow. What’s the matter with me? Thankfully, though, whatever was the matter got quickly corrected and soon Bob’s vocals were up in the mix and clear. He also managed to sing into the microphone more successfully after those first couple lines. He never seemed to quite fully settle in this night though. Was he having a hard time hearing things clearly? Was he a bit freaked out by having his fans so close at hand at this first and, other than tomorrow night, only GA standing show of the tour? Maybe he raged on his night off last night in NYC and was just tired. Impossible to know but he remained, at least to my perception, a bit hesitant and maybe just a bit introverted throughout. On this tour there are a number of songs that he begins center stage and then migrates to the piano, or vice versa, on any given night; tonight the lone song that he came center stage for was Melancholy Mood. On any others, during sections when he wasn’t playing piano, he would seem as if he was thinking about going center stage but would instead just take a couple of steps away from the keys and face his band and sway. That in itself was kind of interesting and cool in its uniqueness– watching the back of that famous curly head taking in his musicians. At least once he was not entirely pleased with what he heard, going over to Tony a couple of times in what appeared to be agitation and during I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight he repeatedly says something to his band about “the beat,” and not in a pleased way. Despite any discomfort or displeasure that may have been part of Bob’s demeanor tonight, the show was powerful and captivating, and I was entranced by all the Rough And Rowdy Ways songs. During I Contain Multitudes I got a pointed look and signal of a raised hand when Bob sang about Liberace, even though tonight I did not actively woop on his behalf – proving that Bob knows things that he shouldn’t reasonably know. Key West is a stunner night after night and always seems to be the song people are swooning over, a trip we all go on together like a drug we all take for a shared hallucinogenic experience. I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You was my out-the-gate favorite on the new album, though seeing the songs live has brought others to the forefront and perhaps challenged that status. But it remains a very special one and really takes me with it tonight; Bob’s singing is the vocal equivalent of a swoon, with his voice grabbing softly hold of me and dipping me way down and back up in a romantic grip, like the shadow dancers on the poster. I love it so much. Actually, he also came center stage briefly on this one tonight, after his gorgeous mid song piano solo.

Night two and I’ve had a feeling all day that Bob’s gonna rock the joint tonight. I am not mistaken! The front row is rarin’ to go as Bob promptly takes the stage – he’s maybe even a minute early. Oddly, he stumbles on the first two lines of the first song, Watching The River Flow, again tonight! It’s hard to tell if he is jumbling words, or not quite at the microphone, or both. And even more oddly, I have since seen multiple reviews of other shows where he does the same – both nights in Philly for example. Just what’s going on here? Is this some type of performance art and actually part of the song arrangement now? What’s the matter with Bob?! He don’t have much to say. Oh wait, but he does! And he goes on to say it all with force and vigor tonight. He makes up for whatever shyness or reticence he was feeling last night and then some, going center stage for some portion of what seems like about half the songs, starting early on with I Contain Multitudes. Tonight Bob is smiley, pointy, jazzhandy, and singing his heart out. He seems thrilled to be with us and pours so much into every song. Some of my favorites tonight are the Rough And Rowdy rockers. False Prophet contains an entire song’s worth of emoting in each line, with Bob really hamming it up in the best of ways. And Jimmy Reed! He starts out center stage with just him and the microphone, before returning to a full on assault on the piano; I’m not sure he’s done any center stage on this one at the other shows. Bob is feeling this one tonight 100% and more – it’s full of fire and seems to achieve that scratchy old sound of an old record, and that’s meant in the best of ways. And his singing, holy hell! Drawing out so many lines to wonderful effect. Thump on the bible, proclaim a creeeeeeeed! There’s some moment tonight when Bob is at the piano and gives me a distinct nod and point; Mr. Jinx sees it too, but now neither of us can remember what song or line it was during. Bad reporting, I know. But I get so wrapped in the moment that I forget to remember things sometimes. Oh well. It’s nice to be noticed, and I’ll just hope it was during a line more like, “I knew you’d say yeeeeesssss… I’m sayin’ it too” than, “Show me your ribs – I’ll stick in the knife!” or “I need you like my head needs a noose!”

There is a final moment tonight that I do remember well, that I see clear as day in my mind’s eye. Bob wrapping up Every Grain Of Sand and looking down from his place at the piano to where I stand in rapt attention a few feet away, and flashing me an open mouthed grin right in between these lines:

“Sometimes I look, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me
I’m hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan”

I like being here; or there, as the case may be. I like this plan and I like being a part of the plan, like we all are on this road with Bob. How wonderful that he’s back out, with all these new songs that people want to hear, continuing to give us all that he gives us in his multitudes of ways. I’m so glad he made this the “Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour.” I think that, more than with any other Bob album, seeing and hearing him play and sing these songs live on stage in front of me and to the world has made my love for the songs grow and blossom. I feel like I understand them more now, and understand a little more what they mean to Bob.

Before band intros tonight:
“Nice to play this place, what a beautiful place indeed! I hear the Marx Brothers played here. Mae West, too. Can’t say more about this place than that. Anyway, we’re playing here now (crowd goes wild). Yeah! I wish Mae was with us but, you know, you can’t have everything.”

He Opened His Heart To The World And The World Came In - Palace Theatre, Columbus OH, Nov 6 2021-Caroline

What a fun and fabulous blend of the old and the new, the familiar and the first-time, this trip to Bob encompassed! More than two years apart from him, and three years gone since I last was with Kait (could that be possible?). It was a mad dash from my home behind the redwood curtain to SE Ohio and back, for one show – but, when Bob announced a Saturday night in Columbus just an hour and a half from Kait’s home, I felt like he was calling us in, arranging it so that the Fan Club Co-Directors could attend a show together for the first time since 2018, and I had no other choice except but for to go!

From the minute I landed in Columbus until the moment Kait dropped me back off at the airport some 48 hours later, it was the best time. Friday night was good eats and drinks and some good rest, too, since my trip there had necessitated a 3:00 AM wake up. Saturday saw more good eats around the fine local dining of picturesque Athens, OH; a gorgeous sun-dappled hike in autumn woods; and a late afternoon departure for Columbus, the Fan Club meet-up (great to see Greg and Erika and to meet Peg!), and BOB.

Running The Bob Dylan Fan Club makes it not really possible to avoid seeing what Bob is playing if I wanted to be surprised, and I’m not sure I’d ever have the self-control to do that anyway. This tour, however, since my first show was so early on, I did make it a point to avoid listening to any of the recordings before actually being present in the room. I really wanted my first experience with the Rough And Rowdy Ways songs to be in person..

As if it wasn’t exciting enough to be seeing Bob for the first time in 2 years, to witness a show where he plays 8 out of 10 songs off his most recent album is all that much more so. If I had to use just one word to describe this current show it might be ‘deep.’ The music is quiet, even relatively so on the rocking numbers. There is no back drop and no stage lights, save for the lit-up floor that dims and brightens during the show. The focus is, even more than usual, on Bob. The backing band is subdued. There are no mannequins, no busts on the piano; I didn’t even see the Oscar, though it could have been there somewhere. There weren’t really any solos, no flashy playing, just an almost jazz-club quiet musical background, a stage set for Bob to do his thing.

And what a thing it is, from start to finish. The show kicks off in a jaunty way with the rollicking, bluesy Watching the River Flow. Bob comes out blazing, banging on the keys in a honky tonk fashion. Is it a sly joke that the first words out of Bob’s mouth after the enforced Covid hiatus are, “What’s the matter with me, I don’t have much to say?” As with all of the classic songs Bob is playing on this tour, he’s fiddled with the words or the arrangements or both.

Masterpiece is a cool version. It’s got a bounce to it, and Donnie’s violin playing behind the leaping beat. Bob’s singing is creative, slinging out the lines with well-placed pauses that add emphatic delivery to each one. He gives a little laugh after, “Someday, everything’s gonna be beautiful.” And that really cool little false ending before the real ending. It seems to be something Bob enjoys doing with his older songs these days – switching up the tempo as it gets to the end for dramatic effect.

As one who never fails to surprise, what do you know, we are getting chatty Bob on this tour! Reports keep coming in of little asides and comments he is making between songs. Tonight we get the mysterious sharing that he “slept in a room last night that was haunted” and somehow that’s connected with, “I can’t seem to stay on my feet!” In actuality, he seems to be achieving that just fine, standing pretty much the entire time he’s at the piano, and coming center stage for choice bits of microphone singing, signature hand gestures, and a little fancy footwork.

Perhaps the most drastic reworking takes place with I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight. It starts a little like Gotta Serve Somebody later in the show. It’s rompin’ stompin’ with a driving beat and plonking of the piano keys. Thankfully there are enough people in the audience scattered around who can’t stay in their seats that we don’t have to, on this and a few of the other fast numbers. Toniiiiigggghhht, I’m gonna try and make you mine! Then it goes into a swinging swaggering slow blues at the end. Very different and very fun.

