Bob Dylan 980926 in Mountain View
Subject: Re: September 26, 1998 - Mountain View, California - Setlist From: David Cochran (dcochran@earthlink.net) Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 19:35:23 GMT I thought that Dylan was awesome. When my wife said that she picked up tickets for the show, I was not that excited, since I am really burned out on the classic rock scene, but I thought what the heck, he is a legend and I have not seen him. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised and thought the Dylan put on one the best performances that I have seen. He was loose, dancing and I even thought I saw a few smiles. I thought that Van Morrison was as bad as Dylan was good. Van seemed uptight and agitated. After the second song he was yelling at the stage hands about monitors not working. He kept walking off of the stage. His band seemed to keep covering for him a lot and the band kept looking around at each other like what should we do now. Had Van played first I would have felt better about the show, but as it was I felt that Morrison left the show on a bad note and took away from the whole concert. Had I left after Dylan, I would have felt better about the whole show. Even if Van would have come out for a single encore I may have felt a little different. He acted like he didn't want to be there last night and when he did not return for an encore, it showed a complete lack of appreciation for the fans. I was hoping that he would return and at least give us a little "brown eyed girl", gloria or "wild night", but no. I thought his comment about there being any "dylan freaks" out there was in poor taste, especially taken in the context of his whole performance. He acted like he did us a favor by ushering his daughter out for a duet and I guess he did since she at least gave it a good effort. David On Sun, 27 Sep 1998 02:46:32 -0700 (PDT), dogerel@webtv.net (Dogrrrrl Woof) wrote: >nobody mentioned how great van was tonight...amazing how he keeps his >voice while puffing away on ciggies during instrumental breaks.....he >was hot tonight.....as for bob it's incredible how expressive his voice >is (another great singer died today i found out on the way home from the >concert- betty carter- very sad---she was scheduled to appear here in a >week or two)..i thought bob did some fine singing tonight...one song ,i >forget which, he did a great hillbilly almost yodel...loved it.....and >lucinda was equally excellent...her band was tight and really >rocked.....great show
Subject: Re: September 26, 1998 - Mountain View, California - Setlist From: Steve Portigal (stevep@rahul.net) Date: 27 Sep 1998 22:28:23 GMT This was my third Dylan show. The first was back in the late 80s, when Timbuk 3 opened. I knew basically Dylan's GH 1, and so the show was completely confusing to me. I saw the Bobfest back at MSG a few years later, which was amazing, but very little actual Dylan. And then last night. I own a lot more Dylan CDs now than before, but am still certainly learning a lot more about the music and the history as time goes on. I've always really enjoyed Dylan when he's got a band behind him that can really kick. Yesterday was just incredible. Parts of the show just totally blew me away. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had heard good things, and I am just so happy with Time Out of Mind, so I figured cool. The guitars, the new arrangements, the really cohesive band sound, wow, just really great. Fun, thrilling, inspiring. And shitty crowd, I thought. At least where I was sitting. Couple beside me were really into it "oh yeah!" when a song would start, and then they'd talk. Group in front of me was bored, and talking through the entire set. The woman in front of me tapped me when I was really really really into Silvio (I can't believe the rocking version of a song I really don't enjoy the recorded version of) so she could ask me to ask my neighbour to borrow his binoculars. I told her "in a minute" but my 'moment' was just ruined. Damn. The couple on the other side of us were REALLY into it. REALLY. Like too much. Like forget anyone else's space or ability to hear what was going on. They got very excited and danced and sang during Blowing in the Wind, with Dylan's really great vocal, which I couldn't hear because screamed 'wind' into my ear. Damn. They kind of reminded me of Will Ferrell and Cheri o'Teri as the Spartan Cheerleaders on SNL - both in appearnce and attitude. Anyway, though it detracted, it couldn't take it all away - the show really was something else. Grovel time: I would *LOVE* to get ahold of this show. I know people were there taping it. I have lots of Stones, lots of Neil and a bit of Dylan to trade. Grovel II: does anyone have the Toronto show back in the 80s from at tour with Timbuk3 - it would be really interesting to listen to that show now, with all that I know now... Steve -- Steve Portigal GVO INC Steve.Portigal@pobox.com Palo Alto, CA
