Bob Dylan 990606 in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Subject: Colorado Springs--setlist and thoughts
From: SHEVE (SHEVE@prodigy.net)
Date: 8 Jun 1999 02:59:25 GMT

Setlist:
O Babe, It Ain't No Lie
Mr. Tambourine Man
Masters of War
It's All Over Now Baby Blue
T.U.I.B.
All Along The..
Just Like A Woman
Stuck Inside of Mobile...
Not Dark Yet
Highway 61
*****Encore*****
Love Sick
Like A Rolling Stone
Don't Think Twice It's Alright
Not Fade Away

So my wife and I drove up from Albuquerque, a nice long six hour drive. It
was the closest Bob/Paul gig we could catch. It was my sixth Bob show.
Can't say it was his best. Won't say it was his worst. The World Arena is
too big (8,000). I hate seeing Bob in a place that big. The sound was OK,
though.

Paul was pretty boring for me. (My wife is the true Paul fan.) He played a
lot of music from Graceland and Rhythm. He didn't seem extremely involved
in his music. His band was huge. I don't know. He wasn't awful. His voice
sounded good. Boy In The Bubble was pretty rocking. It just wasn't anything
special. (People have been asking about his setlist. I don't have the right
order, but he played: Bridge Over Troubled Water, Boy in the Bubble,
Graceland, Slip Slidin' Away, Call Me Al, Diamonds on the Soles of Her
Shoes, The Coast, Blue, Blue River, Still Crazy After All These Years,
Can't Run But, Mrs. Robinson, Trailways Bus, Me and Julio. I think that's
it.).

The 3 and a half song duet seemed a little strained, but their voices
comlemented each other better than you might expect. On Forever Young, they
showed some true potential. I hope they can loosen up a bit as the tour
goes on.

Then Bob started his solo set. The good stuff. He looked well. Actually one
of the nicest parts of this performance was that through the entire thing
he really seemed to be enjoying himself. He was movin and swaggerin and
shufflin and grimacin/smilin. It was good to see. He seems really confident
and comfortable.

He put on a good show--sometimes waxing stellar. Mr. Tambourine Man choked
in the middle. Bob dropped a line from All Along the Watchtower. Like a
Rolling Stone, despite being a crowd pleaser, was uninspiring. But about
half the songs were perfectly performed. His voice sounded good. He kept it
low and avoided the high trademark unmelodic screech, for an expressive
rasp and growl. A haunting version of Masters of War seemed extremely
poignant in the light of Kosovo. Tangled Up in Blue was excellent. Not Dark
Yet (the first time I'd heard it performed) was surprisingly effective
considering that the studio version seems like it would be difficult to
reproduce live. Highway 61 was a powerful, rocking wall of sound. And it
all topped off with an inspired cover of Not Fade Away. My Buddy Holly
obsessed wife actually started crying.

The hall may have been too big, but we had a good time anyway. I felt
several moments of Bob-induced ecstasy, moments that always surprise me,
but for which I'm always grateful. I can't ask for more.

There it is. In closing I'd just like to ask where the song O Babe, It
Aint' No Lie comes from. Anyone know?

Steve



On 8 Jun 1999 05:57:12 -0700, 
in rec.music.dylan 
anna@NMIA.COM (Ann Armijo) wrote:

Show #1
Denver --

Show #2
Colorado Springs

What I have to say about the Colorado Springs show I'll keep
brief. Firstly, this show that Dylan's touring now is NOT by any
means a stadium rocker' show, but rather, with the exception of a
few electric songs, a finely crafted, acoustic-based collection
of dazzling numbers that should be heard in full and clear
detail, in a small and as acoustically perfect a venue as
possible.  Obviously, this is not the case for any of the
upcoming shows, or indeed, even the next smallest venue in the
tour to the Denver Fillmore, which was this next night in
Colorado Springs.  After the so-called warm-up show, it was not
easy to sit through the next night's show with such horrible
acoustics.  The whole ceiling was metal, giving the sound a
incredibly tinny and absolutely annoying resonance, which
damn-near ruined it for me.  Well, maybe it did. Everything
sounded like it was coming from inside a big culvert, especially
the vocals, which were so warbled and muddy sounding, it was
almost impossible to distinquish one word from the next, and I
know all the lyrics!  Then the worst aspect of this acoustic
nightmare was the way the sound bounced off the back wall,
creating an echo. It's bad enough to hear the din but to hear it
bonce back is just a crime.  Well, there surely outta' be some
kinda' law against it.

'Course, it was Simon who opened up the show with his big-band
set, 12 musicians counting him,to be exact, and at least 2500
musical instruments. Okay. I'm exagerating, but it was too many,
for my simple tastes.  Pardon the bias.  I can't navigate around
it.  But did he play ANY new songs?  I'm not a big fan of his
current and even not-so current stuff, but there was only one
song I didn't recognize.  I mean, all the Graceland and Rhythm of
the Saints hits.  Yawn till dawn.  Rhythm of Saints when they're
sleeping, you ask me.  There's some rhythm to snoring, I've heard
tell.

Okay, they blew the whole deal, I'd say. Shoulda' saved the duets
to be the super-grande finale, but instead, Bob walks out after
this somewhat dull and hugely noisy Simon show and they try to
find the same momentous atmosphere from the night before with the
same duets, and it just didn't happen. Anyway, the rest of the
stage was darkened, but it was possible to see that Tony had come
out to play upright bass and one of Simon's band members was
there on cello.  Then Larry materializes on fiddle for the
rocka'hillbilly medley. Yeah-yeah but something was lost in the
shuffle.  Wrong place mixed with the wrong time and you get too
much o' nuthin'.  And I'll say this much more. Oddly enough,
though I think TUIB didn't work so well at the Fillmore, it was
great in the Colorado Springs tin can arena.  Go figure. Another
point or two and I'll sign off.

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER was excellent and especially for the
moments when Larry got to shine on it.  He's such an immensely
talented guitarist and it's a never-ending puzzle to me that
Dylan doesn't let him play lead more often.  Just as Larry got
off some brilliant licks in this great song that opens itself
wide up to endless jamming potential, Bob gave the nod to Tony to
close it down. Dang. I swear, for a brief moment, I could even
see the disappointment flash across Larry's face.

So what about Charlie now?  In my opinion, there's plenty of very
skilled studio musicians that are capable of doing the job of
playing rhythm guitar.  If he's not going to be used to his full
potential, Charlie Sexton should follow his own star, since it's
shining so brightly already. There's plenty enough wasted talent
up on that stage as is, but I predict he won't last.  He's too
young, too talented and too restless to take the backseat, when
he's already been at the wheel of his own damn car since
near-birth.  Then again, he's ridin' 'round the world in Dylan's
cherry-red El Dorado.  Can't beat that, I reckon'.  Just ask
Ratso. Yeah, maybe he'll just kick back and enjoy the ride for a
while. Guess that's a whole other fruit pie.


AnnA

'Shake me up that old peach tree
 Little Jack Horner's got nuthin' on me'