But the soul of the show are the least rough and rowdy of the Rough And Rowdy Ways songs. Whether Bob is bringing someone to life with assorted scavenged body parts, letting us know he’s made up his mind to give himself to us, or guiding us on a trip to the mythical soulscape that is his Key West, these songs ensconce you in their imagery and mesmerize you with their lilting melodies and singing. These songs take their time; Bob sings them with care and concentration, and I was happy to see that the audience went with him most admirably, hanging on each syllable and falling under the songs’ spell, while wooping occasionally in appreciative recognition of one of the many cultural and popular references contained (I wooped for Liberace), or a particularly well-phrased line. I felt like these songs and THIS Bob, weaving his weird, dense musical tales from his latest record, was actually the Bob that people had most come to see.

Not to say they didn’t cheer raucously and enthusiastically for the night’s one harmonica solo, a drawn out intro to To Be Alone With You. This one too has a batch of new words including:

Some people just don’t get it
They don’t have a clue
They don’t know what it’s like
To be alone with you

And my favorite,

I wish the night were here
Without a doubt
I’d fall into your arms
I’d let it all hang out

(I might add, as Jack Fate said to Tom Friend, “It always has been hanging out.”)

Key West was thoroughly enchanting and mesmerizing. The performance felt like it stopped time and I left my body for a minute. It could have lasted a moment or a hundred years. I would have been happy for the haunting soothing melody and Bob’s chanting of the mysterious lyrics to just go on and on, and I literally had to shake myself out of a trance when it was over.

The song that brought a tear to my eye, though, was Mother Of Muses. This is an instance of a song that came to life for me in concert; I enjoyed it upon listenings at home to Rough And Rowdy Ways, but it sort of blended into the album, for me. Here it stands out and is quietly powerful. With the lines about already outliving his life by far and then traveling light, slow comin’ home… oh, man. Bob reflecting on his artistic immortality and then in the next breath his mortal destiny, right there on the stage before us, is a heady thing. For we who have followed along on his winding journey all these years, it is intense and emotional.

But he doesn’t let that spell last long, bringing it all back to a tune of the type that no doubt electrified him the way he electrified the world, Jimmy Reed, a bluesy declaration shouted from the stage that is equally weighty. Bob testifying for that old time rocking religion, from which he himself sprung. It’s quite a back-to-back of tunes!

And then, he sets it down gently. Tonight is the second night that the two song encore of Love Sick and It Takes A Lot To Laugh (It Takes A Train To Cry) is replaced by Every Grain Of Sand. A song of confession, awe, humility, and faith, sung simply at the piano with no altered lyrics, no tweaked melody or timing. It is a perfect statement to wrap it all up.

One more time, Bob has opened his heart to the world and we’ve gladly, gratefully come in.

We spend a few minutes outside the venue, shuffling around, dazed, thinking about saying goodbye to a few folks but as yet unable to really engage, still shrouded in a veil of Bob bliss. We settle for the one goodbye that we feel capable of, which is to stand on the curb, under the brightly lit marquee, with a few other souls and wave lovingly and longingly to the buses rolling by, rounding the corner and heading on up the avenue and into the night. I imagine Bob on the other side peering out to see who might be bidding him farewell, waving wistfully and blowing a few kisses into the cool night air. Parting is always such sweet sorrow. Then it’s time for our own short drive home and a long night together; even with the time change and gaining an hour we stay up until almost 5, because we have drinks to drink and a few other things to help, music to listen to, a friendship to revel in with stories and reminiscences and plans and laughter, all live and in person for a precious few more hours.

Tulsa, OK - October 12, 2018-Caroline

I leave for Tulsa approximately 48 hours before show time, not out of such extreme enthusiasm (though I am excited), but because I live 5 hours away from the nearest viable airport and my flight east is at 6 AM. It’s an epic journey for one show that starts with a night (not) sleeping at the airport in San Francisco, but it is 100% worth the trip!

The excursion is filled with old-school fan meet ups both planned and unplanned, starting with a surprise encounter with my old pal Joanna also making the trip from SF on the same flight. Wichita friends Lex and Robin are front and center and it’s great to see them; and of course I have a great time with Andy at the casino before and after the show as well as in our perfect seats stage right in ideal sight-line with Bob at the piano. We’ve gone to so many shows together! I feel like Bob is happy to see us as we are to see him, and especially the center stage songs bring a number of smiles and “jazzhands” directed our way. Bob once told me he loves seeing me ‘out there’ and I have to say that he demonstrates that truth whenever we cross paths.

Smiles from the man notwithstanding, this is a show where Bob is mostly concentrated, focused and intense. Which isn’t surprising given the depth and intensity of some of these song arrangements. I’m happy to report that tonight’s audience seems to match him in engaged concentration, hanging on every word and then responding with swells of cheers and applause at all the right moments. Everyone always talks about how Bob is rearranging and reinventing his songs and I have to say that at this show I feel like that has been taken to the max, as much as any other time I’ve seen him. And these dramatically and newly reworked arrangements are some of the most exciting to me!

When I Paint My Masterpiece is a re-imagining of the song that no one could have guessed. It is slow and sonorous and contemplative, a journey that feels more like looking back then looking forward to the ‘some day’ when everything is gonna be ‘beautiful’. Then it picks up, becomes subtly jaunty, with lovely piano riffs. It takes its time with long musical interludes and new lyrics. We get:
Sailing round the world full of crimson and clover
Sometimes I feel that my cup has runneth ooooovvvver
It strikes me as reminiscent in both lyrics and feel to:
My hear is not weary, it’s light and it’s free
I’ve got nothing but affection for all those who’ve sailed with me.
And harmonica! I love that Bob is playing some sweet and soaring notes from that instrument this tour – it’s been a while!

Another knockout new arrangement is Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right. The song takes on whole new dimensions of remorse that belies the words, similar to narrator in Most Of The Time; we know he really does care, and he’s definitely thought more than twice about this song’s subject, even if it is all right. You can hear the Great American Songbook influence on this one. Such vocal control! Piano-heavy, with beautiful runs and fills. And then that harp. The pedal steel. It all weaves together so beautifully. Then it gets a little sassy with the last verse, a spring in its step, hearkening back to the original as it closes out.

Then there’s Like A Rolling Stone, back in the show once over the summer after only two outings in about the last six years, and now a staple in the set – and so weirdly new! It’s one of the songs that myself and a handful of others in the venue are standing and dancing for (how can you not?), but it’s so funny to dance to because of dramatic pauses and tempo fluctuations. You can’t help but get the feeling that Bob’s messing with us. Somehow, though, it totally works. It’s like meeting up with an old friend you haven’t seen in a while who has inevitably changed but is also at core still the same.

I feel like the lack of a second guitar has given more space to Bob’s piano that he is admirably filling, and on no song is this more evident than Cry A While. Again, another slowed down version, but hot and bluesy and crashing. Bob attacks it both vocally and at the keyboard, pounding that thing. It’s awesome.

The songs from Tempest are reliably good. Scarlet town, one of two center stage songs, is mesmerizing with a vaguely far eastern sound to the music, deep and mystifying. Bob draws out the ends of the final line of each stanza – you wish to god that you’d stayed riiiiiiiiggggggght here! He is a master storyteller, illustrator and conjurer rolled into one with this song in which every line is filled with strange characters and vivid images.

The other song sung mid-stage is Love Sick, a recent mainstay with a whole new feel. Bob seems to be so into experimenting with his vocals, and on this one it is, like on others tonight, slowed down and sung in a controlled and dramatic manner with the music pulsing behind. It has a spooky and vaguely sinister feel.

I admit to a wee bit of sadness when I saw that It Takes A Lot To Laugh (It Takes A Train To Cry) was out of the set list, at least for now. But when Bob lilts into the replacement song, Soon After Midnight, another off Tempest, I have no regret in my being. Though the former is obviously much rarer and I do like the languid, bluesy arrangement I’ve heard from this tour, my heart never fails to swell at the opening lines of “I’m searching for phrases to sing your praises, I need to tell someone,” and to amaze at hearing Bob sing ever so sweetly about dragging someone’s corpse through the mud.

All too soon it’s over, but that’s not to say I’m not satisfied. What a great night of music this was! Such a diversity of songs from different stages of Bob’s career, ranging from so quietly done you could hear a pin drop to a surf-rock tune with drum solo, but somehow all tied together with a common vibe that is a blend of swampy blues, honky-tonk piano, Rat Pack, torch ballad, and all unmistakably Bob. I’m thanking my lucky stars that I have two more shows to attend later in the tour. More to come!

Fall 2016: Vegas, Indio, Albuquerque (I can't even remember El Paso, uh, honey!)

If the fun of a trip can be judged by the difficulty of the reentry into what is commonly referred to as ‘real life’, then this was indeed a fun one. Sitting here on my couch feeling that everything is foreign and that the road, speeding along a highway somewhere with Mr. Jinx to my right, some kind of beautiful desert landscape or maybe the Wigwam Motel out the window to my left, and Bob on the horizon, are what’s real. All I really want to do is to be heading for another joint!

With the canceling of Bob’s show in Lubbock, TX (2nd row tickets and the home of Buddy Holly, damn it!) and the realization that we could leave in time to make Vegas, I depart Colorado excited for what feels like an ‘extra’ show, a bonus on top of what already promises to be an epic adventure in Bob-land. Anticipation for the show at the Chelsea is amplified as I am woken up early that morning by a New York Times headline alert coming in on the phone: Bob Dylan has won this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature! Wow! Soon the emailed and texted ‘congratulations’ start flowing my way from friends and family around the world; I feel almost as if I’ve won the prize myself! It’s certainly a uniquely proud day to be a Bob Dylan fan, though I have my doubts verging on certitude that he will say or do anything differently than what is already intended at his show tonight. Still, a cool and historic day on which to be seeing Bob perform!

