Ian Fitzgerald

There were many highlights from the two Bob Dylan shows I...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:41:00 -0500

There were many highlights from the two Bob Dylan shows I attended a couple of weeks ago, but this was the one song during which I thought he had definitively topped the recorded version. “Forgetful Heart” has not been one of my favorites from Together Through Life but this version, with Bob standing at center stage holding his harmonica and microphone in his hand while singing into a second mic, Stu Kimball leading the way on acoustic guitar, Tony Garnier bowing his upright bass, Donnie Herron adding viola, and George Recile beating away on hand percussion, managed to cast the song in a starkly different light. Moments like this make attendance at multiple Dylan shows each year worthwhile (though it wasn’t the only one…).

you know we'll have a good time then

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:41:00 -0500

I played the Cat In The Cradle Coffeehouse just about 13 months ago and I wrote of that night then:...

In late 2002, Bob released a video clip for an edited version of...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:25:38 -0500

In late 2002, Bob released a video clip for an edited version of “Cross The Green Mountain,” his contribution to the Gods And Generals soundtrack. Bob’s wig and facial hair, not dissimilar to those worn at Newport, can this time be attributed to dedication to character, though his bandmates get extra credit in that regard since they grew their own.

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Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:24:21 -0500

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Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:24:09 -0500

In August of 2002, Dylan took his wiggery on stage with him. ...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:23:53 -0500

In August of 2002, Dylan took his wiggery on stage with him. Not only did Bob decide to wear a wig on stage at an outdoor concert in the middle of summer, he did so at one of the most highly anticipated shows of his late-career period: his return to the Newport Folk Festival. Was the wig some sort of response to the treatment he received in 1965? Did he really need to add the fake beard and mustache? Some wig mysteries are not meant to be solved.

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Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:23:23 -0500

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Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:23:09 -0500

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Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:22:52 -0500

Back in January of 2003, Bob graced the streets of Park City,...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:54:00 -0500

Back in January of 2003, Bob graced the streets of Park City, Utah with his presence for the Sundance premiere of his film Masked And Anonymous. What did he wear for the occasion? Knit hat, scarf, leather jacket: pretty standard fare for the ski city mid-winter.

Oh, he also wore this crazy blonde wig.

Great Moments in Bob Dylan Wig History

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:47:54 -0500

Yesterday afternoon, the music video for Bob Dylan’s “Must Be Santa” was loosed...

on this coast

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:55:52 -0500

I have become more frequently neglectful of getting my thoughts on my own shows up here in the...

I’m going to see Bob Dylan tonight and Sunday at the Wang...

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:15:00 -0500

I’m going to see Bob Dylan tonight and Sunday at the Wang Theatre in Boston. Oddly or interestingly or fittingly or whateveringly enough, tomorrow night marks ten years since a night I saw him in Worcester. It wasn’t my first Bob show, but it was one of my earlier ones, having started out in August of 1997. This was back in the days that I bought two tickets to every show even though I almost never had anyone to go with, so my Dad went half the time (maybe more) and I scraped for a companion the rest of the time. This Worcester show was particularly dire because I was without car at the time, so the fellow concertgoer had to be willing and able to drive. At the last minute, I came up with someone from school who, based on the band shirts he wore, shared at least some musical interests with me. I may also have failed until very late in the proceedings to mention that he would have to drive.

Regardless, we made it to Worcester where my first order of business was to buy a new pair of tickets and get rid of mine. I, by the quickly changing/manipulated luck of the TicketMaster draw, wound up with seats on the side of the concrete hockey/basketball arena/tomb known as the Worcester Centrum. The floor, meanwhile, was general admission, which meant an opportunity to get as close as close can be to Bob and the band. As we made our way closer to the arena, I found that any number of people were offering tickets for sale. I stopped one and asked if he had two for the floor: Score. I paid the man, took my tickets, then looked for someone to pawn my others off on. I should have known on the basis of the high supply that demand for the product I was pushing might be low. I finally heard two kids near the door asking for tickets. Without much concert-going under my belt, I didn’t know that these were the types who were looking for and actually expected and somehow probably got tickets for free. I said I couldn’t just give them my tickets, so they did the only thing a pair of reasonable hippie businesskids would do: made a counter-proposal. Their offer? Ten bucks and a bong. Before I could rip up the tickets in their faces or cry like a little girl, someone nearby heard me talking turkey with those turkeys and offered me a few more bucks for the tickets. Face value? Not even close, but I’d unloaded them and now had tickets in hand for the floor.

