Bob Dylan 970828 in Tinley Park, Illinois
Subject: Re: August 28, 1997 - Tinley Park, Illinois - Set List
From: rom (phlash@wwa.com)
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 01:55:37 -0500
Man what a show. BOBMANIA!!!
The music was (too?) loud but Bob was a posin' away. Long jams with Bob
heavy and hitting guitar. Much more than I would have expected for a
'primitive' (as the lead-guitarist of the Beatles once said) guitar
player. Hearing 'Hattie' was the pinnacle of Boboliciousness for me.
Those red pants with white thingys down the side, matched with those
patent leather boots, made for one footloose Dylan. He was all over the
stage! Yeah, he had the bolo going and suit coat, but no shades or
hat. Mugging though, was in full effect. Maybe a little sickly? Maybe
a little bit of vocal fading at the end (croaking?)? 'He dressed like
Jimmy Cagney and I swear he did look great.' Just a thought. The
3-part harmonies were cool from Larry and Bucky. And Bucky, wow. His
playing sound alternately like horns, organ, and that beautiful pedal
steel. Bought the Dignity (with the quote on back) T-Shirt (got the
sticker, the poster, the cd case, and new tour shirts at Pine Knob) and
another cd case. Saw the hats including a knit one with 'Don't Think
Twice It's Allright.'
My sister watched the whole thing through her binoculars! She says "he
lost a little weight..." He's still mesmerized by what he does, we'll
keep seeing him.
Is this correct?
August 28, 1997
Tinley Park, Illinois
World Music Center
1. Absolutely Sweet Marie
2. It Takes a Lot to Laugh...
3. Tough Mama
4. What Good Am I
5. Silvio
6. Roving Gambler (acoustic)
7. Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (acoustic)
8. Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)
9. Cocaine Blues (acoustic)
10. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
11. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
(encore)
12. Like A Rolling Stone
(encore)
13. Forever Young (acoustic)
(encore)
14. Highway 61 Revisited (NOT RDW)
Subject: Aug. 28,Tinley Park
From: JoanOfArc2 (joanofarc2@aol.com)
Date: 29 Aug 1997 23:59:29 GMT
Finally saw Bob live after 30 yrs. of fandom. I couldn't get stage front
but I had a decent set of binoculars. He looked healthy. Even smiled a
bunch. The band was tight but looked a little tired. The audience
remained standing from beginning to end, a phenomenon I've never
experienced at a concert before but it was fine with me as I usually want
to stand but don't because I don't want to block anyone's view. The crowd
was enthusiastic thoughout, obviously many more Bob fans than I thought are
in Chicago. (but I suspect there were a lot of "travelling" fans there
also.) And thanks to Bob (or whoever) for having Ani tour with him. I've
never heard her before. She's FANTASTIC!!! I stopped by Borders on the
way home from work just now to get her CD. She reminds me of A.
Morrisette, R.Lee Jones , Joni Mitchell, all favorites of mine. It's
always great to find a new performer to get exited about.
But there will never be another Bob Dylan. Thanks for a great evening.
Joan
Subject: new world theatre, the bob talks tour, or thanks everybody
From: rwjg (rwjg@ix.netcom.com)
Date: 30 Aug 1997 02:16:12 GMT
finally have time to say something about the tinley park show
thursday night. one thing for sure, there were a lot of young people
there, and bob had em dancin in the aisles. i was sitting next to a 16
or so year old who said he came because his dad bought him a ticket.
by the end he was into it. nice to see.
as for the show, well here are some thought;
absolutely sweet marie, was a fair opener. the sound was awfull, i
thought uh-oh, tinley park is returning to the days of the muffle. i
could'nt understand any lyric cuse of the muffle. bob looked good
thou. wearing his silver stud pants, dark jacket, black boots, which
one of was under his pants, the other had the the pants tucked into the
boot. it was rather funny to look at.
it takes a lot to laugh...sound still sucking but had moments of
hope with a few clear vocals. the show still had'nt really seemed to
start yet.
tough mama...i thought this song was done in a very plain way.
still fighting the soundboard.
what good am i...the sound is fixed. bob talks. this is not a
direct quote, but bob said, after his thank you everybody, which he
said after every song so far, but this is what he said, i got a new
record coming out. it has a lot of songs on it. they all sound pretty
much like this one. then into what good am i. the mugging stated
here. the concert also started here. absolutly cooked this song.
smiling as the young crowd was having fun. on his toes as the guitar
work was good. i think him playing lead has a lot to do with his
muggin. i am glad to see him take it.
silvio...got the crowd singing as all the youn'uns know this tune.
once again, it cooked.
roving gambler...the acoustic set starts with bob telling us, this
is the autobiographical(sorry, spelling is not my best move) part of
the show. this was great. my wife thought this tune was the highlight
of the show.