Our friend Scott from California has made a spontaneous decision this morning to come to this show of the world’s newest Nobel laureate; he’s hopped on a plane and gets into town around 6:00, so we meet him in the lobby before show time for a quick drink and chat. Our seats are on a little side riser area just off the main floor. The best thing about these seats is that they are in the back row of just two rows in this section, so we are free to be up and dancing with no one behind us the whole show. That definitely takes the edge off of being farther away from Bob than I like to be!

Having seen the set list from the first weekend of Desert Trip, which contained no songs from the last two albums of tunes made famous by Frank Sinatra, and with weekend 2 of Desert Trip looming, I’m curious to see what Bob will do tonight, at this more standard-sized show sandwiched between the two biggies. This being Vegas, with the venue itself located just off Frank Sinatra Drive, it’s hard to imagine a show with no Frank tunes at all! But also hard to imagine a set too divergent from the DT shows, since they’d want to stay in practice for those (assuming this weekend will be similar) and after all he DID just win a prize for his own writing…

Well, not much time to ponder as Bob comes on promptly at 8:00 to the classic tune of Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35. Been a while since I’ve been at a show with this one! As usual, it features some creative lyrical twists including, “They’ll stone you when you’re standing on your head!” Sounds fun! For the first time in quite a while Bob is hatless, and his hair is big, his famous curls lit up with the stage lights like a halo.

Tonight’s show first follows the song list of Desert Trip last weekend, a sturdy collection of classics from the 60s and 70s and some great songs from more recent if not modern times that haven’t had an outing in a few years. And while I never have any problem with what Bob chooses to play and have adored the shows of the past year, changes are always exciting and tonight is delightfully different. Especially when, six and a half songs in, after a center stage beginning to Simple Twist of Fate, Bob walks across the stage and – confidently, purposefully, and yet at the same time as casually as if he still did it every show – picks up his guitar and straps it on! OK, then! He plays it for just this song but he makes the most of it, treating us to a quirky and unmistakably Bob Dylan guitar solo, and continuing to noodle around on it in his distinctive way for the last verse and the closure of the song. The crowd is not exactly going crazy, an indication that they are not so in-the-know about the rarity of this occurrence nowadays. And Bob is cool as a cucumber, as you’d expect, not smiling or mugging or letting on in any way that it’s a special occasion. But those of us who know glow in the specialness of it, and one of those people is bass player Tony Garnier, who is smiling in a charmed sort of way the whole time and quite obviously digging Bob’s brief and unlikely attention to the guitar. And to me, this seems the perfect acknowledgement of the Nobel Prize, the nod that people were pondering, predicting, expecting, wanting from Bob tonight. How perfectly contrary in a perfectly BOB way. He wins the top prize in the entire world for WORDS and he gives us all a little celebration by doing the thing with MUSIC that he hasn’t done in four years and that everyone is always clamoring for him to do! He doesn’t make a speech of gratitude (which only someone who knows very little about Bob would think was in the realm of likelihood), he doesn’t sing a special song to highlight his literary prowess (only slightly more probable) – he plays guitar. It’s perfect.

The other perfect addition to the show tonight is the inclusion of “Why Try to Change Me Now?” We had to have at least a little Frank in Vegas, and this song seems perfect for our icon and iconoclast at any time, and somehow especially so with the announcements of the day.

On to Desert Trip, the 3-day concert experience that promises to be the event of a lifetime! All hyperbole aside, it is a pretty kick-ass time. We are farther away from the stage than I’ve ever been for a concert, let alone 6 concerts, but somehow my expectations are adjusted to the point where that’s perfectly OK – even for Bob. Certainly the knowledge that we have two upcoming shows of just Bob that we’ll see from the second row placates me, and I’m not only content to watch from afar but genuinely pumped to see what he brings to the occasion. Can he truly deliver to fans that are the length of several football fields away, when he more commonly now plays intimate theaters on a dimly lit stage?

The answer is a resounding yes, and not only in my opinion. Despite the fact that Bob is a tiny, bare-chested, no hatted marionette on the edge of the horizon, a diminutive stick figure with fuzz on top, people around us are impressed. He is strong-voiced and his band, helped by the amazing sound system which includes arrays of speakers on high poles all the way down the field, is commanding, filling the large space with beautiful, powerful music. For this show, unlike weekend one of Desert Trip, he allows the big screens to stay on him the entire time – but he is shot only from above or from behind, a rare few times straight on but from a safe distance. And it’s all in black and white or sort of sepia hue. With odd clips of flocks of birds and things interspersed with the footage of him and his band. I love this; he is being a good sport, accommodating the audience but doing it his way. Why try to change him now, indeed? He is perfectly capable of changing himself when he’s ready! As is evidenced by his inclusion of songs perfect for this audience, who is here to hear the classics more than anything else. So we get Ballad of A Thin Man, and Baby Blue, Highway 61, and lots of other favorites from down the years, all performed masterfully and as if he and his guys have stuck to this set every night in recent memory and not just the last two shows. Because we are obvious Fans, really into it and wearing as well as distributing Fan Club buttons, people start coming up to us to voice their approval of Bob’s performance. I feel like a proud promoter. One guy asks for more buttons for his whole row of friends. And I get the impression that some of these at least are people who came here expecting NOT to like Bob, expecting him to be unintelligible or unenthused. Nope! He rises fully to the occasion and then some, not least of all by dropping Like A Rolling Stone on the already enthusiastic crowd, after returning to the stage for the first encore. The famous snare drum shot and everyone’s up, everyone’s singing along, and Bob Dylan is the consummate rock star singing the ultimate rock song, the one that changed everything. He knows who he is, where he’s been, and what the situation calls for, and it’s a commanding culmination for an already epic and historic performance. Way to go, Bob!

After a packed weekend of more great music; several shout-outs for Bob and his Nobel award from others on the stage (including when Mick says that they’ve never ‘shared a stage’ with a Nobel winner before and I FREAK out for a long minute, thinking Bob is coming out to join them! What a tease!); meet-ups with some great Fan Club friends Greg and Andy; lots of craft beer and cocktails designed to please the baby boomer (and late gen x) crowd; and a tour through the fantastic Photographic Experience – a huge photo exhibit with work from the likes of Elliott Landy, Jim Marshall, Lynne Goldsmith and many others, featuring images of all the artists at Desert Trip – we head north and east for our Bob-only portion of the trip.

First stop Albuquerque, NM. We check into the comfortable, verging-on-hip-but-still-cheap Hotel Blue, and soon head to Marble Brewery to meet some other fans for a beer. Thanks to Pamela for arranging the meet-up as well as recommending the digs. Then it’s off to the show! My second row seat is in the absolute perfect spot that I love, just a few seats stage right from center. Tonight it’s even more perfectly positioned, since Bob has added an extra microphone (yes he now has four on the stage) to his right of the others. A new addition this tour, he will swoop this microphone up in both hands and bend over it as if dipping a dancing partner, or like Fred Astaire might use a prop in those old black and white movies, sometimes leaning or lunging forward with it as he sings. What flair!

Flair is one word to describe Bob at this show. Another would simply be LOVE. The audience tonight is outstanding, and I think he feels it from the first beat. We’ve returned to the opening notes played in the dark by Stu, heralding Things Have Changed. Out comes the rest of the band and I’m thrilled first that Bob and I are both wearing polka dots, second that he remains hatless because from this close up I can finally fully enjoy that, and third that he comes out smiling and basically doesn’t quit. Everyone is standing and dancing for all of Things Have Changed and I can tell he likes that. He is beaming like a school boy.

Tonight’s show keeps in some of the classics that were brought back for Desert Trip, but adds back in some more of the songs recently played over the summer and before. It’s a fabulous mix. After Things Have Changed Bob heads to the piano for three songs, playing an easy, swinging Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright. Bob seems so happy and relaxed. But that doesn’t diminish the power of a rockin’ Highway 61, complete with a little Q and A as only Bob can insert into a song: “Sam said tell me quick man… WHY?… ‘Cuz I got to RUN!” It’s worth mentioning that Bob does not once sit at the piano tonight. He is standing up the whole time, weaving and bobbing like a boxer at the keys, looking out at the audience with sly grins, looking over at Donnie or George with his tongue stuck out and barely suppressing all-out laughter. I think he’s delighted by our enthusiasm and rapt attention; we really are an audience hanging on and feeling every word. As well as quite a few of us bouncing enthusiastically in our chairs!

The next song is the one I’m most thrilled about having back in the set after a break, and one that I would place solidly in my top five any way you slice it – It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue. Tonight it is exquisite, sung so smoothly by Bob with the gorgeous pedal steel accents that Donnie adds so effortlessly and effectively. Bob is standing all night, as I mentioned; in fact the piano stool is placed at a right angle to the keyboard, so I guess if he wants to sit he’ll straddle it like riding a horse. His face is high and clear above the piano and he sings a line and looks out at us. He’s really making eye contact tonight, and I get to be the recipient on some of my favorite lines: The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense. Take what you have gathered from coincidence. He sings and gazes out with a sly and knowing grin, as he is doing after so many lines. I’m swooning there in my seat, or am I floating above it? I really can’t tell.

