Bob Dylan 990423 in Marseilles, France
From: CSDEVeyrat@aol.com Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 21:36:56 EDT Subject: Trans. : Marseille To: karlerik@monet.no This is the setlist of the Marseille concert (I hope I've got the order right). 1. Cocaine Blues (acoustic) 2. Mr tambourine Man (acoustic) 3. Masters Of War (acoustic) 4. Visions Of Johanna (acoustic) 5. It Ain't Me Babe (acoustic, with harp) 6. Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic) 7. The Times They're A-Changin' (acoustic) 8. Can't Wait 9. Just Like A Woman 10. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again 11. Not Dark Yet 12. Highway 61 Revisited 13. Love Sick 14. Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35 15. Blowin' In The Wind (acoustic) Report: It was my 8th time and the best concert I'd seen by him since 1991. He looked sharp and his voice was great. Also the acoustic part was much better, his guitar playing was better and the band was really good, especially Larry's work on the other guitar. The songs came out fine. As for the electric set, the band was quite rocking, and thank God, Bob let Larry play a few solos. Of course the list was not perfect, but it doesn't really matter. I could have done without Tambourine man, but I must admit the last stanza was something, hs voice building the crescendo perfectly. I could also have lived without Times A-Changin'. No Mama You Been On My Mind, no 4th Time Around or Desolation, but I guess you can't have them all. The greatest disappointment was the audience and the number of songs (only 15). I really expected that last electric song, whatever it may have been. The audience was too quiet, and showed only some enthusiasm (which may explain the missing last song). They never sang along (which in a way isn't too bad sometimes), never really showed any great pleasure. And there were instances when it was hair-raising: Cocaine Blues had a nice arrangement, and Masters Of War swept me, the voice, the guitar, it was amazing. And I almost died when he sang Johanna, which I hadn't dreamt of hearing in concert. The harp on It Ain't Me was a little difficult at first but then got really good. Tangled Up I had heard better renditions before. Times was average, not very felt. Can't Wait on the other hand had a very nice groove. I was disappointed by Just Like A Woman, especially because he chose to raise his voice at the end of each line of the bridge (here, here, clear). It gave the song a different aspect, lighter I guess. I much prefer when his voice drops in this song, it isolates and reinforces each word better. Not Dark Yet was as good as I had expected it to be and I was quite happy he sang it. Such a fantastic song. Stuck Inside was rocking all right, even if it is not one of my favorites. But Highway 61 was magnifiscent, I hadn't heard such energy at his concerts in a long time. He came back for Love Sick, even better than the album version, Rainy Day Women (like somthing he had to do) and a good version of Blowin' In The Wind, which even if I don't like very much anymore, was great tonight. So, a good - but too short - concert. I also enjoyed his attempts at getting a rocker attitude on stage, you should see him move his legs like some rocker from the 50's, à la Elvis. Besides that, maybe one smile and not a word except for the names of the musicians; well, that's Bob for you! Christophe Un aperçu de Dylan - Le Quotidien
Subject: Marseille, France (23 April) comments From: Andra Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 16:05:52 -0400 Organization: Duke University, Durham, NC, USA Marc Bolland (m.bolland@skynet.be) has asked me to post his comments on the Marseille, France (23 April) concert: Now, I went to Marseille, and it was as great a chill as it has always been when I saw him. His first song was the cover Cocaine blues. He showed us he and his band can rock us superbly. Then a great moment of emotion and tension when he sang 'Masters of War'. You know in today's political context in Europe, everyone could deeply feel what this great song was really about. Dylan always has his own personal and private way of telling us what he things and feels with magical words. His voice has the magical and exact tone which touches my deepest heart. There were great emotional songs too 'Tangled up in blue' and 'Can't wait and Love sick'. Bob can tell about love like no one else. My personal feeling is that he still thinks about Sara when he thinks lyrics like 'she was married when we first met, soon to be divorced' or ' it's so funny after alll these years you're still the one' .Anyway, no matters who he speaks about, he speaks so well. My only regret is that he only did one ENCORE. According to one of his crew members, Dylan thought the audience was too quiet and too sleepy (in comparison with the Spanish audience). I also wished he had used his harmonica more than once, but if that's the way he did it, it'as all right for me. --- All correspondence regarding this review should be directed to: Marc Bolland (m.bolland@skynet.be)
From: Richard Lager (rlager@es-conseil.fr) To: (karlerik@monet.no) Sent: Saturday, April 24, 1999 1:12 PM Subject: Marseille ... review Hi, here is my (short) review of a show that I enjoyed though I guess my pleasure was above its actual quality ! I have seen Bob as often as possible for the last fifteen years and Marseille was far from being one of my favourite. the set list was what it was! of course I would have wanted other songs but that's not the problem for me. I'd rather hear a GREAT Mr Tambourine Man than a HORRIBLE Mississippi (or something like that!) yet I really liked the acoustic Visions Of Johanna with was seemed to me a nice and melodic new arrangement but the acoustic set was a disappointment. I knew he was to start with the acoustic songs and I looked forward to it but I think he somehow controls too much the versions and everything turns out to be predictable and that is a real pity. I think if he played without the others around it would be better! every grin, every step backwards, every nod to the other players, every of his guitar solo is like the one the day before (the year before...) and it is disappointing... Can't Wait & Not Dark Yet were good (not great... but good !!!!) . so a very negative review ? well ... yes but don't get me wrong... I will still go next time.. oh yes I will ... Richard Lager http://www.es-conseil.fr/rlager
