Bob Dylan 980517 in George, Washington
Gorge Amphitheatre
Address: 754 Road "W" N.W.
Capacity: 18,500
Ticket prices: $84 (Gold Circle), $63 (Regular Reserved), $47.25 (General Admission)
Ticketmaster phone number: 509-453-7139
Triple bill with Joni Mitchell & Van Morrison
Subject: May 17, 1998 - Van sucks!
From: "J. Matau" (jamatau@u.washington.edu)
Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 04:33:18 -0700
Organization: University of Washington
I've got a few things to say here.
I waited three years to see Bob again. Spent $90.00 on a ticket,
drove for over three hours just to get to the show, and got only a 65
minute opening set. The only reason I can stand it is because Bob and the
band kicked ass. No trimmings - Bob and the boys cooked through thoses
numbers. I still got ripped off.
Okay, I was excited about getting a chance to see Van Morrison. I
had never seen him, and like a lot of his music old and new. Having seen
him perform, I don't care if I ever see him again. You can bet that I'm
never buying any of his music. What a bore! If I understand correctly,
Van was going to pull out of the tour just as the shows were about to be
announced. Then Van comes back in only if he get to headline too. More
Van less Bob. I saw nothing in Van Morrison's performance that said he
should have closed or headlined that show. His vocal stylings were flat
(all two of them). His band never really got into a groove. They had a
nice quality, but did nothing special, and came off sounding mostly the
same all the time. Horn solos were limited to just a few short bars,
players never being allowed to the time build anything interesting. Van
stunk. After playing for about a hour, he stormed off with out an
encore, never having touched that guitar sitting at his side or really
doing anything of interest.
"Boy, I sure can't wait until he comes back around." I never
want to see Van or his ego again.
Saturday night Bob headlines and plays well over 90 minutes, and
I'm told was outstanding. Sunday night Bob opens and plays only 65
minutes, and is great. Which show do you want to see? Let the punk with
monster ego open the show, like he should have!
I would like to take a line or two to apologize to any Van
Morrison fans who stand by their man and think that he doesn't suck, and
is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I've just got to call them like
I see them.
I can't believe that, in all likelihood, I'm going to have to wait
years to see Bob again.
later,
-James
Subject: Another Bad Dylan experience :-\
From: Planetboy5 (planetboy5@aol.com)
Date: 18 May 1998 22:02:47 GMT
Sunday May 17th @ the Gorge In Geogre WA ....
Well... It's happened again... without any pre notice Mr. Dylan decided to play
first :-( Before Joni Mitchell and Van Morrison... It was yet another nightmare
as I raced with my nephew towards the main stage to find our seats ($84.00 9th
row Seats at that) only to get there as Bob is taking a bow, and then walks off
stage !!! The show Slated to start at 6pm with the addition of an unknown
opening act started earlier that the tickets said, Me and my nephew, who had
yet to see Mr. Dylan... I on the other hand have seen him many times... this
not being the first time I had missed him... the last time I went to see him
with Santana he pulled another switcharoo and I ended up seeing only the last
four songs...Dont get me wrong I'll still love his music, But right now I'm
very upset and disappointed, I mean what other act do you know of that suddenly
decides to swich the billing around with no forewarning ????
There have been none in my experience thus far, only Dylan
I know theres not much I can do but all involved will be recieveing a two week
daily bombardment of, shall we say less than satisfied emails from yours truly
!!!
If you're out there Bob and you are by some chance reading this, I hope you
understand the hurt and disappointment this caused not only for me but a new
fresh young fan who I had been so foolishly telling, how wonderful you are in
concert and what a great time we would have together...
Only to be crushed and left with a pouting over weight egotist going by the
name of the late great Van Morrison...
"I got, Blood in my eyes for you"
Sincerely,
Your brother from another...
Planetboy...
Subject: Re: Another Bad Dylan experience :-\
From: Peter Stone Brown (peterb@erols.com)
Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 22:14:13 -0400
Evansmg wrote:
>
> The switching about of the billing has been standard since the New York/Boston
> dates in January. It's the ever popular alternating headliner agreement.
>
There is a reason for this other than the alternating headliner agreement and a simple
one too: They don't have to break down all the equipment and set it up again. Now I'm
not looking at the schedule, but if there's any other 2 night (or more) shows out there,
simply be aware (by checking out the newsgroup) if Bob headlines one night, he's opening
the next.