High Water, like on numerous other occasions in my Bob adventuring career, is the undisputed pinnacle of the show. There’s no banjo on it anymore; Donnie plays mandolin. Like a few songs that remain in the set since the summer and earlier, it’s lost some of its sharp edge and pounding drive, and become more of a bluesy swinger, though that’s not to say it’s lost any power. On the contrary, it chugs like a steaming locomotive and at least two people at this show who have seen Bob 60 or more times, with High Water at many of those shows, claim it as the best version they’ve heard to date. It is incredible. Bob is center stage, simultaneously so focused on every word and beat of the music while completely dialed in to our audience response, which he feeds off, and vice versa. One of those long moments of song where Bob will say a phrase or do a move that visibly and audibly excites the first few rows; he’ll get a kick out of our response, and take it to the next level, which works us into even more of a frenzy. He’ll stagger a few steps back from the microphone during the instrumental interludes, as if half-knocking himself over with his own delivery, then march forward to give his all on the next line. One line that elicits a particularly shrewd while slightly shy smile as he says it — and it strikes me (and maybe him) as very pertinent to the recent announcement and resultant concocted media controversy of the Nobel Prize – is “As great as you are man, you’ll never be greater than yourself!” He sings that one right on the money and with that knowing grin and glint in his eye and it is absolutely perfect. But the topper comes before the last verse, after a bit of an instrumental jam. He knows he’s got us in the palm of his hand now and so he takes it to the top and over. He has grabbed that new ‘dancing partner’ microphone and takes a good three, four steps forward almost right to the lip of the stage right in front of where I and a collection of other extremely enthusiastic souls are on the edges of our seats and he goes almost all the way down onto one knee in a lunge forward, and lets out a long, loud, but oh so controlled, “Weeeeeeeellll!” right at us, before continuing, “I’m getting up in the morning..”. We all lose it, jumping out of our seats and cheering him on as he smiles in amused satisfaction and finishes out the song.

I’m vibrating in my seat and the guy next to me says that was the best High Water after about 30 he’s witnessed and I can’t argue. We get a bit of a cool down with the first of the Sinatra tunes, I Could Have Told You. A serious and sad crooner of a song, but Bob’s still got the spark of fun and mischief in his eyes, and when he sings that line about “soon it’s over and done with, she’ll find someone new to have fun with” I feel it’s almost an inside joke and he knows he’s the only one and the fun stops here! And right on cue, as if to negate that idea of finding someone new, it’s back to the piano for a heartfelt and bluesy Early Roman Kings, where Bob lets us know without the shadow of a doubt that his bell still rings and all the women in the audience, not to mention the men, are going crazy for him and no one else. There’ll be no one else that you’ll want to see!

To my ears Love Sick has mellowed from the summer, along with a few of the other songs he’s continuing on with from recent tours. It actually feels mellowed tonight even from its performance at Desert Trip. It’s more soft and slinky, more akin to the album version. Bob’s again taking two to three steps back from the microphone in between lines, then pacing forward with the music in time to sing the next lines, putting his hand on hip, looking around and nodding approvingly at band members and then at audience, mastering the ceremonies.

Tangled Up In Blue enters like an old friend and for this one there’s a little standing and dancing from scattered members of the audience, which Bob likes. Smiles abound, and there is just such a feeling of love flowing from him to us and back. He plays harmonica for the only time on this song, then heads back over to the piano for the conclusion. This is where on recent tours there would be a short intermission, but Bob’s decided to cut that and play through, which I have to say I like. We flow into Lonesome Day Blues, a song that fits well with his current sound and strikes me tonight in tone and theme like something of a companion piece to Early Roman Kings. Like he did some time ago when performing this song live, he’s switched the line, “I wish my mother was still alive” to “I’m telling myself I’m still alive.” In other words, his bell still rings! And, just as he told us a few minutes ago that he ain’t afraid to make love to a bitch or a hag, he now conveniently reminds us, “You’re gonna need my help sweetheart, you can’t make looooove all by yourseeeeeeelf!”

Bob has reclaimed Make You Feel My Love for his own this tour, and people seem to love it. Sweetly and sincerely sung, it is a tribute to his songwriting and delivery that he can move effortlessly from a song like the last one to something straight up tender like this. Tonight it feels like nothing less than a testament of love to us, his fans, sung with those knowing glances and smiles at the corners of his mouth. When he sings, “No doubt in my mind where you belong” it’s like we are all of us in the perfect place this perfect moment. He’ll go to the ends of the earth for us, and likewise I’m sure. He has changed two lines in the song, getting rid of “The winds of change are blowing wild and free, you ain’t seen nothing like me yet” and instead singing, as I remember it, “Put your hand in mine and walk with me, I’ll see that you don’t get wet.”

Pay In Blood is another great one with plenty of center stage theatrics, laughs and dramatically sung lines to get the crowd riled up, including “Another politician pumping out his piss” which gets some enthusiastic whoops and hollers given this political season. Desolation Row, back at the piano, is one of Bob’s unquestionable literary masterpieces, befitting a Nobel laureate. But it’s the music as much as the words that move the song along tonight, with Bob digging in on the piano riffs, shimmying his leg, and wiggling his shoulders in time with the tune. He gets into an exaggerated staccato singing cadence for a few lines, the way he sometimes used to do for most of a song, but just sparingly tonight and enough to make it stand out and elicit cheers from the crowd and some chuckling from himself and Donnie.

Soon After Midnight is back after a year and a little off and, though relatively new in Bob’s oeuvre, feels like the return of an old friend. It is comforting and lilting with the pedal steel and the ripples on the piano, and makes me sway back and forth with my body and head and Bob is doing the same; it’s only slightly less comforting when you tune into the words about lying there dying in their blood and dragging corpses through the mud. I adore this juxtaposition of the sweet and innocent sounding melody and Bob’s crooning, and the actual words which tend toward the gory and disturbing in places, mixed in with professions of love. Bob enjoys singing it and again there are those sneakings of smiles at the corners of his mouth that have been there almost constantly tonight, save when he’s broken into an all-out grin, which has been frequent.

I love seeing Bob so happy, and the smile has not left my own face either. Though admittedly with Soon After Midnight a hint of sadness creeps in as I know we are getting near the end, within the last three songs… but rather than the expected starts of Long and Wasted Years, there’s some high and lonesome sounding steel from Donnie that seems to suggest another Frank tune, and indeed it is. It’s All Or Nothing At All, played for the first time of the tour. And boy does he sing it great, putting his hand to his heart on pertinent lines, then out to the side with flair and showmanship. I feel as if he is almost acting out a role with these Sinatra songs tonight, sliding into being the romantic crooner with something of an air of delight and enjoying playing the part. With these songs he’s taken up yet one more place of residence in our souls and hearts alongside the many places he has occupied there over the years. And when I say it seems in a way like he’s acting them out, I’m not sure I can quite explain it but I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. It’s more like an actor who has tried on a totally new sort of character and then amazingly becomes that role so fully and convincingly. He slides in and out of these songs, now placed three in a show about equally separated by his own songs, with such ease. He seems to delight himself as much as his audience in singing and performing them.

I’m glad Long And Wasted Years is still in the show, as this seems like an important song for Bob to keep singing right now. As with lots tonight, it makes him laugh and smile and so do I. I feel a significance when he sings, “It’s been such a long, long time since we’ve loved each other and our hearts were true” looking right out into the audience. Like so many songs tonight I feel like he’s talking right to us and that the words refer to the fans so attentive and glowing in these first few rows. This is a softer, kinder Long And Wasted Years than on recent tours; the music is not as harsh and scolding, and same with Bob’s tone. He’s no longer shouting at us but more so maybe guiding or explaining how it is, with tonight’s ever present touch of humor never far from the surface. And the toning down of the song does not prevent Bob from doing at least one extremely emphatic pelvic thrust in between lines along to the music that is greeted with much crowd enthusiasm.

Once Donnie picks up the violin we know we’re getting that lovely, swinging Blowin In The Wind as our first encore. And then, as has been the case since Vegas, he closes with Why Try To Change Me Now? Could there be a song more perfect for Bob at this stage? He sings it as if there certainly is not. The undercurrent is a lifetime of people trying to change him or at least hoping he will change, but in his delivery there is no bitterness or resentment or even a hint of exasperation. It’s not a dig at anyone. It’s just sweet and funny, and he knows that no one sitting there watching him tonight would change a thing about him. One of the opening lines, “I’ve got some habits even I can’t explain” makes me actually laugh out loud tonight because I’m sure it’s TRUE. We drift along together to each perfectly delivered line until we’re at that last verse, “Let people wonder, Let ‘em laugh, Let ‘em frown” and then Bob grins ear to ear and moves his left hand from his own heart out to us: “I’ll always love ya ‘til the moooooon’s upside down.” And there it is. Always our clown, our lover, our Ding Dong Daddy, or whatever he is moved to be at the moment, but always Bob, and he doesn’t need to speak a word aside from what he tells us in the songs.