hattie carroll...yes indeed, well what can i say, the night stood
still.
tangled up in blue...was alright but i liked last years uptempo
version better. still nice to see the man re-arrange songs thou.
cocaine blues...suprise, a 4th on the wooden instuments. this
ended the set and it was fine. bobs vocals as clear as ever. really
getting into it, on his toes, popin the heel from time to time, leaning
on larry once, lots of smiles.
of comes the guitar, and as always bob has to fix his hair every
time he takes a guitar off. huh?
stuck inside of mobile...againg he cooks this one. bob and larry
miss each other a few times, have they been playing this one? seemed
to be feeling there way thru, but still smoked it.
leopard skin pill box hat...introduces the band, fixes his pant leg
that has been tucked into his boot all night...says, thanks to ani
difanco(who has been stage left throughout the whole show) and br5-49,
they are both going to be around for a long time, he says. then bob
says, we're going to do a request now, some guy named don asked for
this one, then they rip into pillbox. rock-n-roll.
rolling stone...the crowd sings along, the band and bob seem to go
thru the motions. he must be sick to death of this tune. but the fans
love it.
forever young...james it on the wooden guitar. this song sends a
lump down the throat this time around(as did, me, i'm still on the
road, lookin for anothr joint. during tangled). really turns the end
of this song into a long instrumental that was great.
highway 61...thanks for comin everybody, flowers, cards thrown up
on stage. the aiseles fill up with the kids dancin away. he could
have played this one all night. he did for awhile as he watched it
all. thanks everybody, final bow, see ya next time bob.
can't complain, but would have liked to hear senoir, blind wille,
love/minus zero. but i would rather be suprised than having him play
the same set every night, like most do.
good health to you bob.
as always,
thanks for reading this far, it's just my opinion, so
disagree if you will,
jeff
Subject: August 28, 1997 - Tinley Park, Illinois - Set List
From: Paul Bullen (bul1@MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU)
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 20:54:31 -0500
...
> 12. Like A Rolling Stone
> 13. Forever young (acoustic) (Larry on fiddle)
> 14. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
I believe there is an error here. The last song was "Highway 61", in honor
of this list.
--Paul (Bullen)
The show was quite good, I thought. I was worried at first. It seemed hard
to differentiate sounds and understand lyrics. I was particularly worried
on the third song, when I couldn't even figure out what it was. It was a
relief to realize that I had never actually heard it before since it is not
a Dylan song and has not been recorded (Tough Mama). The show seemed
excellent from "What Good Am I" on. It was nice that Ani Defranco sang a
Dylan song, and a recent one at that ("Most of the Time"). The potential
that Bob Dylan manifested made me regret he does not spend more time in the
studio since live sound is quite crude. I am surprised that by this stage
of popular performing, greater subtlety has not be achieved in
amplification.
Someone complained about Bob Dylan's guitar playing recently. I have to say
that I like his jams, especially when combined with the other guitarist. I
don't think there is much point comparing him to Michael Bloomfield or Eric
Clapton or B.B. King. I like all those performers (although they are not
very creative musically) and I have been a fan of blues solos since the
mid-60s. But there is a kind of music that is more complete that a good
guitar riff. Can you imagine if Michael Bloomfield had been the lead
guitarist for the Beatles? Sometimes less is more.
The couple in front of me chain-smoked through the entire show (and the
woman thought that my tapping her on the shoulder was more of an affront
than her standing up in front of in front of my face). I think this
indicates the limits of libertarianism. Smokers, dog-owners, and
concert-goers simply cannot be trusted to do the right thing on their own.
It has something to do with prisoner's dilemmas and collective action.
Again I found myself wondering what people were seeking in a rock concert.
Clearly there were some for whom the music was secondary. Unfortunately,
some of these felt called upon to express the most enthusiasm. The
atmosphere is a bit like that of a fraternity party.
None of this was enough to spoil the show though. The music was excellent.
Dylan spoke a lot and seemed in a good mood. The weather was great
(something you cannot count on in Chicago). And on the drive home there was
a great version of Faure's Requiem on the radion.
If anyone has a tape of the show, I would love to get a copy, although I
can't see how anyone could get a recorder through security.
--Paul
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 00:58:15 -0600
To: karlerik@monet.no
From: d-klepper@nwu.edu (Deeana Klepper)
Subject: August 28th Report
Here's the report I promised on Bob's August 28th show outside of Chicago.
A few things at the outset.
One - the New World Theater has about the worst sound of any venue, in or
outdoor, I have ever heard. Critic Howard Reich said as much in the Trib
a couple of weeks ago and he was dead right. The sound was way over the
top on treble. (I am now referring to the venue as "Tin-Can Park").
