Bob Dylan 980917 in Maui, Hawaii

Bob Dylan
Kahului, Maui, Hawaii, September 17, 1998
Maui Arts & Cultural Centre Amphitheater
A review by Carsten Wohlfeld

Hello and welcome to the start of Bob's US Fall tour in beautiful Hawaii.
Maui is a beautiful place, not at all touristy and a very good place to
chill out. Last time Bob and crew played here six years ago they did both "Idiot
Wind" and "Visions Of Johanna". Tonight they did a very conservative set
that most of the about 3,000 people attending still loved. Thanks to Lauren,
Amy, Jack and Ian who went to the show with me. They liked it much more than
me, just because I didn't appreciate the very set too much. It was a pretty
good show still. It took place in what was bascially the backyard of the
excellent Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Why they call it an Amphitheater, I
don't know. It's basically a lawn with some temporary bleechers in the back and
some palmtrees on either side of the stage. Very strange place to see
Dylan. A nice cool breeze all night we got as well. We missed the local support
cat and arrived just in time for Bob and crew to take the stage at around
8.05pm. 

Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat

Was the opener as expected and it was apparent from the start that the
sound would only be half decent right in the front. For the rest of the venue
it was probably the most mushy sound I ever heard at a Dylan show.
Fortunately, I was able to get down to the front pretty early even though 
the security was pretty tight and there was *no* stagerush at all!

Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You

Was as average as "Pillbox" was. Mainly due to the bad sound (Coach wasn't
at the board tonight either), but also cause Dylan and band didn't move an
inch for the first few songs.

Cold Irons Bound

All the people stayed in their seats, which meant that this was a pretty
dull crowd as well as a not very exciting performance. Bob whispered
something into Tony's ear at the start of this song, no idea what it was.

Just Like A Woman

First song that got the crowd started even though I personally was sick
and tired of hearing it. "Now we gonna play something of this new record" I
hear Bob say after the song:

Can't Wait

Started out slow and boring but got better towards the end. Still Bob
sounded tired (despite the five day break since the end of the Pacific tour) and
this was definitely one of the lesser attempts on this song.

Silvio

Went down very well with the crowd and was actually very enjoyable despite
the sound being espacially bad on this one.

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (acoustic)

was "don"t Think Twice". No harp, no extras.

The Times They Are A-Changin' (acoustic)

Was one of the few highlights tonight as it appeared to be one of the few
songs Dylan actually seemed to enjoy singing.

Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)

Same old song. Dylan forgot the lyrics to two verses which obviously
didn't improve the performance. Larry grabbed the electric guitar after this one,
but Bob wanted to add another acoustic song.

Knockin' On Heaven's Door (acoustic)

How Dylan could forget the "Mama take this badge..." line is beyond me,
but he did indeed forget it. Otherwise it was a lovely performance. You just
can't beat the "female" backing vocals. Gotta love it!

She Belongs To Me

*Yawn* didn't change one bit from the million times I heard it before.
Quick band intros followed

'Til I Fell In Love With You

was "Til I Fell...". A couple of bows and they were gone. Tony danced his
lil funky dance as usual. Nice to see as always.

(encore)
Love Sick

Wasn't the showstopper is usually is. Sad but true.

Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35

Actually a rather good performance with Bucky playing a rare solo.

Blowin' In The Wind (acoustic)

One of the few unlikely highlights. Bob seemed to put all the energy that
was missing during the rest of the show into this one.

Highway 61 Revisited 

Yet another pretty hot version. Bob just seemed to get started towards the
end of the show.

Forever Young (acoustic)

Mucxh loved by the audience (of course) and one of the better performances
of this one. 

So we got a very good 105 minute show under the stars that was nearby
perfect musically but lacked any excitement and magic. Good one if you never seen
him before or only a few times (all the people I went to the show with
loved it), but a pretty disappointing set if you see a lot of shows.
Setlist-wise Honululu is probably gonna be better. 16 down, one to go. 
See you all for one more review in a couple of days. Thanks for reading. 
Thanks to the staff of the Northshore Inn for the fun stay on Maui!

Carsten Wohlfeld

P.S. In case I forgot to mention it the other day: Thanks to Rob for
putting me up in Christchurch and to Andrew for the ticket!

--
"we had to leave the stove on all night so the mice wouldn't freeze"
(grant hart) 
---