14915374_10209709436286794_7211827680084534564_n

14980790_10209709383405472_5199255128354575628_n

15032757_10209709430246643_7795263279022525234_n

Don't Your Remember? I Was Always Your Clown...-Kait

Toledo, Ohio 6/29/16

After a relaxing and fun trip to Colorado to visit with Caroline and Mr Jinx, I knew one show wasn’t going to cut it. Sadly, I made due with 1 show a tour for the last couple years, price and time holding me back. After Bob’s enthusiastic reception of the Fan Club banner at the Red Rocks show though, it was clear I would have to see another. I had my eye on a pair of front row tickets to Toledo. How could there still be front row center seats at cost? Then below cost…? I still didn’t have the funds to make it happen, but my mom, she gets me, and she made it happen. I love you, mom. As it turned out the ticket next to me went down in price, then down again until is was no longer a question as to IF Caroline would join me, but WHEN would she join me. Typically this is not how things have worked for us. Mostly we are planners. Tickets purchased well in advance, travel plans made. It was somewhat odd planning the day before to meet up at The Toledo Zoo, where we had seen Bob before. Last time I saw Bob at the Zoo I had made my final trip across the country, leaving my home in California to move back to Ohio. That show brought me a sense of freedom that I had not felt in years. This show made me feel oddly the same and made me realize I need to be out there more, headin’ for another joint.

I arrived in Toledo earlier in the day and made a few rounds around the botanical gardens to stretch out my back. On this day I felt younger at heart than I had in years, honestly. On the way there I thought about all the years of shows. I often times describe the beginning of my show years as having started with Caroline. Those were certainly the best and most intense years, but it started years before. “Finding” Bob was like finally finding where I needed to be and what I needed. Things HAVEN’T changed. It’s worth saying now, Bob was happier than I’ve seen him in a long time at this show. 4 hours drive? Who cares?

I pulled into the familiar parking lot across the street from the Zoo. Twice before having parked there to catch Bob. There was comfort in the familiarity, knowing that the people are friendly and that the margaritas are strong. It was a warm day, sunny and pleasant as I propped my The Bob Dylan Fan Club sign under my windshield wipers. I parked near the entrance to the lot anticipating Caroline’s arrival fresh from the Detroit airport and ticket pick up. The other sane people were parked in the shade but, wanting to be easy to find, I pulled my cowboy boots on and made 2 margaritas and waited for my companion to arrive in the blazing sun. After not too long she arrived and we laughed and drank and ate a couple sandwiches I picked up on the way out of town. It was certainly setting up to be a beautiful night.
As we entered the Zoo amphitheater I was thinking about the 2 other times we had been there. I felt uneasy wondering, would I be able to stand up? (knowing I would not be able to keep myself in my seat). We saw lots of people we knew prior to the show – April, Jayne, among others and most happily for me, Joanna. We spent the best years of touring with Joanna, crisscrossing the country in all ways in our most mutually dependent way.

We started out with a couple margaritas-good, just like 6 years before. I don’t know what it is about Toledo Zoo, but the people are helpful and happy and friendly. Everyone wanted to help, chat, talk about how much they like Bob. Always a great vibe there. The people around us were nice and word was as long as we were in our seat area, we could stand. YES. I really enjoyed Mavis-much more than at Red Rocks as a matter a fact. She was much more chatty and best of all was her take on Bob. She said “You guys are in for a real treat. You know, I love to hear Bob sing. But you know what I like even more, watching him DANCE. He’s got the Moves!” We agreed of course and she made good on her word, coming out during Tangled to watch Bob MOVE. She’s such a great woman. Before long she was done and it was time for Bob.

Standing in the center front row with no rail in front of you is odd. It feels naked, exposed. Despite that we boogied from the first note to the last. Just doing what we do! George was smiling, pointing, waving and laughing. Bob going over to talk, smiling and laughing with both Stu and George. We were all having a ball. The first 3 songs were the warm up period. I really like the building instrumental parts in Things Have Changed. Bob has stayed really close to original lyrically in this song but this year he has said “I got white skin, I got blood in my eyes” which solicited a cheer from the crowd around us. I assume for the change, not the blood. Everyone in the crowd was up and dancing at this point. He was getting into it with a sing-songy “aint that eager to make a mistake” smiling right into “I used to care.. HUH!.. but things have changed.”

She Belongs To Me has the feeling of an old time march. Driven by George, Bob was peering around the crowd as we stood there in the broad midwestern early evening singing “takes the dark out of the night time Uh HUH paint the day time black.”Beyond Here Lies Nothing is when the show really started to pick up in intensity and vigor. Right off the bat there was a fancy piano solo. I love the Cuban flamenco style of this song. Bob’s singing was gentle, as if gently explaining the story of the song to us. Singing “lay your Hand upon my head” as if asking us all to understand. Night We Called It a Day is one of my top 5 from the standard’s albums. In Toledo there was lots of positive response from the crowd during the standards, maybe ever more than the older songs. This was an indication to me that the majority of the crowd had been keeping up with Bob was up to lately, rather than expecting a greatest hits shows. That made me happy.

I love the intensity of Pay In Blood. Bob always really sings this one with his all. A number of people around us stood up to this number. Bob was dancing across the stage and posing on the stage during the instrumental parts, just like Mavis said. I loved the feeling and intensity when he sang “the more I take, the more I give the more I die, the more I live.” “I’m searching around in the southern zone” was downright sinister. And I swear he said “you bit your lover in the bed”. Ouch. The energy of Pay in Blood continued into Melancholy Mood, but turned more lighthearted. The intro was lovely and lingering. As he approached the mic the crowd cheered. Bob was all smiles and laughs during Melancholy Mood, ironically enough, but so was I. He was having fun, looking around the side of the mic. This went quickly into Dusquene Whistle. Dusquesne Whistle is always fun. The band had a nice jam leading in and Bob played the along with the band exchanging licks and playing along with the band. I love I’m A Fool To Want You, but it was interesting to see that How Deep Is The Ocean in that spot as of the night before in Kettering. It was one of the most beautifully performances of the night by Bob, I thought. He was paying close attention to phasing and his voice was so gentle.

Next up was Tangled. These are my favorite Tangled lyrics since ’84. To me, the lead character in Tangled has become more like the lead in Shelter From The Storm. Something about lyrics “you look like somebody that I used to know she said, somebody that I used to trust.” and “And she said it to me just so you know “memorize these lines and remember the rhymes” just sounds like something out of Shelter From The Storm to me. Mavis held true to her words and came you to talk to the crowd and watch Bob. The guy next to me ended up talking to her during the set break and She told him, “you think I’m somebody, but I’m not. I’m just like you.” Lovely!

I love the intro after intermission. It’s a great mix of B.B. King and Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

Highwater has always been one of my favorite songs. All versions, overtime good. What I particularly like about this version is the banjo high in the mix. Bob was dancing and having fun with the lines. “Throw you panties OHH-VAH board.” and “cant you see I’m drowning too it’s DARRRK out there.” The point was not missed that it wasn’t dark out there. It was still light. I felt exposed. Ha! In the end he held out the last “everywhereeeeeeee” really driving it home.

Why Try and Change Me Now? This was probably the most poignant for me of the night. I’ve felt like I was away from Bob for a long time now. Tonight though, I felt like my old self. It was wonderful. I was really taken back to a different, happy time in my life standing there looking at Bob and the band. Everyone smiling and having more fun than I’d seen in the last couple years anyway. “Don’t you remember? I was always your clown.” That line and the sentiment of the song really ring true to me. And Bob, he’s always there, being the performer and the entertainer for us. Night after night, it’s such a beautiful relationship. We’re always been total goofs for each other. Us, the audience feeding off his energy and giving it back to Bob.

As Early Roman Kings started several people round us got up and dancing. The crowd was way into Bob’s singing and growling as he was working his way through the song. There was lots of cheering and whooping all around us. Bob was able to shift easily into a gentle I Could Have Told You. It’s such a true and classic version and mesmerizing live.

Spirit On The Water has become a crowd favorite. It’s great to hear when the crowd responds at the appropriate lines about being over the hill. I feel like I’m among friends and real fans. Bob was jamming between lines quite a bit. “I’m as PAAALLEEE as a ghost” was melodic and cute. Bob was really having fun on the piano in the instrumental break. “You’ve numbed my will” sounded like he was giving us a rye reminder. Quickly Bob switched back in sinister Bob mode for Scarlett Town, getting down on the mic to evangelize his way through. All Or Nothing At All lets Bob play both the soft crooner and the dashing mysterious older gent you meet at a fancy party. It’s a good mix.

The guy a couple guys down from me leapt up for Long and Wasted Years. This was definitely his favorite of the night. I like how the band is melodic in counterpoint to Bob’s pointed singing, almost rapping. He seems really connected to this song. Autumn leaves was both Gentle and Painful. The transition between this song and Long and Wasted Years is a great example of what I love about this setlist. Bob can seamlessly transition his singing style from a hard, rocking number into some of the gentlest of the night with beautiful vibrato.

