Bob Dylan 990425 in Zürich, Switzerland
990425, Zurich, Switzerland 1. Cocaine Blues (acoustic) 2. Mr. Tambourine Man (acoustic) 3. Masters of War (acoustic) 4. Girl From the North Country (acoustic) 5. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (acoustic) 6. Tangled Up in Blue (acoustic) 7. It's All Over Now Baby Blue (acoustic) 8. Can't Wait 9. Not Dark Yet 10. Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again 11. Make You Feel My Love 12. Highway 61 Revisited 13. Love Sick 14. To Be Alone With You 15. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (acoustic) 16. Not Fade Away (with Nils Lofgren and Miami Steve van Zandt on guitar - Dylan, deadpan: "We don't have Bruce, but we have his guitar players." (Springsteen and the E Street Band play same venue day after) Jean-Martin Buettner, Zurich About the show: Band tight, singer preppy and in the best of moods, which means awkward dancing and extended, few notes soloing. Masters of War, Hard Rain, Tangled, To Be Alone With You and even Highway 61 awesome, Masters of War probably the highlight b/w a hilarious Not Fade Away, singalong style, with five guitarists sharing the stage and making a huge noise. Singing inspired almost throughout with the possible exception of Tambourine and Baby Blue, which sounded jaded. Warm reception, great show - what was it you wanted? (jmb.)
Subject: Ho ho! It's the Zoorick Review! Date: 25 Apr 1999 21:24:21 -0700 yo people, this is christian zeiser speaking, from my friend's christian ter-nedden's account. so tonight saw my first dylan show in ten months, taking place in the somewhat not-exactly-beautiful hallenstadion venue in zurich, switzerland. can you blame me for having been kinda excited all day long? hell, i was so bloody looking forward to this evening. ten months can be a long long time. but let's get on to the point. as i said, the hallenstadion is not a really lovely place. it's a bike-race venue from the 1930s, and it looks like what it is. on the other hand, it's no uglier than some of the places in eastern germay, places where dylan last year performed some of his most beautiful concerts ever. okay. now i'll get to the show. oh btw: i won't do a song-by-song review. it's 1 in the morning, i'll get up at 6-something, i'm bloody tired, still excited, and anyway, i don't think song-by-song reviews give you a good impression of the *atmosphere* of the evening at all. i know i used to do them myself, and i won't blame anyone for doing them, i just won't do it anymore, personally. so. dylan did a set that was similar to the ones from portugal, spain, and france. first half of the main set was acoustic, consisting of quite a few often-heard classics, like tangled, masters, etc. and had a brilliant, wonderful hard rain as the highlight. opener was cocaine, same as in france recently. what struck me was this: it's really not the setlist that is important. all thru the evening, he mostly did a greatest hits set. if you see it on paper, it sounds downright dull, boring - and yet it was a wonderful show. it never reached the beauty and the depth of last year's leipzig show (which will forever remain in my mind as one of the can't-be-beaten moments of the 90s), but it was a gas. it was fun, dylan's phrasing and larry's guitar were beyond belief, and both the band and the audience were having a ball. hard rain: it reached a height that only dylan can bring a performance to. it was at the same moment desperate and hopeful - not sure if i manage to make it clear here. you had to be there. it was almost spooky and absurdly happy. something that only a dylan song can do to you - you get slapped around with all this depressing imagery, and you feel great afterwards. isn't it strange? in this manner, hard rain is almost a blues song. it makes you feel good by making it clear that things could be much worse. the other song of the acoustic half that really had me impressed was..... no, won't say this.... oh what the hell... tangled! yep, right - tangled! the vocal delivery was awesome. it was dylan at his best, flowing above the structure of the song, displaying his ability to get something new out of rendition # 888 of this song like it was the most natural thing on earth. plus, he has a great time playing it, and the crowd loves it. it always makes sure it'll be a great moment, but i think this is something i kept saying last year, so i'll shut up. okay. the elelctric set started with a funky can't wait that somehow didn't reach the heights of the 1998 rendidtions, but sure was fun. not dark yet followed, sung beautifully, but i wished that david kemper could manage to hold himself back a bit during both this song and love sick. it's like dylan goes 'it's too hot to sleep, and time is running awaaaaayyyyyyyy' very very quietly, and then kemper suddenly goes 'BOOOOOMMMMM'. it just doesn't fit. no way. same with love sick during the encores. ah, but enough complaining for now. not dark yet was lovely altogether, great great touching singing by bob, like all thru the evening. his voice is just amazing. one more thing that struck me as particularly great was larry's guitar playing. bob has finally managed to let larry do the solos, & boy, the guy's good! the usual highway 61 revisited had you blown against the rear wall. way better than last year's versions, altho of couse it was the same arrangement, but larry's solo made sure you were close to turning deaf. that was rock'n'roll at its best. oh yeah, and it was loud. much louder than last year. i'm not saying that's good or bad, it just struck me as a matter of fact. highway 61 in particular had lots of people get their ear-plugs in. the encores: love sick was lovely to hear again, what was strange was that dylan twice chose to sing the 'i'm sick of love' line precisely when the band kicked into the 'ram-bang' part that usually is right before that line, so you couldn't even hear him sing it. on the other hand, i'll always remember him for tonight's rendition of the line 'i hear the clock tick!'