Bob Dylan 981025 in Chicago, Il
Subject: Dylan in Chicago tonight--setlist and miscellaneous From: "Bernard J. Farber" (bernfa19@starnetinc.com) Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 00:14:57 -0600 Dylan just got off the stage at the United Center in Chicago (about 11:30). Setlist was VERY similar to Duluth and Minneapolis earlier this week, with just a couple of changes. Chicago setlist: 1. Gotta Serve Somebody 2. I'll Remember You 3. Cold Irons Bound 4. Just Like a Woman (with wonderful harmonica from Bob) 5. Silvio 6. It Ain't Me Babe 7. Masters of War 8. Tangled Up in Blue 9. Don't Think Twice Its Alright 10. Make You Feel My Love 11. Highway 61 Revisited Encore: 12. Love Sick 13. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (they turned the house lights up for this one and you could see the whole audience standing and dancing, and shouting along on the chorus!) :) 14. Blowing In the Wind 15. 'Til I Fell In Love With You 16. Forever Young Bob was in fine form, and doing quite a bit of dancing. He introduced the band, and made a couple of other extraneous comments, such as indicating he was glad to be in Chicago, and that some friend of his (didn't catch the name) was in the audience. The United Center did NOT do the typical pat down search security bullshit that you all too often find at concert venues these days (hooray!), so hopefully someone managed to tape this one. They DID, unfortunately, have the all too typical "reserve seating" bullshit. (Come on Bob, I heard you didn't have that crap in Duluth--put in it your contracts with places that you want general admission stadium seating with no damn reserve seats from now on!) Another great show from Bob!
Subject: Re: Dylan in Chicago tonight--setlist and miscellaneous From: Mike Stillman (mikebvc@ripco.com) Date: 26 Oct 1998 06:34:12 GMT Bernard J. Farber (bernfa19@starnetinc.com) wrote: : Bob was in fine form, and doing quite a bit of dancing. He introduced : the band, and made a couple of other extraneous comments, such as : indicating he was glad to be in Chicago, and that some friend of his : (didn't catch the name) was in the audience. He said hello to Sam Lay, Chicago drummer, who was with the Butterfield Blues Band when they backed Bob at Newport in '65. It's a shame that Sam couldn't have joined the band for a few songs, which might have jarred them from their paint-by-numbers, stadium rock torpor. Tonight's show was very routine, perfunctory. Generic versions of all songs, with no subtleties, no reinterpretations, very little interplay among the musicians. Some songs didn't even have an instrumental break. It was not a bad show, but perhaps a bad show would have been more interesting. Bob and the band simplified their playing to reach the last rows of the stadium, and things were too smooth, without any edges. Not thin wild mercury, but thick tame plastic. _.,-*~'`^'*-,._ _.,-*'`^'*-,. '*-,._ Mike Stillman '*-, '*-,.__.,-*' Chicago, IL _.,-*~'`^'*-,._ mikebvc@rci.ripco.com '*-,._.,-*'`^ '
Subject: Chicago loves Bob From: Feline 28 (feline28@aol.com) Date: 26 Oct 1998 06:42:18 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Mr. Z was in a wonderful mood tonight....his humor and wit gleamed thru his wonderful songs. I believe he enjoyed himself almost as much as the audience did tonight. He worked well with his band and they did not overpower him as I have seen before. The man is a genius and I am so very thankful to be living in the same era as Bob Dylan. Thanks Bob....we luv ya....keep the good times coming.