When the doors opened, we raced for the stage like two of the least coordinated steeplechasers ever to take to a track. When we’d settled in place, we couldn’t have been more than 20 feet from the stage: now we just had to stand and wait, then listen to Phil Lesh & Friends, then stand and wait some more.

Besides some expected noodling, Phil Lesh & Friends were an impressive group, especially since they included Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes on that night which brought them a definitive southern rock/blues feel. The group closed with a cover of “Not Fade Away” that ended with some weird vocal call and response that made even weirder because Phil Lesh can’t actually sing but he insisted on joining in anyway. After the song ended, Phil stepped back up to the mic, told everyone to become an organ donor, then left the stage awkwardly with his band.

Bob’s shows at the time were divided into acoustic and electric sets and began with covers: usually spirituals like “I Am The Man, Thomas” or “Hallelujah, I’m Ready To Go,” but sometimes something like “Roving Gambler” would pop up. This night began with “Somebody Touched Me.” The great thing about these songs, besides being both uptempo and upbeat, was that they featured three-part harmony by Bob, Larry Campbell, and Charlie Sexton, which is a device that Bob has rarely used during his career despite being an obvious lover of bluegrass.

Because this concert took place ten years ago, I do not recall every moment clearly; in fact, I just looked up the setlist and could not have told you half the songs he played that night. I do, however, have distinct recollections of three songs. The first is “Highlands,” the 17-minute epic that closes Time Out Of Mind. The band played the song almost double-time and mandolin was the dominant instrument in this version, so I didn’t recognize it at first; once I did, though, I knew I had to pay attention because I would probably never hear this song performed in front of me again. The crowd roared, of course, when Bob sang “I’m in Boston town” and Bob seemed to love the whole thing even though he combined the first halves of some verses with the second halves of others and dropped a few altogether. No matter. It was the kind of song and performance you hope by going again and again to be lucky enough to see and hear.

Closing out the main set, the band played “Everything Is Broken” which has always sounded touched by Harry Mancini but on this night sounded like a James Bond theme song. I think Bob repeated the same bridge three times, and it couldn’t have mattered less.

Finally, he closed out his encore with one heck of a gutsy move: he played the same song Phil Lesh had closed his set with, “Not Fade Away.” This was more of the Grateful Dead style than Lesh’s had been, but it was louder than anything else all night and featured those three voices singing together one more time to close the show the same way they’d opened it. When they were finished and the lights came up, I noticed that my companion had removed his sweater to reveal a Grateful Dead t-shirt. What did he think? “Blew Phil Lesh away.”

Why is this new t-shirt “only available through [their]...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:07:00 -0500

Why is this new t-shirt “only available through [their] online store?”

I wonder where else they could sell this shirt…..

the pawnbroker roared

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:00:50 -0500

For a couple of days a few weeks back, I listened repeatedly to two Bob Dylan songs:...

quid pro quo

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:58:41 -0500

I was reading an interview (from this month’s Interview) with Wes Anderson this afternoon. In...

stuff to stuff your stockings

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:02:00 -0400

One day left in October means less than two months until Christmas, which means that minus one day...

wrap-ups

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:22:00 -0400

I’ve been lucky enough to be part of two dynamite lineups in the span of five days. The first...

to be fair

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:16:00 -0400

This is interesting. The Lilith Fair is apparently returning to the summer festival circuit next...

Wait, there’s another volume?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:42:13 -0400

Wait, there’s another volume?