. gorgeous. acoustic encore was a nice don't think twice, and then dylan gave one of his short 'huh, what did he say' speeches, and in the end you could finally figure out he was about to introduce someone. those someones in the end were nils lofgen and steve van zandt from the e-street band. (springsteen and the bunch will play the same venue tomorrow... er... today...). steve looked like he didn't even know where he was, and his guitar maybe wasn't even plugged in, but so what - they all did a rockin and rollin not fade away, and that one was awfully high on my wish list anyway. it really is kind of dancefloor dylan. at least i couldn't stand still and there was a helluva lot of hopping around everywhere. music for your knees. and bob enjoyed it - he grinned from ear to ear all thru the song, like 'yo guys, it's sure nice to see ya again'. lofgren obviously loved being there, too, and in the end he and tony garnier left arm in arm. cute scene! okay folks, i hope i managed to bring some of tonight's atmosphere to your desktop. what i finally want to get rid off is: thank you all. christian and erin for being great friend and hosts, and all the rest of the german-swiss-autrian-english-in-no-particular-order crowd for being just as crazy about dylan as i am. it's cool to travel around with you again. see ya tomorrow, in deep southern germany. now i'll shut up and just fall over behind me, into my guest bed. good night! slainte - christian Christian Ter-Nedden, Zurich, Switzerland, cternedden@datacomm.ch Personal Homepage: www.datacomm.ch/~cternedden/
From: Federico Boggio (fboggio@tin.it) To: "'Karlerik'" (karlerik@monet.no) Subject: Zurich, 25.04.99 - Review Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 15:33:48 +-200 It's a long trip from Torino, Italy to Zurich (about 5 hours by car) but it really was worthwhile. After a short visit of the city my friends and I reached the Hallenstadion, a huge building on the outskirts of town, after several questionings and wrong indications, and finally made it just half an hour before the show, scheduled at 7 pm. >From the loudspeakers they were playing beautiful Mozart's piano sonatas at a rather low volume (Swiss style!) while the crowd waited patiently until 7.15 when Bob Dylan and his band took the stage. Dylan, very relaxed and in good temper during the whole show, was dressed in a dark gray/black suit (the same as in Madrid?) and wore black & white boots with snake-skin patterns. Cocaine Blues Opening song, played in the usual moody style with some fine backing vocals in the choruses by Larry and Bucky. Mr. Tambourine Man Very relaxed and mellow. A very fine rendition. Masters Of War First highlight of the evening: a very powerful and intense rendition, with stunning crescendo at the end of each verse underlined by the drumming of David Kemper. Girl From The North Country Hauntingly beautiful and very intimate, with some very fine guitar refinings by Dylan. The way Bobby sang it last night was incredible and believe me it brought shivers down my spine. A highlight. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall A hymn. Long, almost full version of the song (if I remember well), with backing vocals by Larry and Bucky again during the choruses. This was the second airing of this song during this European tour. Tangled Up In Blue A superlative rendition of this song last night. Bobby started low, almost speaking like he was telling a tale. He missed the "She lit a burner on the stove..." verse and changed some words: if I got it well he didn't say "...Delacroix" but sang something like "...but his mind was in Detroit". I'll have to listen to the tape (I hope somebody recorded the show) to be more sure. In "Tangled Up In Blue" Bobby's voice was particularly hoarse and I must say that this added feeling to this long beautiful rendition. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue A sort of a slow down after "Tangled Up In Blue". Marvellous song, good rendition but nothing more. Maybe I was still too impressed by the song before. Can't Wait The electric portion of the show started immediately after the end of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", with a rather muddled start of "Can't Wait", which kind of took the band by surprise and it took some minutes to get the song "into place" and working. Dylan's singing was precise but the rendition was less than impressive. Not Dark Yet Things got far better with the following "Not Dark Yet". A rocky version of the song with some fine vocals by Dylan. Not so intimate as the lyrics might require and as we are accustomed to with former renditions (14.01.98 for instance), which in my opinion are still preferable. Dylan decided instead to give "force" to this song in terms of richness (and volume) of sound and of singing style with the purpose of making it become a slow rock number. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again A great song and a striking long rendition (almost full version). Excellent guitar work and stunning way of singing it. At the end of the song Dylan spoke to David Kemper and looked dissatisfied about the drumming (or so it seemed). Make You Feel My Love Another number from "Time Out Of Mind". Soft as it should, slow as it should, but rather unimpressive. When the audience is cold, like in Zurich, in my opinion it should be better to play something faster and more rock'nroll. The audience seemed to enjoy it anyway. At the end, Dylan looked again at David Kemper and this time everything seemed to be OK. Highway 61 Revisited Inevitable electric set stopper these days, this song never fails to get the audience jumping and screaming. Great work of the whole band, especially Larry and Tony, who looked particularly happy last night. Usual highlight! Encores: Love Sick A standard rendition, with some good guitar refinings by Bobby. To Be Alone With You A nice surprise to me (I expected "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" most probably). This was the second performance of this song on this tour. Very rocking, very solid, very very good indeed. Don't Think Twice, It's Alright What can I say that hasn't already been said on this song? Tremendous guitar work by Larry and a singing performance driving into shivers and tears. These days Dylan sings this song softly and in a very sad way which is really moving. At the end, Dylan picked up his harmonica and dispensed a harp instrumental coda to the song that added even more feeling. Not one of his best solos but very good anyway. Obviosly a highlight. Not Fade Away At this point of the show, Dylan introduced "Bruce Springsteen's guitar player...!" and... oops! Nils Lofgren jumps on the stage followed by "Miami Steve Van Zandt...!" and... oops again! Steve Van Zandt jumped on the stage, the both joining for the final encore "Not Fade Away". Neither Nils nor Miami shared vocals but only added guitar work. Nils upfront on the stage did the job, Miami rather disoriented and clumsy preferred to stay at the back of the stage, looking as he was almost trying to hide himself. Not a very good appearance, this of Steve's. Sorry for him. The song went on great anyway thanks to Bobby, his band plus Nils Lofgren and the audience really enjoyed it. At the end we all yelled for more but unfortunately Dylan decided not to come back, leaving us with the usual 16-track setlist. A pity. The show lasted 1.50' Thanks everybody for your attention. Federico Boggio If you have any pictures of this show please contact me. Thank you. fboggio@tin.it
Subject: A sweet home coming From: Sigurjon Thor Fridthjofsson (sion1@isholf.is) Date: 1 May 1999 10:43:07 -0700 Hello all I was just coming home from a trip through Europe where I caught our man in action twice, once in Zurich and once in Ljubliana. After the first concert I posted the following review to 'Expecting rain' from a friends house but found out later that it never came through. I guess I must have got the e-mail address wrong or something. Anyway I hope you forgive my vanity for posting it now, I know it's much too late. By the way the latter show was a big experience as I've never been so close to Bob before, and the ending was truly unbelievable. I guess you must have read about it already. I'd like to end this preface with a plea for good quality tapes of these shows, so if you my dear friend have them then please please please contact me - sion1@isholf.is BE: Zurich set list plus review Acoustic set 1 Cocaine blues 2 Mr. Tambourine man 3 Masters of war 4 Girl from the north country 5 A hard rains a gonna fall 6 Tangled up in blue 7 It's all over now, baby blue Electric set 8 Can't wait 9 Not dark yet 10 Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again 11 Make you feel my love 12 Highway 61 revisited encore 13 Love sick 14 To be alone with you 15 Don't think twice, it's all right 16 Not fade away Sunday 25 April. I'm sion talking to you from Switzerland after witnessing a very fine show in Zurich tonight, which contained many highlights especially in the second half and in the following I will focus on them. With me were two lucky friends, Sveinbjorn and Hlynur + the formers sister who lives in Switzerland and bought the tickets for us (thank you Hilma!), who flew with me all the way from Iceland to catch the show. They were«nt disappointed! On the first numbers Bob looked a bit like a statue, let's just say that they were for warming up. "Mr. Tambourine man". One of the best songs ever written but I guess I don't have to tell you that. Good performance but he can do better. Here I would have wanted "4th time around" instead. Am I the greedy one. "Masters of war" was the first highlight of the evening. I guess it must have more meaning now with a war going on in Jugoslavia. I think it's a pretty safe bet that he will play this song again in Slovenia. Poor Sveinbjorn had to go to the toilet during this number, too much beer! "Tangled" small comment: I think I heard a small change in the lyrics here but I'm not positive. "It's all over