When they came back for the encore Bob looked happy and you could hear it in his voice during Blowin’ In the Wind. Leading the crowd in a swaying, sappy version. Lovesick is a great closer. It gives Bob a chance to really sing it out once more. He was really into it singing, “walking with YOU in my head” and “you thrill me to my heart and the you rip it all apart.” Knowing it;s the last song makes it hard not to freak out a little during that song and that instrumental break! Give.Me.A.Break. That’s really rock n roll right there! At the the end Bob was giving it all starting with “I wish I never met you” all the way “I’d give anything too”, “toooo” sliding down the notes in his vocal.

Bob gave a couple nods and he was gone again. Another show on the books. As we left, several people stopped us to say they appreciated that we were up and dancing the whole time and that it was great to see Bob happy and smiling at us. We agreed! On the way out we ran into Caroline’s friend from Ann Arbor and we took our time, leisurely stroll out to the car. When we got there, the scenario played out in a way all to familiar after seeing Bob at the Zoo. I looked at Caroline, sad, we hugged, then I got in the car and started the drive diagonally across the state. It would the middle the night when I got home and into bed so I could get to work the next day. I started the long drive, a car among the sea of semis. In Ohio we have 2 seasons. Winter and road construction. It was a lovely warm night to drive. I was tense, wanting move and loving every minute of the last night. I took the energy and put it into making the drive home. I put on Time Out Of Mind, like we did many nights in the old days

Polka Dots and Moonbeams: Caroline's Summer 2016 'Headin for Another Joint' Journal

Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO

Got to spend the turning of the season and kick off the summer in a big, hot way with Bob and great friends this year, and nothing could really be better. My three show mini-tour started with a home town show, which is always fun, and at the venerable and mighty Red Rocks Amphitheatre to boot. Had to splurge for the front row for this one, as well as do what needed to be done to get my bestie and Fan Club co-Director out here. It’s funny, we were in the same spot as the last time Bob played there, only that time we put in the cost of labor by camping out in line all day vs. what is now the monetary cost involved with getting close to Bob. But in the end, one way or another, it’s always worth it. “What does it matter, what price I pay?”

We kicked things off with a fun pre-show tailgate in the parking lot, and got to meet a great little congregation of Fan Club folks! Thanks to Joni, Carol, Susan, Erika, Tom, Laurette, Jeff and anyone else I’ve forgotten for stopping by and making the day festive, and of course to Mr. Jinx for always being the greatest of companions and providing the wheels. The party atmosphere that started there followed us inside and didn’t stop until the last note was played! (Actually, it didn’t even stop then!)

This current show is a grand one, with the songs off the last two albums performed with utmost care and gratitude and truly a joy to hear and behold. Whatever you think of Bob leaning heavily on these songs from the Great American Songbook right now, there is no doubt that he is presenting them to his audience as a gift that he cherishes, and I challenge you not to be moved by that. I like the songs on the albums; I love them live. In concert they are given room to breathe, with brief but stunning solos by Charlie or Stu, and Donnie’s pedal steel sounds otherworldly. And how long has it been since I’ve gone to a Bob show and heard him and the band perform SIX songs I’d never seen live before?? ‘Nuff said!

Tonight on the Rocks is a special one, for sure. The setting here is incomparable and has a way of affecting and enhancing the experience for both artists and fans. Right out the gates with Things Have Changed, which has a slowed down tempo from the last tour, Bob is enthusiastic, expressive and playful. The relaxed pace of the song gives him time to stretch out vocally. He follows each singing of the line, “I used to care” with some punctuation like, “Oh yeah!” or “Uh-huh” or “Aaahhh!” and it sets the tone for the entire night ahead. So many smiles, laughs, dance moves like only Bob does, and of course jazz hands. In our front row spot with the wide bleacher seats that Red Rocks has, there is plenty of room to groove and we are completely level with Bob, there’s no looking up for us or looking down for him, and it seems that he is happy to see the Fan Club up and dancing in front of him!

When Bob hits the harmonica notes in She Belongs To Me, they reverberate off the rocky spires and you think they might echo there for all eternity. As a near full moon peeks out from the side of the stage on this final night of spring, and the rust colored rocks loom all around us, there is a gloriously spooky quality shared by all the songs, even songs so vastly different as Beyond Here Lies Nothin’, What’ll I Do, and I’m A Fool To Want You.

Many highlights come in the second half, with High Water leading off. Such a history we have with this song and it’s great to be able to dance and jazz hand along to it in such close proximity to Bob. I think it’s during this one that Bob does the most dancing himself; he starts with the little backward shuffle from the microphone that he does frequently during breaks between lines that he sings, but here it turns into a few steps of that old soft-shoe, Mr. BobJangles. The Tempest songs are shining beams into Bob’s soul, and I’m so glad they are liberally proffered to us throughout these shows. We get the bawdy stomp of Early Roman Kings, and by this point there’s no holding back from either Bob or his Fan Club. We’re whooping it up with shouts and hollers during all the great lines, and he is attacking the keys and the vocals like the young man that he will forever be. All the women goin’ crazy indeed!

Then it’s back to another haunting, spooky highlight with Scarlet Town, which is likely THE moment from this show that will be stuck in my mind’s eye even when I’m 80 years old, because each line rises to a new pinnacle of mysterious beauty. This is one of Bob’s true modern classics, with evocative music and words that can be studied and explored for endless meaning. Tonight it is timeless: dark, disturbing, glorious, and redeeming, ghostly and human, all at once, one of those songs like Chimes of Freedom that truly includes and captures everyone and everything, albeit in as different a way as possible. It’s all right there for ya.

The smiles and jazz hands are coming fast and furious during the show closer, Love Sick, as if Bob is, as much as we are, trying to revel in and soak up every last moment of this extraordinary evening. It’s not often (never?) that I have a plan to do something at the end of a show, other than simply applaud and smile. But tonight is a little different. We made a giant Bob Dylan Fan Club banner that served its first purpose admirably, draped over our car earlier today, as a way to facilitate the pre-show meet up. Its second purpose feels a bit more daring but is pulled off immaculately I must say. During Lovesick the rest of the Fan Club in attendance have made their way over to the seats to where Kait and I are, and in the last notes and when Bob and the band are standing taking their applause, we unfurl the banner and hoist it high for him to see. And see it he does, responding with a pleased and amused smile and nod, a couple of double-barreled points our way, and he obediently, unabashedly and oh-so-happily returns the outspread hands logo right back at us. There it is. It couldn’t be a better way to wrap up the night, and I’m sure my smile is as big and bright as the moon that is now shining down fully upon us.

Thanks, Bob, band, crew, Fan Club, and red rocks that comprise this glorious venue that is also 75 years old this summer! It took all of you, and it was truly a night where everything and everyone came together splendidly!

Pinewood Theater, Lincoln, NE

Some nights with Bob you just know are going to be special before they even begin to happen, and such was the case for me with the Pinewood Theater in Lincoln. Oh yes, we had flown to Kansas City and attended that show the night before and while Bob was, of course, solid, the crowd and the venue security were dismal enough that I will not deign to grace that event with one of my reviews. It’s OK. I am left simply with gratitude that KC was not the end of the road (and Joe’s Barbecue in a gas station was top-notch). Onward, always onward…

As fate would have it, our front row center seats in Lincoln are next to our good friends Robin and Lex from Wichita, Kansas. They are hardcore Bob traveling friends, friends of the kind that, as I explain to the extreme interest and impressed amusement of the security guard near us, we only ever encounter at Bob’s shows but, that said, we know each other well and have spent probably 40-50 fun filled nights together. All in close proximity to Bob, so the friendship is intensified by virtue of being enjoyed at some of our favorite times ever. That’s the way it goes with the best Bob-friends.

Any inkling I had of this show being one that would truly sparkle is driven home before the first note is even played. Well, that’s not true; Stu is playing his opening notes! But, before Bob even steps to the microphone. Because as we watch excitedly for his entrance, craning our necks to the side of the stage where he and the rest of the band will emerge, there he comes, and he’s wearing a black shirt with large, white polka dots! Haven’t seen a polka dot Bob in recent years! He’s got on a cropped black jacket with thin stripes down the sleeves, not a longer below-the-waist one like he often wears, and the jacket is fully open (it’s another hot night in the Midwest) and the shirt is rather unbuttoned on the top button or two, with a loose black and silver bolo tie hanging casually down. He looks amazing, loose, and ready to have a good time.

What a good time it is. Like night and day from the weird, stodgy, selfish audience energy of the night before. This audience came to have fun, and everyone is respectful, accommodating, and happy. We (and by “we” I mean not just “us” but those around us, too) are up and dancing with Bob during the rockers, sitting, swaying and transfixed (and catching our breath!) during the slow songs. For whatever reasons, the love vibes are flowing in Lincoln and bouncing around the place. Bob feels it, and responds. The moody instrumental jam during Melancholy Mood is just a little longer and drawn out; Bob blows just a little harder on the Tangled harmonica solos; Duquesne Whistle reaches new heights of frenetic jamming. On the latter and virtually every piano song Bob can’t even keep his seat and ends the song on his feet dancing too while banging on the keys!

