Bob Dylan 980830 in Townsville, Australia
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 00:21:36 +0200 (MEST) From: Carsten Wohlfeld (happyjaq@gmx.net) Subject: August 30, 1998 - Townsville, Australia - a review > Bob Dylan > Townsville, Australia, August 30, 1998 > Townsville Breakwater Entertainment & Convention Centre > A review by Carsten Wohlfeld The whole day was a disaster... y'know, you hear all these nice things about the smalltown that is Townsville, tropical climate, 320 days of sun per year, only three rainy days in August, yet we didn't see anything than black sheets of rain... 15 cms of rain in two days, it basically was a flood. Our planned trip to Magnetic Island was literally washed away. So we spent the whole day in the city, but at least the Entertainment Centre was a nice small venue (usually holds 6,000, but tonight only 4,000!) and despite the fact that I drove Federica and the Sydney crew mad with my "I wo't get a tickets cause it's sold out" mantra all day, I scored a 10th row centre seat that I never intended to use anyways... Walker?Davies openened the show with their usual great blusy set and then Patti did it... she actually was better than Bob tonight. WAY better that is. She came out at 8.05pm to tell people that it really meant a lot to her to be here cause her father spend time in Townsville as a soldier in 1941. She opened very laidback with "Southern Cross" and "Waiting Underground" but during "Dancing Barefoot" Darren and I managed to initiate the stagerush and from there on Patti and crew were on fire!!! They did bascially every song you could hope for, including tour debuts of "Ghostdance" (her little prayer for the sunday night) and great versions of "Because The Night" and "Rockin' In The Free World". To close to the show was wanted to do "Howl", but couldn't find her glasses (!) so there was a "change of plans" and we got an amazingly intense debut of "Horses" than went straight into "Gloria". What a set! I hope no tape exists though or you will hear Irwin, Darren and me sing very badly on the chorus of "Because The Night" and "Gloria". Bad idea to give us the microphone Patti :-) Bob and band took to the stage at 9.20pm as usual, stagerush happened during the first song, even security tried to preventit... > Maggie's Farm Was okay, Bucky on acoustic guitar. Bob was having a great time from the start on. Played *every* single guitar solo tonight himself, Larry could"ve gone home straight after "Maggie" I think... > Lay Lady Lay Nice version, not really sung but shouted, I think. Crowd was pretty much into it though and so was Bob. > Can't Wait Very good version, again Bob was more shouting but singing but it suited the song just fine. Very nice phrasing on the last verse and chorus. > Simple Twist Of Fate Solid version that was really special cause Bob played a LONG guitar solo at the end that ranks among the best I've heard from him in recent times. > It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry Yet another heavy guitar workout. I guess that was the reason why Bob chose to play it AGAIN: To show off his guitar skills. > Silvio Was done instead of "Cold Irons Bound", not as great as in Darwin, but still better than most versions from Europe. Crowd: nuts. > O Babe It Ain't No Lie (acoustic) Nice choice, even though most people in the audience were unfamiliar with the song. Bucky and Larry had a good time doing backing vocals. Bob's soloing was bad and out of tune, otherwise this would've been one of the real highlights tonight. > Masters Of War (acoustic) Solid version, last verse contained interesting phrasing, as Bob didn't sound cynical as usual, but rather suffering (if you know what I mean). Interesting. Maybe he changed it because of Patti's dad?! > Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic) Weird version with a bad guitar solo (it wasn't really a solo, rather a blank spot in the middle of the song), then Bob turned around, grabbed a harp, but it away, tried another short guitar solo, picked up the harp again, played one note, noticed it was the wrong key, picked another harp, started a bad solo that only and the end got really loud and somewhat better. Very strange indeed. > Cold Irons Bound Interesting to hear this so late in the set. Judging from Tony's surprised reaction there was another acoustic song planned here, but Bob obviously wanted to do this one... solid version, not much to comment on. > She Belongs To Me Quite nice actually, slower and quiter than recent renditions. Bob started making eye contact with the females in the front rwo again and had a good time continuing that for the rest of the night. After the song he quickly introduced the band. > Til I Fell In Love With You Yet another solid, but overall pretty unspectacular version. Then they were gone. > (encore) > Love Sick Was as good as usual. They really get it right over here. In Europe it was either rushed or rusty, here they do it exactly right. > Rainy Day Women 3 12 & 35 Yes, a rather nice attempt at this horrid song, but I still would like to hear almost anthing else in this slot. > Don't Think Twice (acoustic) One of the highlights of the night. Singing and phrasing was both suberb and he sang it directly to a woman in the front rwo which made all of us (and the band) smile from ear to ear. > Blowin In The Wind (acoustic) Solid version. > Highway 61 Revisited We got better versions of this before, but it was yet another chance for Bob Dylan: Guitar Hero to show off. For some reasons Bob has to close with an acoustic song these days, so quickly after they went to the back of the stage after 110 minutes and 17 songs they returned for: > Forever Young (acoustic) Solid version, crowd loved it. A few more bows and he was gone. The longest show so far (not counting Mercury Lounge), 18 songs, close to 120 minutes on stage. Yet it was a weird night, too many mistakes, too many occasions where Larry should've played the solo instead... Bob definitely had a good time and it was a good show, but the magic that was in the air in Darwin was clearly missing. As I said before, this was the first show of the tour where Patti was definitely better than Bob. Let's see how it all works out in Brisbane. Thanks for reading, see you there! Carsten Wohlfeld -- "man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies" (oscar wilde)
