Bob Dylan 980627 in London, England
Wembley Arena
Double bill with Van Morrison
Showtime: 7:30 PM
Subject: Bob and Van at Wembley (review)
From: TAHG (tahg@aol.com)
Date: 28 Jun 1998 11:21:36 GMT
karlerik@monet.no (Karl Erik Andersen) writes (27/06/98 21:41 GMT):
>980627, London, England, Wembley >Arena
>Double bill with Van Morrison
>1. Gotta Serve Somebody
>2. Man In The Long Black Coat
>3. Cold Irons Bound
>4. Make You Feel My Love
>5. Silvio
>6. The Times They Are A-Changin' @
>7. Tomorrow Is A Long Time @
>8. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall @
>9. Mama, You Been On My Mind @
>10. Tangled Up In Blue @
>11. Forever Young @
>12. 'Til I Fell In Love With You
>13. Love Sick
>14. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
>15. Blowin' In The Wind @
>Thanks to Ken Cowley on the phone.
And what a great setlist it was, too! Bob surprised a few people by coming on
first and he was cooking right from the start.
Cold Irons Bound seemed to make much more sense live, loud and raucous than on
the (overrated, I STILL think) new album. Make You Feel My Love also benefited,
losing some of its mawkishness and sounding more genuinely heartfelt.
But then, having dispensed with Times Changin', Bob hit TREMENDOUS
form in a glorious acoustic set. Tomorrow Is A Long Time with jangly
steel-strung guitar and achingly tender, sometimes almost whispered,
vocals could barely prepare us for a truly stunning, masterfully
realised full version of Hard Rain. The vocal authority and swelling,
apocalyptic delivery was awesome and all the venerable and visionary
lines about the executioner's face, the burning body, the white
ladder, etc., really did sound as if they'd just been written.
A sensitive Mama was very much in the style of Tomorrow. The great
final verse was given particularly skilful emphasis. Then, as if all
this hadn't been enough, there was Tangled Up In Blue. Frantic, yet
somehow controlled. Lyrics at times like a machine gun, yet somehow
clear and perfectly timed. The band kicked in magnificently on the
second verse and, led by Bob, displayed a sense of dynamic and
rhythmic contrast that I for one missed in some of the night's other
up-tempo arrangements. The mandolin (or dobro?) sound between verses
was heavenly. Bob also introduced a little comic guitar-strutting move
which was to feature later in the show. The song was largely faithful
to the BOTT lyrics yet, strangely, the key, epiphanous "book of poems"
verse was absent. But it still seemed to make sense.
Almost inevitably, the intensity faded somewhat in subsequent songs
but I was glad to hear the slight touch of menace which, for me at
least, can sometimes lurk behind the seemingly innocent Forever Young.
'Til I Fell In Love With You was loud. Love Sick was, as it's always
seemed to me, a song- by-numbers. The houselights came on for Rainy
Day Women, a shoutalong crowd-pleaser. We thought it was all over
....but then (joy!) Blowin' In The Wind. A lovely goodbye worthy of a
fine, at times inspired, night of music. You could almost forget you
were in Wembley Aircraft Hangar.
And it wasn't over yet! Despite a lively start and a great band (Pee
Wee Ellis and, I think, Georgie Fame), Van Morrison perhaps decided he
couldn't really follow Bob so he'd have a bit of a laugh instead. This
produced the best piss-take of someone's own song I've ever heard when
'Whenever God Shines His Light' suddenly became 'Whenever Sir Cliff
Shines His Light'! In further, blasphemous, verses Sir Cliff healed
the sick and lame and put our feet back on higher ground.
Great stuff!
There were some other comic moments, too, notably during Van's
impromptu vocal v. vocal and vocal v. sax duel with Pee Wee which
seemed to develop from Van's obsessing over the mystical qualities of
a bus stop in Westbourne Grove, near Notting Hill Gate. (This will
perhaps make more sense to my fellow londoners than to other rmd
readers!) Van almost cracked up laughing several times in the show.
Who says he's a miserable git?!
It wasn't all fun and games though. Van was on good form and so were
the band. There was a fine Vanlose Stairway and there were some lovely
medleys, especially the one beginning with Moondance, and some slick
solos. And there was Just Like A Woman (!) in a sensitive, respectful
version which beautifully brought out the hidden melodies and jazz
possibilities of the song.
All we needed now was for Bob to stroll back on for a duet of
something from Astral Weeks. But you can't always get what you want.
