Bob Dylan At the Royal Albert Hall…48 Years Later: The Annotated Setlist!
roll on bob
Dylan performed one of his most famous concerts ever at London’s the Royal Albert Hall in 1965: not the Judas gig but the last folk hurrah one, which made him one of only two rock acts to sell out the venue in the 1960s (the Beatles were the other). He’d return less than a year later with an electric band (you can hear that gig on the Bootleg Series Volume 4) and it was all over now, baby blue. Dylan played the famous room last Monday and Tuesday to mixed though mostly favorable reviews plus here’s a shocker, no hat (the pix is from contactmusic.com but you probably guessed that). Dylan back at the Royal Albert Hall with a two hour set covering 18 songs but seven off “Titanic” which could have sunk it and brought back memories to 1965 and to 1966, from folk to rock with a lotta blues thrown in. As for the set list…
1. Things Have Changed – A true masterpiece answer to one of his most famous songs, hidden on a soundtrack album but it couldn’t remain hidden for long. “I used to care but…” Dylan shrugs – A
2. She Belongs To Me – Property, anti-property from the golden age – A
3. Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ – Deep album cut off a nothing special album – B
4. What Good Am I?- I’m not sold on Daniel Lanois’s atmospherics, but the song os a self–lacerating self portrait – A-
5. Duquesne Whistle – The best song off the new album , is a stalled trip to faith – A
6. Waiting For You – Obscure waltz off “The Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood” soundtrack stands up very well, Classic Dylan line? “Hope may vanish, but it never dies” – B+
7. Pay In Blood – Not bad scraggler – B
8. Tangled Up In Blue – American epic – A+
9. Love Sick – The second golden age begins – A
10. High Water (For Charley Patton) – This is like “Silvio”, he loves to play it live though I’m not certain why – B
11. Simple Twist Of Fate – You know, I’ve heard better versions of this than Dylan’s original. Try the Mary Lou’s Corvette one – A+
12. Early Roman Kings – A huge huge blues song – A
13. Forgetful Heart – Another track you gotta wonder why he is bothering with – B-
14. Spirit On The Water – I always thought this was the first track on the album… thoroughly charming love song for the late middled aged – A
15. Scarlet Town – Crap folk song – C
16. Soon After Midnight – Late period Dylan writing standards by the numbers – B
17. Long And Wasted Years -OK, you’ve got a new album, we got it – B-
18. All Along The Watchtower – The wind howled Mary – A+
19. Roll On John – Heartfelt but turgid, Lennon seems to stump everybody as subject matters go – C+