After the first song the guy in back of me said it sounds like playing
your boom-box in the bathroom and listing to it from the bedroom. Maybe
that's stretching it a bit but you get the picture.
Two - as long as we're on the subject of sound, Bob used to perform with
a row of floor monitors around him - yet not a single monitor was in
sight. Aside from letting us see his boots, it gave the stage a wide open
feeling. I thought he was wearing an ear-piece but a sound guy said no.
He assured me there were monitors on stage, so they must have done a real
nice job of hiding them.
Three - my wife and I had never heard Ani Defranco's music before. She
put on a great show. My wife said she hadn't heard such a good opening
act since Hoyt Axton opened for Joan Baez. So there you go. Ani got some
great sounds out of her guitar with the waa-waa pedal, and she wears these
really scary black finger picks. Her songs are pretty good too, but I
wasn't able to fully appreciate the meaning of her lyrics because I'm over
25 and I don't have any tattoos or pierced whatevers. :-) BTW, I thought
her rendition of Most of the Time was the worst song of her set - the
banjo was totally out of character for the song. And her solo version of
Woody's Do-Re-Mi was pretty weird. She basically re-wrote the melody. I
could have done without that one.
So on to Dylan's performance.
Yes, it was a great show for a few reasons: Bob's singing (the voice, the
phrasing), his Who-me? grins, the great band, the superb song selection,
the acoustic set. But...if I were to borrow a line from one of Bob's own
songs, it would be, "there was little risk involved." Great as it was,
nothing earth-shattering happened at Tinley Park, nothing over, or even
near, the edge. It was a perfectly normal show from an
as-normal-as-he's-ever-looked-to-me Bob. No hat, no shades, COMBED HAIR
for gosh sakes. Like last year, he was dressed up as a regal country
gentleman, and this time he even had Bucky's awesome pedal-steel up front
to back up the charade. But I spent most of the concert looking at Bob's
face through the binoculars. That face is so expressive. He looked like
some lucky kid's grampa. Sadiejane once coined the terms Big Bob
(confident/in control) as compared to Little Bob
(vulnerable/unpredictable). Well, this was Playful Bob: talking, smiling,
mugging, pushing his guitar to the right side while he played, striking
goofy (as well as serious) poses - and of course the crowd loved every
minute of it. He is so good at what he does. He makes it all look so
easy. So what was the matter? Perhaps, near the end of his tour he was
tired (as he had every right to be) and just looking forward to some time
off so he can celebrate the Holy Holidays, watch his new record climb the
charts and think about what he'll sing for the Pope. (Oh the streets of
Roooome...) Maybe he was a little bored, who knows?
But don't get me wrong - I loved the show. It took awhile, as it often
does, to warm up. Sweet Marie and It Takes a Train were both
under-cooked, they didn't really go anywhere. Tough Mama is a great song
but it was disappointing, wasn't really together, and not nearly as
effective as Watchtower in the number 3 spot.
Things finally came together with the oh-so-rare What Good Am I. It
sounded heartfelt and sublime. The instrumentals opened up and there was
some real interplay. Silvio was ok, they jammed a little, but their
hearts weren't really in it. Then came the acoustic set, and as so often
happens, that's when Bob came alive. Every minute, through Roving Gambler
("This is the autobiographical part of the show") into a slow, timeless,
floating, dream-like Hattie Carrol... Then came the Blue Light Special.
Yes, they threw a blue light on him for Tangled Up. Cheesy, but hey, this
is show-biz. This was the mother-lode, the core of the show. It was just
great. Slow and bluesy, great mandolin playing, and the crowd sang along
on every single word! That was the awesome thing. Not loudly - but you
could hear it as a murmur through the whole song. And a young crowd it
was too - the vast majority under 25. Then came the bonus track, a fourth
acoustic song, that wonderful old Cocaine Blues, fluffed line and all:
("Yonder come my baby dressed in black, says she's got a shotgun gonna
shoot me dead"). What color was that?
The final set was anti-climactic. A perfunctory Stuck Inside of Mobile
(another sing along!) and a just ok Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat with some
nice bluesy jamming. Things picked up with the encores. Rolling Stone
with its endless variations of phrasing, with face and eyebrows which told
the story by themselves, with his voice clear as a bell. A playful (as
opposed to prayerful) acoustic Forever Young, lots of one-note guitar
riffs, and a great Highway 61. Thank you Bob, for sparing us RDW. By the
end of the concert my toes were cold from the concrete floor of that
open-air monstrosity called the New World Theater. Bob, PLEASE don't play
there again - you deserve better!
Jeff Klepper
jklepper@ais.net
John Metzger's Music Box
review.
