The old man stands center stage, his large cowboy hat shadowing his cragged face like Mount Rushmore on a sunny day. Dylan bends a little at the knees, throws his arms out wide in an overstrecthed gesture, then moves his elbow back to the side of his body and flips his arm palms up and back to palm down. Well, now, pop pickers, this is newbie: Bob Dylan, naked, if you like, singing oldbie “Ballad Of A Thin Man”.
Earlier this evening at the United Palace on West 175th Street, Dion DiMucci and his band performed a high energy old time rock and roll set covering fifties hits like “Rave On” and “Shake Rattle And Roll”. The last time I saw Dion was just a coupla week ago at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as Paul Simon’s guest, the doo Wop legend was great that night and is just as good tonight. He takes a moment to salute US Troops, “I go around playing songs,” Dion says “But they are on the front lines risking their lives”. He ends the set with a one two “Runaround Sue”, “The Wanderer” punch. All night long Dion had pulled classic rock and rol songs out of the trough of nostalgia and made them fresh with a great band and an especially good saxophone player, and the ending is a great rocker bringing it all back home. His rendition of “The Wanderer” is an extended metaphor for the circular nature of songs and the wanderlust of the road -ya gotta love Dion.
Charlie Sexton, Dylan’s prodigal son guitarist returning to Dylan’s band for october and November, is a great blues guitarist who learnt his trade in Austin, Texas, taught by “godfather of Austin Blues” W. C. Clark and mentored by Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughn and Joe Ely, at the age of sixteen he was the next big thing. A ridiculously good looking guy, people didn’t quite take him seriously, so he pursued his craft (he played on Lucinda Williams epic Car Wheels On A Gravel Road and as a member of Dylan’s band in the late nineties a period many considered one of Zimmy’s greatest.
Sexton was back tonight and Charlie’s return freed Dylan up in the best set I’ve seen Dylan perform all decade. But the problem with Dylan live is always the problem with Dylan live. It’s a problem Mike Nessing and I had yesterday imagining a dream set list yesterday. You can start anywhere, you can stop whenever you feel, you can take out “Like A Rolling Stone” and “All Along The watchtower” and replace em with “Blowing In the Wind” and “mr. Tambourine Man” -what difference does it make? The set neither builds nor subsides, it is like a series of songs disconnected though the set itself is integrally connected to the one before and the one after it and it doesn’t matter where we are or what we see we don’t get the full picture.
It was a pretty good set and better than that from time to time. But the band were like a baseball team hiting singles and doubles but never in clumps. It lacked traction with only the final two songs before the encore sustaining the sound.
A great “Spirit On The Water” with Dylan pushing what’s left of his voice for the “You think I’m over the hill” last verse, Charlie Sexton stealing “Thunder On The Mountain” from the band leader with a great solo, Sexton kneeling on the ground, an excellent “Workingman’s Blues” and the aforementioned “Ballad Of A Thin Man” as good as anything I’ve ever heard Dylan play.
BUT along with that there were very ordinary versions of “Stuck Inside Of Memphis (With the Mobile Blues Again”, “It Ain’t Me, Babe”, “Highway 61 Revisited”. This is what Dylan does to keep himself interested, he reworks the melody and leaves the riffs alone. The new melodies never beat the old ones.
Never mind, tonight is about Dylan and Sexton, Sexton center stage about half the time, Dylan taking it back to play guitar or harmonica, never both at the same time, this is an electric band without an acoustic guitar in sight. Dylan treats Charlie like a favorite son, keeping him nearby, giving Sexton more time to shine than the rest of the band combined. Tonight was the story of a band facing its audience “My dear friends” is how Dylan refers to us. Two guitarists were approaching, the band began to howl.
The Set List:
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
It Ain’t Me, Babe
Man In The Long Black Coat
It’s All Good
Spirit On The Water
High Water (for Charlie Patton)
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)
Forgetful Heart
Cold Irons Bound
I Feel A Change Comin’ On
Highway 61 Revisited
Workingman’s Blues #2
Thunder On The Mountain
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Like A Rolling Stone
Jolene
All Along The Watchtower
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