Dylan in Pawtucket: Rules of the road
12:12 AM Fri, Aug 25, 2006 | Permalink
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So that's what he looked like. Rick Massimo will be doing the review for projo, and you can get the set list soon on Expecting Rain, if you're curious. Dylan's voice was terrible doing good old songs. Phrasing was bizarre, no news there, but it got extreme enough on Buckets of Rain to sound like William Shatner doing Dylan. The voice barks, mumbles, scatters. Masters of War drew big applause. Somebody yelled, "Play Freebird." Dylan played Just Like A Woman, I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall. He seemed to wake up and sing on Tangled Up in Blue, just a whiff of clear passion pushed. The encore was something like Like a Rolling Stone. This is not a complaint. We check out how it's going with Bob every now and then. Joe said, "I'll be your baby tonight, but I won't be your Bobby tonight." It was a lovely night to be outdoors in New England, cool, and I'd never been on a baseball field at night, under the bright lights that came on between acts. They lit up an all-ages crowd.: A sea of denim, khaki, solid colors. The costumes and characters are gone, and it seems funny seeing old people comfortably at rock concerts, but otherwise it could be seeing Dylan any time in the last 40 years. Except for the roolz. More about that later. The stage was in front of the outfield bleachers, between the scoreboard and the clock. We originally found a piece of grass near first base, between the infield dirt and the foul line. Portafloor covered the outfield a few feet away, and the crowd stretched so far ahead that the musicians' heads were the size of small peas. No cameras. No smoking. No beer sold after Dylan started. Lots of security. No energy. We made our way to the stands, where the sound was better. It was a full house except for some nosebleed seats on the end and an entire section on the third-base line with no sightline, thanks to a peaked tent probably covering sound equipment. We settled into the spacious ambience of the fourth row, alone in the section except for a couple dancing between the first row and the rails. A security guard came down and told them to stop dancing. They sat down. Maybe near the stage people had peak experiences, but this sedentary grandstand crowd lacked only a guy coming down the aisle with peanuts and hotdogs. Rock and roll is not meant to be a spectator sport. 
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Why would you expect a dynamic experience sitting in the stands at least 300 feet away from the stage? I can tell you that those of us near the stage definitely enjoyed a much different and better experience than yours. I'm not going to say it was "a peak experience" but it was not a yawner like you described.
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>>Why would you expect a dynamic experience sitting in the stands at
>> least 300 feet away from the stage?
Woodstock, of course! (:
(I had to say that.)
At McCoy, easily 90 percent of us were that far away from the outfield stage, and we all paid the same 55 bucks for our tickets.
There's excitement in the air that can flow back. It just didn't here.
Maybe if the stage were closer to the seats...
But I'm thinking these controlled experiences are at odds with the spirit of it all.
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I must admit, I enjoyed Junior Brown most of all. His style of playing was humorous and energetic. Jimmie Vaughan played well, but looked like he was phoning it in. I can tell easily when a musician is playing with conviction, and when it's work. Jimmie looked like he was working, but I must admit he had one beautiful guitar strap.
Bob Dylan reminded me of a corpse at times (so old and skinny in his suit) and other times, he seemed no more interested than a factory worker in front of a foot-press.
The field wasn't such a blast - and I was up close. The picayune rules were ridiculous (we couldn't walk across a gravel parking lot to our vehicle upon leaving, and instead had to wait in a crowd to traverse a roped off walk way up a flight of stairs far out of our way).
And when was the last time anyone has seen Bob play guitar? This keyboard thing is like watching Mick Jagger singing behind a drum kit. It just doesn't evoke the spirit of the artist.
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I'm glad I saved my $56.00!
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I enjoyed it. you have to remember your at a bob dylan concert... you never no what your going to get. At least this time he was somewhat understandable and played a could mix. The last time i saw him he played a hour of HURRICANE and didn't face the audience for most of it. So this night was a treat. I agree with Norm, jr. Brown was great.
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Bob Dylan can have my children. Maybe I'm too young to be putting in my two cents on a Dylan concert... but he is SEXY for a 65, 35 or 18 year old, doesn't matter SOOOO hott.
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I thought Dylan was on target at McCoy Stadium, his voice was decent, and he had a great set list. Tangled Up In Blue was a personal favorite. As Thin Man said, at least he was understandable!
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Remember when going to a rock and roll concert was a vaguely political/rebellious act? We stood up during the entire show. We danced. Some of us headbanged. We smoked pot. The cops were too intimidated at the thought of wading into a crowd of thousands of rebellious, stoned kids to even think about busting anyone.
Do we need any more proof that rock and roll has completely lost its edge than that security guards can tell people to stop dancing during a show and get away with it?
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bob dylan is a legend and proved that on thursday night. anyone who didn't enjoy the show should stay home next time.
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I listened to the show from my bedroom window in Central Falls. Every now and then a train came by and drowned out the sound of Dylan and his band, but I thought it was a fitting analogy. Best audio I got was on the last song, Like a Rolling Stone. It was reminiscent of the Dylan of old, the timelesss Dylan that makes him a master of the stage, whether in this century or the last.
Thanks, Bob.
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