I would be much more excited about the Bob Dylan Americana tour if it wasn’t for the following things.
1. When I saw Dylan at United Palace a couple of years ago he was dreadful.
2. The nearest Dylan is getting to me is Hoboken and I am not going to Hoboken, even less Jone’s Beach.
3. The opening bands are the terrible and boring Wilco and the once very exciting but haven’t done much worth hollering about since 2009 My Morning Jacket.
I’ve seen the following artists open for Dylan
Patti Smith
Paul Simon
Joni Mitchell
Van Morrison
Dion
And let me tell you now, neither Jim James nor Jeff Tweedy are Patti, Paul, Joni, Van, or Dion. I mean, not even close.
Now here is a Dylan line up that would be at the very interesting. If he wants to give the kids a break, then give the kids a breaks not the middle age bores.
Bob Dylan
Conor Oberst
Flatsound
That might be interesting, maybe Zim can do what Bruce does and have them join him for a song. “Positively 4th Street” maybe?
Dylan hit one of his live heights from around 1993 (when he did the Roseland two night stand) through maybe 2001. I saw his first gig after 9-11 in nyc (MSG) and he even actually spoke to us, “Most of these songs were written here,” Dylan said, “So nobody has to ask me how I fell about New York.”
The thought is, former Arch Angel Charlie Sexton leaving the band lead to Dylan’s fall from grace on the stage, But then, why didn’t he improve much when Sexton came back? I think the move to keyboards killed him, just killed him. If you listen to his 1990s live boots, like the awesome “Sensei” and go to his shows today, the difference is bizarre indeed. W’appen?
Really, even since the “Before The Flood” tour, Dylan has been messing with his catalog. In 1974, in the middle of Watergate no less, he steamrolled through his hits with a battering ram, opening with “Most Likely You Go Your way (And I Go Mine)” with a yelp of “you know you could be wrong” and never turning back for a second.
Now that was a long time ago!
Today, he can’t… no not he can’t, chooses not to, sing em or play them so great. Still, it is Bob Dylan…
Here are the concert dates, and go to bobdylan.com for presales.
Bob Dylan — 2013 Tour Dates
04/23 St. Louis, MO Peabody Opera House *
04/24 Springfield, MO Missouri State University *
04/25 Champaign, IL University of Illinois *
04/27 Murray, KY Murray State University ^
04/28 Louisville, KY The Louisville Palace ^
04/30 Asheville, NC U.S. Cellular Center *
05/01 Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Uptown Amphitheatre *
05/02 Raleigh, NC Red Hat Amphitheater *
05/04 Charleston, SC Family Circle Magazine Stadium *
05/05 St. Augustine, FL St. Augustine Amphitheatre *
06/26 West Palm Beach, FL Cruzan Amphitheatre #
05/27 Tampa, FL Live Nation Amphitheatre #
06/29 Atlanta, GA Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood #
06/30 Nashville, TN The Lawn at Riverfront Park #
07/02 Memphis, TN AutoZone Park #$
07/05 Noblesville, IN Klipsch Music Center #$
07/06 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center #$
07/10 St. Paul, MN Midway Stadium #$
07/11 Peoria, IL Chiefs Stadium #$
07/12 Chicago, IL Toyota Park #$
07/15 Toronto, Ontario Molson Canadian Amphitheatre #$
07/18 Darien Center, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center #%
07/19 Bridgeport, CT The Ballpark at Harbor Yard #%
07/20 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center #%
07/23 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion #%
07/24 Virginia Beach, VA Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach #%
07/26 Hoboken, NJ Pier A Park #%
07/27 Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theater #%
07/28 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center #%
07/31 Denver, CO Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre #%
08/01 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre #%
08/03 Irvine, CA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre #%
08/04 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre #%
* – w/ Dawes
^ – w/ The Wild Feathers
# – w/ Wilco and My Morning Jacket
$ – w/ Richard Thompson Electric Trio
% – w/ Ryan Bingham