Bob Dylan 980910 in Wellington
Subject: Wellington Sept 10 Review From: (andrew.mccallum@moc.govt.nz) Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 20:59:33 GMT The Queens Wharf Centre is a barn of a place built on the wharf right next to the centre of town. Amazingly a lot of people turned up to the Park Royal pre-concert drinks which was gratifying. However, it seems Bob was staying at the Centra (nee James Cook). The Park Royal couldn't accomodate his many demands. Anyway, this time I enjoyed Patty a lot more. She did a very good long poetic piece to do with vietnam and smashing a cat a against a wall - or something. Anyway - Bob came on and did Maggies :( To cut a long story short, the first five songs may have been wonderful, but the sound mix was atrocious. I think he sang a very fine Man in Me, but I'm not sure. Tears of Rage was a welcome treat, but I had to fill in the words myself. The acoustic set was better. Friend of the Devil was excellent, but the sound still hadn't quite come right. Don't think twice was the first song where things were more or less intelligible. Tangled was great. I've seen it twice now Bob - thanks. You can drop it from the setlist. I never thought I'd say this, but Times was a highlight. Very well sung. I groaned when I heard the opening chords, but somehow Bob made it new, and even meaningful. I'll remember you seemed to have a new arrangement and was a bit hesitant I thought. The mini concert of the encores was as fun as Auckland, if a little disappointing that the song selection was exactly the same. "Forever Young", my best friend and love of my life Joanna said, "is a good way to end the concert. A bit like the end of a meditation", she said," wishing everyone well." Joanna teaches Yoga, and she also said the construction of the setlist is quite like constrcuting a Yoga class. She said, "there's things you want to try that are different and difficult, but there are also the tried and true things that you know will always work and that the class will love." How true I thought. All in all, a difficult concert to judge because the sound was so bad for much of it. No shivers down the spine, but enjoyable. Two down, one to go. Andrew.
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1998 12:37:00 +1300 Subject: September 10, 1998 - Wellington, New Zea Bob Dylan & Patti Smith Wellington, New Zealand, September 10, 1998 Queens Wharf Events Centre A review by Carsten Wohlfeld After a very enjoyable drive down from Auckland to Wellington (we saw lakes too big to photograph, amazing geysers and weird waterfalls) the Wellington show was bound to be better than the very mediocre Auckland gigs. Patti - the local paper called her the "bag lady" in next morning's review :-) - played a somewhat weird set, almost skipped all the classics (bar "Dancing Barefoot") and concentrated on her most recent material, incluing a nice and soft "Wing", "Waiting Underground" and a very intense "Memento Mori" that was so long, it even surprised the band! No stage rush at all, which was a little weird too and I think Patti kinda missed that. Her set ended with "People Have The Power" and at 9.15pm it was time again to welcome the Columbia Recording Artist we all like so much :-) They now use strobe lights for the band's entrance, which looks kinda weird but it's a nice signal that the show will start any second now. Maggie's Farm Was pretty flat and it this point it looked as if the show wouldn't be much better than the gigs in Auckland. The Man In Me Changed it all though, cause it was a wonderful, gentle version. Usually Bob's voice sounds a bit rusty on this one, but today he manged to sing it almost perfectly. Very, very nice indeed. Cold Irons Bound Was pretty good too, even though Bob's vocal delivery was pretty uncaring. He kinda threw the last part of the song away. The crowd still loved it. Tears Of Rage Absolutely amazing and probably the best song of the Pacific tour so far (with the possible exception of "Every Grain Of Sand")... New arrangement with some lovely backing vocals courtesy of Larry and Bucky that made Tony smile quite a bit cause on the first chorus Bob just changed the phrasing comepletely and it was impossible for Larry and Bucky to follow. Lovely guitar solo by Larry as well. Great stuff! Can't Wait was "Can't Wait". Silvio was veeery dynamic and Bob did lots of knee bending. I guess it had something to do with the fact that bass drum and bass guitar was fairly high in the mix tonight. Friend Of The Devil (acoustic) Great choice (three years after Jerry's death) and lovely done as well with a pretty good twin guitar solo. He clearly enjoyed playing this song and I think he even got most of the words right. After this song a fire alarm went off, thus completely ruining the next two song for the people in the bleechers, but Bob and crew carried on regardless. Don't Think Twice It's All Right (acoustic) Louder and faster than usual but apart from that pretty standard version much loved by the crowd. Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic) Tony only plays the double bass for the first two acoustic songs and then switches to the acoustic bass guitar. He first did that in Darwin and I guess it gives him more space to dance - and he does. The Times The Are A-Changin' (acoustic) Pretty mediocre version, even though the band tried very hard to make this a highlight. Bob forgot most of the words though and he made up some ryhmes that are not even in the english language...:-) I'll Remeber You Was done in a somewhat weird, but pretty funny new arrangement as well, even though it sounded alot like "I&I" and "License To Kill". Band intros followed. 'Til I Fell In Love With You was "Til I Fell..." which always is a nice way to end a show. Bob seemed to have enjoyed himself a fair bit, a lot more than in Auckland. (encore) Love Sick Was another show stopper tonight and apart from "Tears Of Rage" probably the best song tonight. Great crescendo-solo as well. Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35 *Yawn* A guy jumped on stage after the song and tried to hhug/tackle Bob but Tommy, Tony and a couple of security guys stopped him just in time. Blowin' In The Wind (acoustic) Was actually quite nice tonight even though he usually sounds pretty tired on this one. Maybe it's not such a good idea after all to play quite acoustic number at the end of a rather long show?! Highway 61 Revisited Much loved by the crowd and the band enjoyed it alot too, judging from the smiles on their faces. Forever Young (acoustic) was "Forever Young". One of the effects that the long five star encore has, is that he people leave after this one. Nobody expects more to come. In the past people were still yelling for more after "just" three song encores. I wonder if that's the reason for the neverending encores these days? All in all a pretty good show, not Wollongong yet but we are getting there (hopefully). Thanks again to Andrew for his help in getting me a ticket and to Rob for letting me use his computer to write this. See ya in Christchurch! Carsten Wohlfeld please reply to: happyjaq@confetti.ruhr.de -- "her name is eve and she lives two floors below, she is 22 and looks like linda ronstadt" (birdy num nums) /PRE>
May - June - July - August - September 1998 setlists