Subject: Chicago Dylan Concert: brief initial impressions From: Paul Bullen (pbullen@ENTERACT.COM) Date: 26 Oct 1998 06:26:48 -0800 Organization: None Here are some brief intial impressions of the concert at the United Center in Chicago (Oct. 25, 1998). 1. I was happy to hear him open with "Gotta Serve Somebody". It is the closest I will ever come to hearing the Christian Bob Dylan live. I am glad that with whatever change he has gone through since the day that he wrote that song, he is still comfortable singing it. It's being non-denominational and a popular success helps, I suppose. 2. It was nice to hear the second song be unusual: "I'll Remember You". After coming home I figured out what album it was on and played it. It sounds great. It is a nice song to play all by itself, not just in the middle of an album. I think it might have been a better choice for the Greatest Hits, vol. 3 than "Silvio" (which Dylan also performed tonight). 3. A wonderful version of "Just Like a Woman"--with harmonica (the first time I have heard him play it in concert...since 1966). That is a much better song than you might realize from just hearing it on Blonde on Blonde. It is nice that the new CD has an acoustic version of it. Tonight's rendition is the best I have ever heard. It also made me wonder what women make of the lyrics. 4. Five encores: "Forever Young" was the perfect finale. 5. Four acoustic songs (plus two encores = 6), I believe: "It Ain't Me, Babe", "Don't Think Twice", ?, ? 6. The person next to me kindly let me use his binoculars. It makes a big difference. I think I will vow to buy a pair before I see Dylan again. I had been led to believe my $60 was buying a seat in the 15th row. It was the 15th row, but not from the stage: section 105. The advantage: inclined seats and no problem with people standing up in front of me. People did think it appropriate to carry on lengthy conversations at the top of their lungs, though. The binoculars were 7 X 50. It seems like magnifying things 50 times is the minimum you want in binoculars, but then it requires them to be rather large. Any advice on binoculars for seeing Dylan with? 7. I have never seen Joni Mitchell before, nor have I ever owned any of her albums. I was quite impressed with her performance tonight, especially after she put down the electric guitar. As she is now anyway, she strikes me as in the tradition of female singers going back to the forties. She makes a good torch singer or jazz singer. Her voice is still in very good shape, maybe better shape (how would I know?). She made affectionate fun of Dylan's voice in the first song, I think (Yellow Parking Lot, or Taxi, or whatever it is called). 8. The Santa Claus looking fellow was outside again selling videos for $10. I got Binghamton, NY, The Forum, 1992. Looking at a bit of that, Dylan seemed younger tonight than he did in 1992. In the video he kind of crouches like an old man, weighed down by troubles. Tonight he was quite spritely, even hamming it up quite a bit. Does anyone know what he said before the bright lights aimed at the audience, in the latter part of the show? Was the audience being filmed? It is really a crime that no one is filming these concerts. The quality of these bootleg, home-made things is quite low and I am sure there is no record of most shows. There were several songs tonight that I would love to see on film. What is wrong with the people at Columbia or the Bob Dylan Fan Club? Or is this all Bob Dylan fault: he does not realize his own worth? All in all, a very satisfying evening. --Paul (Bullen)
Subject: windy city bob From: stuart levitan (sdlevitan@globaldialog.com) Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 03:41:39 -0800 X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5 a few great moments, some less so. set list predictable to point of invariability (except for there being only 16 songs) Crowd, about 9-10K, very mellow to the point of being sedentary, getting up en masse only rarely (maybe they were tired after that change-the-clock thing). bob very physically energized, especially about the legs. several times, he did this goofy little sideways shuffle -- guess it was the Bobwalk. coupla quasi-duckwalks too, even freezing with bent leg in the air. Eyes alive too, constantly playful and animated. singing only really came alive in acoustic set, especially with a clean and aching Masters of War. Bob and backing chorus both wonderful in encore Blowing. Jaunty Tangled, pyrotechnic Silvio, rockin' RDW all pretty standard. A muddy Serve Somebody (there may have been a rewritten verse, but i couldn't be sure) and rushed Remember You got things off to an uneven start before they hit their groove. Nice to finally hear some harp on Just Like A Woman, and good harp at that. Forever Young special as always,more so because a friend's daughter was there for her 21 birthday.opening acts were great. we all knew that about joni (yes, she does mix classics like big yellow taxi, free man in paris, woodstock in with jazzy new stuff), and she was in fine voice and spirit. this dave alpin a nice surprise -- sort of a populist roots/rockabilly thing happening. i'm impressed with anybody who can segue from woody guthrie (do-re-mi) into chuck berry (promised land). venue staff laid back to point of irrelevance. no security to speak off. as arena shows go, seemed to be a pretty good arena show, but it WAS an arena show. thanks for stopping by, Bob -- but can we go back to Club Metro next time? please?