OH, and speaking of the piano – the busts are gone! Up until tonight there have been three decorative busts arranged on the grand piano, creating an obstruction to Bob if you are not in the right place. Tonight – GONE. Seems another indication that Bob came to deliver, to let us see what he got and have a whoppin’ good time! We have such a clear view of Bob at the piano and he engages the audience with almost endless smiles whilst playing and singing, seemed to really absorb the adoration and attentiveness from the audience and give it back, ducking under the microphone the better to view us and even kicking out a leg in our direction emphatically during Early Roman Kings. We also catch him multiple times not being able to resist sharing his enthusiasm with a fellow band member like George or Donny and giving them a goofy grin or an out-stuck tongue and raising of his eyebrows. Like, look what we’re all doing here tonight!

As always with the last show that I’ll see in a while, there are lines in songs that take on bittersweetness in the midst of my euphoria. What’ll I do when you are far away, and I am blue… One time, for one brief day, I was the man for you… I’m goin’ away, baby, I won’t be back ‘til fall. Well, every moment and line of Spirit on the Water, which to me seems a song from Bob to his fans about life on the road and our shared experience. By the time we get to Long & Wasted Years and the precious few that remain, I’d want to cry except Bob is still smiling so… So much for tears! We sway and gesture along with all the outrageous lines on that song, a pinnacle of raw honesty in Bob’s oeuvre but simultaneously such a mystery. Autumn Leaves is breathtakingly sad and so apropos to the moment. Blowin’ in the Wind has such a swing to it tonight. Bob sings it with pride that is palpable, and the humble sincerity I feel in his voice as he looks upon his audience with a slim smile and says, “my friend” is… well I’m not sure what it is or if I can find a word for it. Lovesick, at last, to send us on our way and Bob is the height of animation, with not only very distinct and outright jazz hands as the song calls for, but more subtle, flickering hand motions throughout, as if the music is emanating from his fingers, very lovely. And in the semi-darkness with the flood lights shining out at us from behind him, I swear I catch him with a direct point at our front row crew on the lines, “Could you ever be true? I think of YOU… and I wondeeeerrrrrr…” A spontaneous but seemingly quite deliberate gesture at an interesting moment. Inscrutable Bob giving us a wee glimpse in, a key to his brain, before he fades away into the night and we drift dreamily out beneath a rising strawberry moon.

Spring Tour 2015 - by Caroline

Some fortuitous timing seemed to be involved in Bob’s spring US tour announcement this year. It came on the heels of a decision to go to New Orleans for the second weekend of Jazz Fest; and while I’d miss the New Orleans Bob show by a couple of days, the following week lined up perfectly, with shows right next door in Texas and then a Tulsa show… that’s all on the way home to Denver from Louisiana, right?

It was much fun, as always, to travel new roads to see Bob. This was another tour comprised of shows in smallish, fancy, seated theaters. Not my number one choice for type of venue, but we managed really good seats for almost all of them and there is inarguably a nice pace to the trip when you have all day to explore, look for snakes and birds, find cool microbreweries and barbeque joints, and saunter in half an hour before show time.

First stop, Houston, at the same venue where Kait and I slept out for Bob… 12 years ago?!? Jeez. Time flies. That time it was GA (obviously – we weren’t just sleeping on the street in downtown Houston for kicks). This time Mr. Jinx and I manage to score 2^nd row center seats, so it’s a great way to kick things off. Though the song roster at these shows is identical to what Bob was playing last fall, with the new inclusion of Autumn Leaves off Shadows In The Night, there are, as always, differences to note. Duquesne Whistle now has the complete old-timey intro like on the album which features some fancy piano playing from Bob. Stu plays maracas on Early Roman Kings. There are new lyrics to Love Sick, along the lines of “You toyed with my heart then you ripped it apart; you went through my pockets while I was sleeping!”

At the start of set two, I notice High Water has a slightly slowed down bluesy arrangement, subtly different from last tour. Another small change is the addition of the word “brute” to a line in Tangled Up In Blue: “He used a little too much BRUTE force.”

The most changed song by a mile, however, is Long And Wasted Years, both lyrically and musically. It changes even during our time on the tour! The arrangement is slower, less defiant and more regretful; Bob doesn’t shout the words as much anymore. As if to offer a counterpoint to the more subdued musical tone, the new words are scathing. Most notably a directive about how “I’ll send you back to your ma and pa, let the vultures eat your body raw!” This verse is toned down a bit in San Antonio, changed to:

“Turn back, I’ll break your legs and strike you through the heart

Plant my heel in your chest

Maybe you’re no better than the rest”

OK, not very toned down, really.

I definitely tune into the small things seeing ‘the same’ show multiple times; different moments, sometimes fleeting and sometimes lasting a whole song, stand out clearly night to night. A line dropped during Soon After Midnight (“And the moon is in my eye”) and, in its place, an extra little gorgeous piano run. Working Man’s Blues #2 in San Antonio, where Bob seems to sing it with an extra dose of lament and commiseration with the common man, “I can’t saaaaaaave a dime!” The nod and laugh I get from Bob and Donny at that same show when I just can’t help myself and need to burst out of my seat and shake it hard for the last half of Beyond Here Lies Nothin’. Of all the songs that challenge me to keep my butt in my chair during these theater shows, it’s this one, with its slinky, groovy rhythm. San Antonio over all is a favorite. The Majestic Theater is over-the-top gorgeous, with cherubs and peacocks and all kinds of weird shit adorning the walls and rafters, and a ceiling of stars and clouds that rotate around when the music is playing, adding extra relevance when Bob sings, “The stars are spinning around.” Bob seems to appreciate it too and I catch him glancing up and around more than usual. He puts his heart over his hand at the end of Long And Wasted Years tonight, looking out at us, and at the close of the prayer that ends each show now, Stay With Me, a side arm outstretched bids us goodnight.

Onward to Tulsa, where we’re staying at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, where Bob is playing. Always fun to have accommodations literally at the venue! The drive there rather sucks, with a trifecta of hassles: traffic jams around Dallas, construction, and weather that wants to kill us. We do see Bob on a billboard outside Dallas, pretty much the highlight. The 11 hour drive leads to a glorious late morning sleep the following day in a huge bed with 12, count ‘em 12 pillows. Shopping sales at western wear stores, ribs and Bourbon make for a great day waiting for our penultimate show for the tour. There’s a really cool Bob thing on the wall in the Hard Rock, a signed and doodled on copy of an album “Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs.” On it Bob writes, “Here’s to Cisco, Sonny, Leadbelly, Bess and Jack Elliot too. They came first.” You’ve sure carried the torch admirably, Bob!

Along with San Antonio, my favorite of my five shows for this tour is Columbus. In no small part because that one’s with Kait, and it is always a special experience to share a show with my fan club co-director and partner in crime. The night started off with a Fan Club meet up at a place next door to the venue with numerous Ohio Bob peeps and a margarita as big as my head. Saw Joanna, Jay and numerous others inside the theater. Our second row seats are perfect, and thanks to our gracious guys for agreeing to take the ones further down the row so Kait and I could be together, and right on the aisle. Bob thanks you too! Much fun was had fun together, of course. There were more jazz-handy gestures than usual (of course), and smiles, and even a double fisted point at us as we stood up and boogied for a bunch of High Water at the second half opening (we’d gotten encouragement to do so from the people sitting behind us, so thanks to them). The rest of the time we were engaged in some seriously enthusiastic chair dancing, two crazily bobbing heads and arms occasionally flying around. Awesome view of Bob at the piano, too, so those piano tunes that have come to be my sweet favorites – Waiting for You, Spirit on the Water, Soon After Midnight – were completely and utterly enchanting. During Waiting For You I feel suddenly as if I should scoop Kait up and start waltzing with her up and down the aisle. I resist, but that sure would have been funny.

Bob seems so happy and relaxed at this show. One of the new lines in Love Sick is changed from, “You toyed with my heart” to “You thrill me to my heart.” There is no more reference to “brute” force in Tangled. And, he completely drops the evolving verse mentioned above from Long And Wasted Years – it’s just gone. Must be just feeling too mellow and contented tonight to bother with singing about breaking anyone’s legs.

11157525_10205601732276761_7014819444548090796_o

I'm in the right town! Bob in Hollywood October 24, 25 & 26, 2014 - by Caroline

Since Bob has played consistently in the Denver area over the past few years, stopping by last summer on the Americanarama tour and two years ago for a two night run, I was joyfully surprised to see a Denver date scheduled when this fall’s tour was announced. Even though many of the stops on this tour are multi-night stands and ours a single show, just seeing us included again made me feel happy and privileged. However, one show is not usually enough, so after a scanning of the schedule for other possibilities and cross-referencing potential dates with things that get in the way of life (i.e. work), the Friday-Saturday-Sunday Hollywood shows held the most promise.

I was forewarned by friends who live in the area that LA shows are always a tough ticket, based on the good seats often going to the rich and famous and the town’s venues being controlled by the ticket scalping agencies who know they can resell them for thousands (but honestly, where does this not seem to be the case these days?). Still, with limited locations played on this tour and many Fridays and Mondays requiring either my or Mr. Jinx’s presence at our jobs, these were the only possibilities for a little Bob travel this time ‘round. So I decided to give it a shot when the tickets went on sale and try my luck. And, what luck! Two nights in the pit and the other in some weird box thing that I didn’t even see listed on the seating chart but it sounded cool so I grabbed it. The craziest thing is that, while 3 nights’ tickets for 2 people certainly wasn’t cheap, I didn’t go for any of the VIP level packages – just regular full priced tickets; the VIP packages were actually pulling up seats significantly farther back. Must’ve had my Bob mojo working!