Subject: Hard Reign over Wembley - review
From: Espen Aas (E.Aas@btinternet.com)
Date: Sun, 28 Jun 1998 14:53:10 +0100
It was one of those days when London just wanted to show itself from the
worst possible side; long delays on the public transport system because of
engineering work and heavy rain. This meant that my partner and I used two
and half hours to get from our home in South East London to Wembley (north
London), more than it takes to fly from London to Oslo! The transport
problems seemed to prevent many from coming to the Edlis/RMD lunch before
the concert, but we ended up being six persons enjoying a very nice Indian
meal in Wembley (although we were two hours late).
After safely moving via the Post Office pub and Hilton for pre-drinks to
Wembley Arena without drowning, it was time for the big event. But would he
come on first or second? Disappointingly he came on first, which I thought
would mean a shorter set than normal. With that in mind I started enjoying
* Gotta Serve Somebody
A really nice version of a song he has performed in all sorts of ways
earlier. He was surprisingly strong in his singing, normally he needs a few
songs to warm up. The band backed up very nicely throughout the song. I
don't think there was a single word I couldn't recognise in his singing.
*Man In The Long Black Coat
Another very nice song, still very early in the show, but with much energy.
This is amongst my favourites from Oh Mercy, and was the third (and best)
version I have experienced with him live.
* Cold Irons Bound
I'm afraid I don't like this song very much, it being on TooM or in live
version. Very solid performance though, and the band seems to enjoy playing
it.
* Make You Feel My Love
A highlight for me, even though I don't like the song too much. I have never
heard a live version of it before, so it was a treat to finally hear it.
Oddly enough, from where we sat, this seemed to be the song that got most
cheers and applause!
* Silvio
I'm always very negative about this song, but have to admit that I enjoyed
how they rocked away on this one. The crowd in front seemed to share the
mood. I guess the band go a bit on auto-pilot on this now, after playing it
non-stop for so many years.
* The Times They Are A-Changin' (acoustic)
The first acoustic set of the evening, and a good choice in my opinion. I
like it when he plays the songs which once upon a time gave him the label
"protest-singer", whether he liked it or not. Hugely popular in the crowd,
and a strong performance.
* Tomorrow Is A Long Time (acoustic)
This was really one of the big treats of the evening. His performance of
this comes close to beat Elvis' version from decades ago. I think he should
stick to this for some time.
* A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (acoustic)
This acoustic set got better and better, another song with political
influence and IMHO the second best performance of the evening. What a voice!
Very appropriate choice, both considering the weather that day, and the
mud-hole they were heading for the following day! (Glastonbury)
* Mama, You've Been On Mind (acoustic)
This was my highlight of the evening. I'm not sure why, but it was just very
beautiful, that's all I can say.
* Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)
Bob was on his way to give away the acoustic guitar before this one, but
when he was told that there was more to come, I started to realise that we
would get 15 songs after all. I know a lot of people's got enough of this
one already, but I think it gets better every time. It was the first
acoustic song which was post-sixties as well.
* Forever Young (acoustic)
Last in the acoustic set. Earlier reports suggested that the band
don't enjoy this one very much, but they seemed to be smiling quite a
lot this night, so I guess they got over it. But who is he singing
this song to these days, himself? A single little flame from a lighter
appeared in the crowd during this one.
* 'Till I Fell In Love With You
Back to rock'n'roll again. Again, not a great favourite of mine, but others
amongst us thought it was the highlight of the evening. Not a bad ending of
the set at all.
(Encores)
I was so sure that I was going to hear Highway 61 Revisited now, but instead
came
* Love Sick
Great song and great performance, although it seems to go a bit on auto
pilot now, compared with last year's Wembley concert.
* Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
No big surprise there!
* Blowin' In The Wind (acoustic)
A very popular choice amongst the thousands inside Wembley, and I think
everyone there, they being fans or not, got a very good ending on the show.
Again a song of political content rather than love.
Overall, a very strong performance, he seems to have recovered very well
from what struck him a year ago. Even though I was very pleased with the
performance, I think last year's concert was better, both in terms of his
energy and choice of songs. No harmonica, but I haven't seen him with one
for a couple of years anyway. Neither was there any duet with Mr. Morrison.
Final note; Van Morrison came on half an hour later, we decided to
stay through most of his performance. The song that got the best
response was none other than.....Just Like A Woman! It was also quite
clear which one of the two who got the audience in the mood; during
Dylan there was a big crowd in front of the stage, during Morrison
there was none at all! Having said that, a lot of people did rock in
their seats!
--
Espen
E.Aas@btinternet.com
Trade page: http://www.btinternet.com/~aas.longva/dylan.htm
