Bob Dylan 980919 in Honolulu
From: "Sekine" (danda@hgea.org)
To: (karlerik@monet.no)
Subject: Review of Sept. 19, 1998 Honolulu Performance
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 1998 20:23:08 -1000
Bob Dylan and Ledward Kaapana September 19, 1998
Andrew's Amphitheater, Honolulu, Hawaii
A review by Andrew Sekine Ê
So far I haven't seen a review of Dylan's Honolulu concert on your
site so I am taking the liberty of providing one for you.
The September 19 Honolulu concert was held in Andrew's Amphitheater,
an open air arena on the University of Hawaii campus that seats about
3,500. I presume that the concert was held in the amphitheater
because other venues in Honolulu with larger seating capacities such
as the Waikiki Shell, the site of a 1992 Dylan performance, were
already booked. The gates opened at 6:00 but a long line of
concert-goers had formed well before then. The line to enter the arena
moved slowly because zealous blue-t-shirted security personnel near
the entrance were informing the concert-goers that food, drinks,
umbrellas, and chairs were not allowed in the arena, sending back to
their cars many stunned concert-goers who were accustomed to the
easy-going atmosphere of most Hawaii concerts. Some of the security
personnel went so far as to search purses.Ê
The show got underway just after seven with a 40-minute set by Ledward
Kaapana, a Hawaiian artist who is a master of ki ho'alu guitar. Ki
hoalu ("slack-key") refers to lowering or raising the pitch of
certain guitar strings, which is similar to the use of open tunings
in traditional folk and blues guitar. In slack-key guitar, however,
there are dozens of possible tunings, some of which are known by only
certain Hawaiian families. Ledward gave his usual dazzling
performance, starting with two nimble-fingered numbers on ukulele
then picking up his guitar to play slack key standards such as "Radio
Hula" and "Opihi Moemoe." He also sprinkled his set with selections
from his recently released album "Waltz of the Wind" (Dancing Cat).
He concluded his set with his signature falsetto rendering of "I
Kona" and a guitar extravaganza treatment of the old surf classic
"Pipeline."
Dylan's 1992 concert at the Waikiki Shell had been, putting it kindly,
a mixed bag. He seemed afflicted with stage fright and intermittently
mumbled lyrics into the mike. He didn't seem comfortable until his
acoustic segment halfway through the concert. Yet, despite memories
of that lack-luster 1992 performance, the concert was sold out and
members of the audience who had seats on the grass began to stand up
during intermission in anticipation of Dylan taking the stage.
Dylan began his set with "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat" and it was
evident that this concert would be far different from the 1992
appearance -- this time the band was tight and Dylan was locked into
the music from the start. The crowd on the grass area was on their
feet swaying to the beat throughout the song and remained so through
much of the concert. The next song was a name-that-tune version of
"Tonight I'll be Staying Here with You." As was the case with much of
his older material, the melodies of the songs were restructured and
the songs themselves were linked to their previously recorded
incarnations only through their lyrics and harmonic structure. The
message came through that this clearly wasnt an oldies revue. Dylan's
old material was being created anew before our eyes and astonished
ears.
"Cold Irons Bound" was introduced by a flurry of Sonic Youth-type
feedback. It seems that on this and the other "Time Out of Mind"
songs, "Can't Wait" and "Love Sick," Dylan stayed fairly close to the
recorded versions.
"Simple Twist of Fate" was another name-that-tune rendition. The
audience cheered when he came to the tagline, "Simple Twist of Fate."
"Silvio," with its rave-up choruses and the revelation of Dylan as a
guitar god was probably the best-received song of the night. The
grass seating below was a sea of human movement.
Dylan began the acoustic segment of his set with "Stone Walls And
Steel Bars," which was followed by "Don't Think Twice, It's All
Right," "Tangled Up In Blue," and "It Ain't Me, Babe."
After a glowing version of "I Shall Be Released" Dylan quickly
introduced the members of his band (the man spoke!) and went into
"'Til I Fell In Love With You " and exited.
Dylan and his band took their time about coming back for their encore
set, letting the crowd applause rise to a crescendo before returning
to the stage to do "Love Sick," "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," and
"Blowing in the Wind." On the choruses of the latter song, Dylan
stretched out the word "wind" and each time the crowd whooped.
Dylan quickly came back for his second encore set of "Highway 61" and
"Forever Young." Oddly, the amphitheater lights remained off after
"Forever Young," prompting the crowd to continue to applaud and hope
for a third encore set but that was it.
Perhaps by the standards of the Never-Ending Tour, the Honolulu
concert was a so-so performance -- no harmonica solo, no duck walk,
no seldom heard songs. But to the Honolulu audience it was a magic
night. Dylan performed with all the vitality of an artist whose time
has not yet passed and whose creativity is at yet another peak.
Occasionally, rain would fall upon the open-air arena, which had the
effect of heightening the emotions of the crowd, as though they
sensed that they were receiving a special blessing. And indeed they
were, for on September 19 in Honolulu, thousands of people walked out
of the amphitheater knowing that they had experienced greatness.
Andrew Sekine Ê
Date: 24 Sep 1998 18:11:00 +0100
From: happyjaq@confetti.ruhr.de (Carsten Wohlfeld)
Subject: September 19, 1998 - Honolulu, Oahu, HI - a review
Bob Dylan
Honolulu, Oahu, HI
Andrews Amphitheater, September 19, 1998
A review by Carsten Wohlfeld
Two days on from the performance on Maui Bob played a terrific venue at
the University of Hawaii tonight. The Andrews Amphitheater, right on
campus, is a lovely little Amphitheater, that holds just about 3,500
people, about 1,000 of them on the lawn. "Tonight's performance is sold
out" the sign outside proudly proclaimed and indeed the crowd seemed to be
be much more suitable for a Rock N Roll show than the lamers in Maui
(sorry guys, that's what I thought... see Eric Clapton next time, please).