now, baby blue" There was an angel in Zurich tonight and he stood on stage opposite me and sang his heart out with this tune. I can't over emphasize this enough: Bob's singing here was incredible. "Can't wait" first song of electric set and boy oh boy was he cooking. Go Bobby go! Different than I've heard before, and better I think. "I'm your man" ain't that right Bob, you sure are. "Not dark yet" Now if I'd have to pick one as the tour de force of the evening than this would have to be it. Best performance that I've heard of this, . . . . OK OK this is the first time I heard this live (other than on tape of course) but hey WOW! "Mobile" Yet another highlight. Bob obviously was having a wonderful time and rubbing it on the rest of us. Thank you Bob. "Feel my love" Better than on TOOM, lovely. "Highway 61 revisited" A highlight according to Hlynur . . . . perhaps but similar to what I've heard before. Everybody loves this song , anything else would be sacrilege. "Love sick" Very powerfull! Sveinbjorn told me after the show that after having heard that he could now die a happy man.Excellent playing by Larry,so what else is new. "To be alone with you" This was once a country song but now after metamorphosis it has become a rock and roller and a stunner. Absolutely fabulous! "Don't think twice, it's all right" Bob offerered us his only harp solo of the eveing, hand held, very sweet but much too short. "Not fade away" No RDW, no Silvio, nothing against those songs but as I think most of us agree, they have been beaten to death. So Bob brings us this brilliant B Holly gem down from the heaven's. Two additional guitar players got on stage with Dylan and his band here, both of them from Springsteen's E street band (Bruce is playing next eveing in the same hall), they were most welcome though of course it would have been even sweeter if Bruce had been there himself. A perfect ending to a unforgettable evening. OK that's a wrap then, I hope somebody enjoyed this report. Next mission now is getting to Ljubliana. We don't have any tickets but hey you only live once, and we like living dangerously. sion1@isholf.is
Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 13:02:03 +0200 (MEST) From: Carsten Wohlfeld (happyjaq@gmx.net) To: billp61@earth.execpc.com Cc: karlerik@monet.no Subject: zurich review Bob Dylan Zürich, Schwitzerland, April 25, 1999 Hallenstadion A Review by Carsten Wohlfeld Exactly eight weeks after the amazing show in Portland, ME and the somewhat disappointing gigs in Atlantic City it was time for me to catch up with Bob again. Even though I look forward to every single show I get to see it's not that I lie awake for three days cause I can't bear the excitement. Well not anynore, one of the few disadvantages of seeing (too) many shows. Actually I felt a little bad to skip classes and stuff, but by the time I met up with all the guys from Germany and Switzerland (we didn't have the power to do sightseing though) who hadn't seen any shows in almost a year it all changed. Or was it the minute that Bob came on stage at 7.15pm in the huge Hallenstadion and actually opened with the acoustic set, something I'd never see him do before? I really don't know. So I guess what you're asking yourself is: Does that long acoustic set first really work? And what was the show like in general? Well, the answers are: It works much better than the sandwich-style unplugged set that he played for, well, the last 25 years. And the whole show was way above average as well. But let's start at the start. Cocaine Blues (acoustic) Soundcheck deluxe. Very rough, but pretty fast version, Bob sang it a little differently than usual to make sure Larry and Bucky couldn't follow him on the chorus. Still any of the covers will be a fun way to start the show, I'm sure. It was a bit weird cause it wasn't the usual kickstart to the show but it was a pleasant change nevertheless. Mr. Tambourine Man (acoustic) A song I usually would use to go to the toilet, but since it came so early on in the set I stayed and was pleasantly surprised. The song sounds tired and worn out in his usual #8 spot but today it was actually quite lovely. Sung very casual, Bob used this one to practise his knee bends and started smiling and grinning - and he never stopped til the show was over. Oh yeah, and this actually included the line "dance beneath the German sky" - even though Zurich was in Switzerland last time I checked. At least that's what I and several other people heard. Masters Of War (acoustic) Another tremendous rendition of this song which of course makes perfect sense to play in a town that is only an hour away from Belgrad - by plane that is. Played in the same way as on the recent US tour it really deserves to be officially released at some point. You just can't imagine it will get any better. Girl Of The North Country (acoustic) The Marseilles show had "Visions" in this spot and I'm pretty sure that I saw Tony ask Bob "Visions Of Johanna?" before this one. Bob shook his head though and we got this one instead. Okay version, well received cause it's a lovely song, y'know? After the song it looked as if Tony was really argueing with Bob and from what I *guess* it was like: "Well you skipped "Visions" now, but you really should give them one long, rare song". Bob sighed and they decided to do: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (acoustic) Which was great, even though the first chorus sounded pretty bad cause Bob changed the phrasing without telling Bucky and Larry who were singing backup of course. Got much better towards the end. it's funny that he played this one in Switzerland cause it's this month that Swiss Air feature a kind of "parody" on "Hard Rain" in their inflight magazine. Believe it or not, it starts off an article about the Barbie doll! Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic) Got the usual treatment and had two funny moments. Bob sang all of the "fishing boat" verse but changed only the last line to (I believe): "before his mind was being destroyed". Also Tony started staring at David halfway through the song as if he as gonna say: "I gotta watch you to make sure you don't mess up." Amazingly enough David did just that, it sounded as if he just dropped one of his sticks... It's All Over Now Baby Blue (acoustic) Somewhat new version of one of my alltime favourite Dylan tunes. Much faster than recently and without the bow on the bass as well. Bob forgot the words to the opening line of the last verse, but it was great to hear this song anyways. Can't Wait Good song, but a bad choice to start of the electric set in my opinion. To me it would make much more sense to use "regular" openers like "Maggie's" "River Flow" or "Watchtower" here, something he did during the first part of the tour. Funnily enough I've always complained in the past when it was too slow, tonight it was pretty fast, but unfortunately it sounded way too rushed and Bob didn't put the amount of emotions into certain lines like "oh honey" as he usually does. Not Dark Yet I wrote in my review of last summer's Berlin show that he probably would never play this song again unless the band would improve the arrangement, cause it was a pretty rotten version. And here he goes again, playing the song again for the first time in ten months (well, on this tour anyways) and it sounded gorgeous, cause David doesn't use the sticks, but the brushes on the drums and the song song sounds just as lovely and gentle as on the album. Bob played lead guitar on it, too! I was *very* impressed. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again Always a very welcome choice, especially lately in the ""66 comeback" version. Bob had tons of fun, all the knee bends, funny moves and goofy facial expression you ever could hope for were there. After the song he spoke for the very first time. The content of his speech: "Thank you". Make You Feel My Love Bob talked to Kemper before the song and signalled him something. Maybe he had messed up this one before and Bob wanted to make sure it doesn't happen again Who knows? I'm still amazed how many people actually like this song so I'll leave it to them to describe this rendition. Band intros followed. Highway 61 Revisited Quite a few people said afterwards that they never saw such a powerful "Highway 61" before. I can't agree, cause at times it was better on the recent US trip, but it goes to show that the song still gets better with time and sounded a lot better than on the last European tour in "98. It was a bit longer than usual a well, with Bob and Larry taking turns at the solos. Tony looked quite surprised when Bob just kept going at the point where he usually turns around to Kemper to signal the song's ending. A few bows and then they were gone. (encore) Love Sick Nice lighting, just white lights like a palm tree above the band's heads. "Love Sick" has seen better days, but for the last two lines alone it's worth hearing every night, IMHO. To Be Alone With You Usual fun rendition of this silly lust song. Bob improvised one verse and much to the band's surprise he decided to start the song with a short guitar solo. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (acoustic) Long discussion before the song and thank god, they decided not to play "Blowin'" This was an okay performance, and the "highlight" was Bob's sole harp solo of the night. Nothing special, but hey, he was blowin" the friggin" thing and that alone almost made some hippies cry :-) More discussions between Bob and Tony and everybody looked slightly confused... then Bob stepped up to the microphone and said something like: "I wanna introduce a couple of guests, the guitar players from Bruce Springsteen... Steven Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren" (who were appearing with Bruce in Zurich the next day). Nils looked old and Little Steven completely wasted but they all had fun to play an extended: Not Fade Away Nobody knew who would take a solo at any given time and so it sounded a bit improvised but was fun to watch of course... ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome... Bob Dylan And The E-Street Band!" All in all it was a very good start to start my own personal tour, cause it was a show that was in a way a continuation of the high standard performances on the Upstate New York dates yet it was very much different. Thanks to Christian for getting me the ticket and especially to our lovely hosts Tim and Reginein Uberlingen! See ya in Linz! -- carsten wohlfeld (happyjaq@confetti.ruhr.de) "her name is eve and she lives two floors below, she is 22 and looks like linda ronstadt" (the birdy num nums) --- Sent through Global Message Exchange - http://www.gmx.net