I’d always rather have a GA show, do my time in line, and grab a rail spot – always. That said, shows with reserved seating do allow for more vacation activities during the day. And being in LA undoubtedly feels like a real vacation, from the minute you step out of the airport, driving down palm lined avenues and past highway medians bursting with birds of paradise and oleanders. If there’s any doubt we have arrived it is dispelled when, upon hooking up the iPhone to get some tunes going for the drive to our hotel, the very first song that magically comes on is The Doors’ LA Woman!

We get to Friday’s show on the early side, excited to check out this theater which hosts the Academy Awards. It’s not quite open yet, so we linger in the lobby and buy the most expensive drinks I’ve ever had. Note to self and others: don’t order a double at the Dolby Theater, especially not one made with premium liquor; the money you spend would actually buy you a bottle of said premium liquor! Oh well, we’re on vacation. While I’ve understood our seats in row BB to be in the fourth row, with two rows of triple letters in the very front, for a brief and glorious few moments as we are shown to our 2nd row center seats, we think (and are actually told by a poorly informed usher), that somehow the triple-letter seats have been scrapped. We’re super excited, especially since that would make our seats on Sunday real front row seats! We’re in the middle of toasting over this good fortune with our super expensive drinks (don’t spill any!), when here comes a posse of security people wheeling in stacks of chairs to set up in front of us. Boooooo! It is funny how just having a couple more rows in front of you makes you feel like you’re farther from the stage, even though you’re in the exact same spot!

Still, no complaints about our spot and on with the show! Bob starts quite promptly at just a few minutes after 8:00. The acoustic strumming by Stu, who ambles out moments before the rest of the band, is now preceded by a loud and sudden crashing gong sound that will make me jump every night, even after I know it’s coming; it’s like, “Wake the fuck up people, here I come!”

There’s a part of me that has thought that maybe, just to be contrary, the one city Bob won’t open with Things Have Changed is Hollywood. That would be funny. But here it is, the song that won an Oscar played in the home of the Academy Awards, with the line that we can all cheer extra tonight: I’m in the wrong town, I should be in Hollywood!

Though many songs played tonight and the next two are the same ones I saw Bob play last fall, there are new arrangements of a number of them, some minor and some more significant. She Belongs To Me, for example, has a new spot where the band drops out for a beat right before the first harmonica riff, making that opening piercing note of the night all the more spine tingling and dramatic; a subtle but effective underscoring of the moment, since the crowd always roars at the first harmonica solo and now this pause for emphasis makes it even more powerful.

Some songs that had been songs with Bob at the piano have now become songs with Bob at center stage, singing only. Well, when I say ‘singing only’ I mean also gesturing, shuffling, strutting, cocking his head this way and that, putting his hand to his heart and then out to sky, and any number of mannerisms that captivate and enthrall. He commands the stage and the audience and just seems incredibly comfortable in this role of front man with microphone. Scarlet Town now has him using his voice as his only instrument, and it makes that song even more riveting. Sometimes when Bob is singing this song, with its intricate cast of characters and murky references to a mysterious place and time, he gets a faraway look in his eyes, which lift up to the heavens, as if he’s transporting himself there in song. He’s certainly transporting us.

The other song that has dropped the piano part is Simple Twist of Fate. Similarly, it now has Bob concentrated on his vocal performance and spiriting himself away to this time and person of the past. Conversely now, when Bob is at the piano, it seems there’s rarely a song that doesn’t see him digging in and dancing over those keys with real gusto. Sometimes he and Charlie will do a little back and forth; Charlie’s role now seems to be to provide embellishments to the songs, little runs and accents that rarely last more than a few moments but add flavor, mood and interest. It’s fun when he and Bob trade little licks. And each night there is at least a song or two that is treated to some sort of extended piano jam where Bob is sliding off his seat and swiveling around as he attacks the keys. Whatever Bob is doing each moment of these shows, he is doing it with utmost concentration and passion.

Workingman’s Blues #2 is the regular song now played nightly that was not in the UK shows we saw last year. What a welcome inclusion it is. Another center stage, this song has a new arrangement and new lyrics since the last time it was brought out regularly. It’s become more of an odyssey, an epic journey of struggle and adversity on a grand scale; with lines about punching my spear half way down your spine, praying the fugitive’s prayer, and hoping for the final judgment, it is no longer just about the plight of the working man. Or, it is, but it is has taken this plight to mythic proportions and the song has expanded in musical weight to fit that bill. The music is low and haunting, at times almost completely stopping in between verses, but so powerful and has the crowd hanging on each word and note.

Night two has us off the floor and up in one of the first level of boxes. Where our assigned seats actually are is two further boxes back from the stage, but just before show time we notice that no one is in the box that’s two down, so we go there and no one ever comes. Evidently our assigned seats were in a box; this is a Luxury Box. On one of the four chairs is the Luxury Box Drink Menu, from which you can order bottle service, which ranges from a bottle of Jagermeister for $250 to a bottle of Laphroaig 18 Year for $1000; makes the $56 doubles I bought last night seem like chump change! We do not avail ourselves of such extravagances, though I do take the menu with me at the end of the night for a souvenir.

Facing the stage, we’re on the right side of the theater, on the piano side. So here we get the full impression of Bob at the keys: sliding half off his chair, swiveling his legs (pant leg hiked up to reveal in full his stylish black and white boots), banging away and grinning. Such a different and fun perspective! The absolute best thing about tonight though and this spot is it’s the one place that we can stand up and dance the entire time. No one behind us bitching because they want to sit on their fat lazy asses and stare at Bob like an animal in a zoo rather than actually move their bodies to songs like Beyond Here Lies Nothin’, Duquesne Whistle, High Water, Tangled Up In Blue. We ‘shake it up baby twist and shout’ to these songs and sway along to the slower ones, a complete bodily experience usually only able to be enjoyed at general admission shows. Blissful. Early Roman Kings is a show stopper tonight, with Bob all amped to the max of his bawdy, boisterous self, almost tipping the piano bench over in his twisting and performing equal feats of vocal acrobatics.

Anyone who has seen this show more than once, or any run of shows when Bob is playing relatively the same songs, knows that it does indeed change from night to night. Certain songs stand out, a line is emphasized differently that was not the night before, a vocal nuance like the raising of an eyebrow here, a scowling there that was absent the night before. A mysteriously placed chuckle for which only Bob knows the reason…

There are plenty of the latter on night three, for which we are back in the pit in our closest spot yet. It’s hard to stay in my seat especially after last night’s freedom to move, but we manage to do a fair bit of chair dancing. All in all I’d say I’ve done a good job not being a grumpy pants at the fact that these shows are largely a sit-down affair; hard to be sad about that when Bob is right there in front of you belting in out. And like I say, we are moving and grooving and bouncing around; especially since the seats in row two directly in front of us are unoccupied for much of the first half of the show, we have a spot-on view of Bob center stage and a good angle of his head floating above the piano too when he’s over there. I’m pretty sure Bob notes our enthusiasm and responds accordingly. I’m also pretty sure he notices an older guy in tie-dye who, at the beginning of Duquesne Whistle, is cavorting in the aisle behind the last pit row, prancing and twirling back and forth. Bob’s smiling and laughing and then, when he gets to the line, “I wonder if they’ll know me next time ‘round” he follows it up with an enthusiastic, “I wonder!”

Other stand-out moments tonight come during Love Sick where Bob really zeros in on us bouncing and swaying in our seats, chair dancing at its finest! We’re jazz handing along on the downbeats and he catches us doing so, and when the next one comes around… ‘I’m sick of love!’… he takes a step to the right, clear of microphone stands, winds up, cracks a big smile, and reciprocates with the finest jazz hand one could hope for, right in our 3rd row faces! Big fun with Bob is also had during Long and Wasted Years, where Mr. Jinx has the good sense that we should stand and show our appreciation. So we do, and Bob responds with smiles and hand to his heart and points our way, all worked into his regular repertoire of gestures during the song. I think he really does appreciate being able to see people getting into it.

As we clap and cheer in between the set closer and the encore, the guy sitting next to me is asking about older songs and what the encore will be, and I’m in the process of explaining that Bob is doing a couple of classic, older tunes for the encore; but then they’re back out and obviously preparing to do something different! It’s a center stage crooner with a refrain of ‘stay with me’ which a quick iPhone search once it’s over reveals as the name of the song. Made popular by Frank Sinatra. It’s the theme from a movie, The Cardinal – so, a nod to Hollywood on his last night here? A preview of his upcoming album? Maybe both. I notice that Tony is looking at Bob and smiling affectionately as he bows his standup bass. It is short, sweet and sincere, with Bob concentrated and singing with reverence. And though I was wrong in my exact response to this guy’s question about would the encore be ‘an old song’ I was also right, as this Bob debut hearkens back to 1963, the same year as Blowin’ in the Wind and older than the other expected encore of Watchtower.

And there you have it, Bob ending on a surprise note, showing that he does always have plenty up his sleeve (maybe that’s why the rather roomy suits?); it’s just a matter of what he chooses to pull out.