Subject: Chicago Setlist/Review From: Flash (flashy@ripco.com) Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 17:19:43 GMT Dylan: 10/25/98 Chicago United Center 1. Gotta Serve Somebody 2. I'll Remember You 3. Cold Irons Bound 4. Just Like a Woman (with wonderful harmonica from Bob) 5. Silvio 6. It Ain't Me Babe 7. Masters of War 8. Tangled Up in Blue 9. Don't Think Twice Its Alright 10. Make You Feel My Love 11. Highway 61 Revisited Encore: 12. Love Sick 13. Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 14. Blowing In the Wind 15. 'Til I Fell In Love With You 16. Forever Young Well, typical Dylan show... with some extras... The first extra was Dave Alpin, who graced us with some real boring rockabilly-type stuff (although he did go as others have noted, from Woody Guthrie (DoReMi) to Chuck Berry (Promised Land). Then (as many of us knew in advance) Judy Marshall (ain't that her name?) came out and did one hit song (BYTaxi) (with homage to Dylan) then lit into a perfunctory set of nameless tunes no one knew or really cared about (except for the vast numbers of women not in the company of males in the venue). Jeez. She's also apparently taken a tip from Bob in how to perform well-known songs in unintelligible versions finishing her set with some semblance of her song, Woodstock. Dylan's band sounded real muddy and outta sync on the first song, Gotta Serve Somebody. Probably one of the only looks we'll get at the "Christian" Bob Dylan. Bob was ready though and played it well, adding a "new" verse. I'll Remember You was kinda rushed and pretty much OK. In many Dylan shows, I haven't seen anything quite as good as Dylan's JLAW. The harmonica playing was stellar and he nailed all the verses. The next few songs (Silvio to Tangled Up) were classic Dylan. Doing the Dylan side shuffle, he seemed to actually be leading his band rather than simply participating in a show he just happens to be the headliner of (as is often the case). This particularly in evidence during the aforementioned JLAW and outrightly so during Ain't Me Babe. Dylan at his best. I took a great whiz at the end of Make You Feel My Love that caused me to walk in on the beginning of a really good though typical Hwy. 61. Note the almost complete absence of security at the show that made having a good time quite easy for the few in the audience wanting to. The 5 song "encore" set was some fine Dylan playing replete with dancing hippie chicks in the aisles near me which kinda' made up for the sedentary young audience's stoic expressions of polite applause at the end of every number. Final point, while we know Dylan owns a great deal of Columbia Records (And Now COLUMBIA RECORDING ARTIST: Bob Dylan), it's time to drop the side acts and play some medium sized venues two nights in a row.
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 1998 11:21:57 -0500 From: Mike (michael.j.girsch.1@nd.edu) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: karlerik@monet.no Subject: Chi-town From: John H. Haas Well, it seems the Chicago concert has been well covered, but another review can't hurt. You've seen the setlist, you've read the reviews. Goes to show you never can tell how people will react . . . some are in bliss, others are ho-hum. For long time Dylanists, this was not a show to freak over for years to come. The audience, which as we know so often plays such a large part in the broad dynamics of a show, was dead. Lobotomized. Stiff. Unresponsive. (This is all relative, you understand.) Bob did nothing to really push the envelope; he was good (though his vocals sounded as if they were being "treated," as on the Atlanta promo disc or the Grammy Love-sick), the band was good as always (but Larry too low in the mix where I was sitting; Tony's black leather pants with the silver doohickey's up the side looked ridiculous, as if someone started to make a guitar strap and got carried away-I love Tony, but hey, facts are facts), but the arena was too, too large for the sound to come out cleanly or the rapport to really get going. Putting all the $50 ticket holders - who are, for the most part, a bunch of middle-aged white-folks who remember Bob from way back and who, frankly, haven't kept up with his work, generally don't travel in his circle of references (no residents of Smithville, these), and can't think of anything else to do but sit on their silly butts all night - is basically a recipe for disaster, to my way of thinking. Bring on the deadheads!! Back in October of 1997 when everyone I met seemed to be remembering that this guy Dylan once played an important role in their