Led Kaapana opened with his unusual blend of blues, counrtr and native
hawaiian sounds and funny coververisons of "Killing Me Slowly" (sic) and
"Sweet Georgia Brown".
Bob and crew arrived at 8.00pm and you could see them arrive cause there
was no black curtain in the back...weird. Bob was very moody tonight and
that was apparent as soon as he launched into:
Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat
One second he gaves us his biggest grin, the next he was rolling his eyes,
apparently cause he didn't liked the band's performance too much.
"Pillbox" seemed to have an extended solo and sounded much better as I was
standing in the front row. I never like this from the back, but when you
actually can 'feel' the sound it's quite alright. Larry had new speakers,
Matchless instead of Vox tonight, would be interesting to see if this was
only a one off...
Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
AGAIN! Bob seemed to enjoy this one alot, lots of smiles all around. The
whole show had a kind of rehersal atmosphere too it, very laid back. Also,
Bob wasn't playing guitar much at all (more of that later).
Cold Irons Bound
was "Bound".
Simple Twist Of Fate
Grrreat version, even though was struggeling with the first geetar solo a
bit. He left his troubles behind quickly and this became a looong,
showstopping performance. "Big Girl Now" was the cuesheets alternate.
Can't Wait
Faster than usual and a cooking version as well. Excellent
Silvio
was "Silvio" and it was here that Bob stopped playing guitar for large
parts of the song, something he continued for most of the latter part of
the show.
Stone Walls And Steel Bars (acoustic)
was "Stone Walls".
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (acoustic)
Bob stopped playing guitar in the middle of a verse a couple of time and
Larry had trouble filling in the unexpected "soundholes".
Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)
Tony wanted to walk over to Larry with his speedometer to make sure Larrz
doesn't start this too fast, but as Tony has halfway there Larry had
already started :-) This became a very strange performance as Bob hardly
played guitar at all and Larry didn't really know if he was supposed just
to play the rhythm or the solos as well. Bob seemed to be very angry at
Bucky tonight and after not having played guitar at all during his first
too solo spots he walked over to Bucky, talked to him (all this while the
band was playing the song!), Bucky stopped playing altogether and Bob
finally played his solo. Very strange, if you ask me!
It Ain't Me Babe (acoustic)
Was chosen over "My Back Pages" and "Baby Blue" which was a pity but this
was a lovely soft performance anyways complete with the long slow ending.
No harp though. Halfway through the song Bob shouted something over to
Bucky. I for one didn't hear him play too bad, but Bob obviously begged to
differ.
I Shall Be Released
was "Released". "Blind Willie" was a possible alternate, according to the
cuesheet :-( The band intros followed. "On guitar - Larry
Campbell...(mumble) way back when...(mumble) maybe I'm not supposed to
mention...(mumble) [break for applause], on drums David Kemper [break for
applause], on mandolin and steel guitar Bucky Baxterandonbass Tony [note:
no break for applause, which evenually made him stop after Tony cause
people were clapping anyways] Garnier. I think he deliberately didn't stop
after Bucky cause he was unhappy with his playing. What he said about
Larry was impossible to make out for me. Maybe the tapes will tell.
Til I Fell In Love With You
Bob was more yelling than singing this one and while the band was still
playing the outro he put away the guitar, took a few bows and left the
stage.
(encore)
Love Sick
Bob's guitar playing was very loud on this one, I saw it as an attempt to
have Bucky's steel guitar buried in the muddy sound. Again he was rolling
his eyes at Bucky even though I didn't hear Bucky play anything else or
worse than usual.
Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35
It actually started raining at the beggining of this song, which was quite
funny. It stopped in time for the song's end as well.
Blowin' In The Wind (acoustic)
Slow and veeery nice, together with "Simple Twist" one of the unlikely
highlights of the night!
Highway 61 Revisited
An obvious choice, also because the Hawaiian Highway 61 was just a few
blocks down the road! Bob seemed to have some trouble with his solo and
the performance seemed to be shorter than usual. Again he left the stage
before the song was over.
Forever Young (acoustic)
A little bit rusty but a nice way to end the show anyways. After the song
they disappeared backatage and for a moment it looked as if they would
return. Tommy had put Bob's guitar back on stage, but after a long wait
the lights finally came on and the show was over.
105 minutes, a very enthusastic, rather young crowd, a weird Dylan
performance, that, I say it again had a lot of a rehearsal with all the
looks and talking and Bob's non existant guitar playing but I for one
enjoyed it much more than the trying-to-be-peffect greatest hits shows we
got in Auckland or Maui. This show probably ranks as one of the three most
enjoyable I've seen over the last six weeks, even though I'm not quite
sure if that will come across on tape as well. As always, thanks for
reading. This will be my last review for a while, thanks for all the kind
notes and all the criticism as well. As long as it doesn't come from some
useless bozo who's jealous cause I'm having fun seeing so many shows any
remarks are more than welcome. I'm sure I'll be back rather sooner than
later, so please stay tuned :-) Special thanks to Will and the people at
the Northshore Inn, I had a great time with you guys :-)
carsten wohlfeld
--
"well a man has two reasons for things that he does, the first one is pride
and the second one is love" (husker du)