lives, I remember thinking "Uh-Oh! I'm glad these folks are listening to TOOM, but I certainly don't want them sitting next to my sister at a concert!" But that's what has happened. And these Chicago people didn't even seem to be very familiar with TOOM!! But while there was no magic, no real risk-taking, Serve Somebody was a too-short thrill, Cold Irons was great, JLAW was nice, Silvio great but again too short (but goooo for it Mr. Kemper! Yes!), Masters was definitive, Till I Fell a highlight, and even RDW a joy if only because it got the folks up off their seats and moving just a little. BTW, it's Dave Alvin, not Alpin, and for my money they could give him another 30 minutes anyday and drop Joni. Sorry, she's a true artist with her own thing going, and here and there she really shined last night ("When Love Comes" was transcendent, like a reincarnated Billy Holiday, and it was nice just to hear her voice), but she's made for small clubs, over drinks and conversations. Dave (ex of the Blasters, X, etc., great guitarist, singer, songwriter, a good man) was a real trooper, playing a fine set before all these folk who basically didn't deserve music so good. He did do a nice jam that, previous reports notwithstanding, began with his own Jubilee Train, went into Do Re Mi, and then Promised Land; also he did his classic West Coast noir-love song Fourth of July, and King of California, and his old Blasters classic, American Music, when he showed what kinda guitar he could play. His band was tight as a drum. Then Joni came out and threw a wet blanket on whatever fire he started. She's great, it was a privilege to see her, I respect her immensely, but I wouldn't have missed her for a second if she had stayed home. And Bob, we don't need all the fancy stage displays . . . nor do you. Less is more, as you well know. Trust your better instincts.
From: Thomas Morrissey (thomas.morrissey@IngramMicro.com) To: karlerik@monet.no Date: 28. oktober 1998 04:00 Subject: Chicago Bob Hi, Karl, Thedmo, here. I thought i'd post this review a little late as I spent yesterday flying back from Chicago and didn't get online until today... A couple of thoughts. I agree with much that has been said about the performance, but want to make a few comments about the crowd, and about Joni. Over the years I've seen more than a hundred shows (various artists) in Chicago, and I've noticed that at the larger venue shows, many crowds tend to regard it as rude to stand and block others' views. Thus, while there were few people standing on the main floor during the songs, most songs got a standing ovation, upon which the crowd would sit again. It was kind of like a Catholic mass, without the kneeling. But it would be easy to misinterpret that response as stiff or unresponsive, if you forgot about all the standing-o's. I was fortunate enough to score my tix through EyeCandy (Thanks, Steven & Kati for the seats...I treated two very good friends for their 10th wedding anniversary), so we were on the floor, pretty close. It is weird not to stand for an entire Bob show, but it would have been antagonistic for me to stand more than I did, being fairly large. So, although it may have seemed that the crowd was lame, it was my feeling that they were merely excessively polite, which may or may not be lame depending on your point of view. Also, being in the midst of those $50 ticket-holders, I have to disagree with John Haas. I travelled from CA to see the show, and friends in the same general area have flown out to CA to see Bob. I was surrounded by erudite Bobfans, some of whom were taping. I would have loved to stand up, but doing so would have resulted in distraction, and the guy down in front giving the finger to someone stage left was enough of a distraction for one night. As for Joni, she gave a splendid performance. Her music is jazz, and that might not suit all Bob-goers, but like a lot of jazz artists, she's worth meeting halfway. Her lyrics are very poetic, which is the obvious connection to Bob. Her music is not lightweight, and is not for women only.While it may not be easy for everyone to get into, it is certainly worth the effort. Most of the crowd did seem to enjoy her performance very much. Obviously, not everyone felt the same way. For me the highlight of the show was JLAW, with the beautiful harp solo. I felt lucky to be there at that moment. The initial purpose of my visit was to visit a sick aunt (who died the day before I came out), and when that Bob show was announced, I felt like it was truly my good fortune. Thanks, Bob, I needed a little church Sunday night! Thedmo