Bob Dylan 990612 in Portland, Oregon
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 22:40:02 +0000 From: Roderick Smith (lantern@europa.com) To: karlerik@monet.no Subject: Portland Oregon Show I don't rememember the songs. Somebody wrote them down. All thats left is this dizzy morning after sense of giddiness. The circus wagon is on the road again and this time it's wrapped up in a Broadway Style Musical bow. It swept through Portland last night pitching it's tent in the cavernous monstrosity that greed and basketball managed to forge, called "The Rose Garden". No matter. This was a poslished gem from front to back. Bob Dylan is Frank Sinatra. He is Perry Como and Bing Crosby. He's a crooner, a very polished performer. He hit all his marks. Open the box and out pops a mechanical icon. The songs spring to life one more time. You watch in a kind of disbelief. You've been down this road so many times before. Yet this artifact never seems to age. Naturally his mask has grown craggy with it's crooked teeth and wiskered brows, but only to highlight the puppets animations. This timeless realm is surely what keeps this man/child on the stage. He is a one man band. His own character playing out the role he has written. Is there anything like it anywhere? He spins like some ancient carousel. Each time he comes round the carving is in some new color. Some brilliant hue set agains black enamel. It's a staggeringly creative bit of primitive Americana and it's coming to a circus tent near you. "Don't miss it" cried the barker!
Subject: Portland Oregon set From: jaydg (JAYANDTANYA@prodigy.net) Date: Sun, 13 Jun 1999 20:01:45 -0700 Hallelujah, I'm ready Tambourine Man Masters of War Girl from the North Country Tangled up in Blue Watchtower Not Dark Yet Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again Just Like a Woman Highway 61 encores: Love Sick Like a Rolling Stone Don't Think Twice duets:Sounds of Silence I Walk the Line>Blue Moon of Kentucky Knocking on Heaven's Door The Rosequarter, home of the Blazers, was behind letting the lines in. No clues in the crowd control. At starting time, 7:30, 10% of the house was full due to this screw up. But they delayed the show, until about 8:10. Bob opened, surprisingly to the "every other night" posts in this news group. Hallelujah was really fine, lots of spark. I think Larry was on mandolin. As the cliche says, the set list doesn't describe the performances, all of which reminded of the best tapes I'd heard. Sure, I'd like him to mix it up more, but . . . whadya gonna do? Bob played the best Tambourine Man I've heard in years. Really stretching the lyrics, and getting a hypnotic beat like he gets with Desolation Row. Same with Masters, even if I've seen it a dozen times. Girl from the North Country was the inspire moment of the acoustic set. slow, studied, like bob wanted to impress someone in the wings. I really think he was playing more in-tune throughout his unusual solos and dueling lead guitars, perhaps because he's getting better. The Tangled up in Blue sounded even better than ever. I was a big fan of what Bucky brought to Bob in the 1990s, but Charlie and Larry were really mixing it up with Bob, and Bob's solo was not the more typical "challenging" dissonant notes, but a really cool in-tune, tempo that came out in a great climax. It made me think that Bob's new line up will be better than the last, if that is possible. On went electric gear, with Watchtower. The greatest hits feeling of Bob on the US summer circuit, with a bunch of Paul Simon fans to impress. Charlie had some moments to get off on his new gig -- what great guitar player wouldn't want to rip some solos on this song with Bobby? Bob used his strat, but Charlie went back and forth between various strats and telecasters -- a great sound that really pickup throughout the electric set. Not Dark Yet was great -- worth waiting for. A great low string solo by bob, in tune again! ;-) Interesting playing between them all. Stuck Inside, -- again the finest sounding version. Bob delaying the refrain, and Tony playing a rhythm like the Dead's cover. Just like a Woman, sorry, I can only think of Woody Allen's movie when I hear the refrain, but Bob really likes the song, and it shows. The Love Sick was perfect. Coalesced quietly, ticking, then exploded halfway through with great drums. Kemper is sounding better, less obtrusive. Perhaps he want to impress Simon's drummer - Steve Gadd (Gatt?), who was really good. LARS was better than ever, quiet, great booming solos, quiet, with a loving delivery by Bob. And Don't think twice was a crowd pleaser, that they do so well. Without leaving, Bob says "Let me introduce one of the musical geniuses of the 20th Century Paul Simon" (something like this). Bob was absolutely studied on trying to sing harmonies -- after a long instrumental Sounds of Silence. Paul on a hard bodied guitar that sounded acoustic, with effects. Bob sang lower than Paul. A successful and delightful version, better than I expected after the early reviews. And I Walk the Line was great, Larry on fiddle, Charlie on a big hollow electric Gibson. Blue Moon, well, they needed more work, but it was fast. And Knocking on Heaven's Door was really good. So Bob was performing at a peak, like the great tapes from the Globe last year, or the takes on Bathed in a Stream. But no unusual songs. Oh, if he'd play Peggy-O next time around. With apologies to all anti-capemen, I'll add that Simon's set was really good -- far better than I expected. His large band - 12? -- filled the hall. The Rose Quarter has great sound (great for a basketball arena) and all the instruments were well miked. Crowd response was incredible to the Graceland songs, and Boy in the Bubble was a truly inspired reading. More Simon fans than Dylan fans, too. The Late in the Evening encore was great, and he (too sincerely) thanked and thanked the crowd (which brought him back for a second encore, surprising for the rather heterogeneous group of tired looking old and middle-aged Portlanders down in the expensive seats). During the second encore for Paul, the Boxer, I do believe it was better than Bob's version on Self-Portrait. But others are free to think for themselves. Hope this provides some insight. They played like they knew and cared how much the damn tickets cost. But I'd rather get a Eugene Ticket (Please?) (c) me, all rights absurd.
Subject: Setlist Dylan and Simon 1999.06.12 Portland, OR From: Seth Green (sethgreen@NOSPAMuswest.net) Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 03:02:10 GMT Hi All- I had a great time at the concert! Below is a set list with approximate times each song was played. First though you'll have to read or scroll past my ramblings. Dylan started off a bit inaccessible and stiff. That changed when he really opened up to the audience with a fantastic performance of "Tangled Up In Blue" followed by a driving "All Along the Watchtower", the first electric song of the night. The mood alternated, slowing things down with selections from "Time Out of Mind" but the rest was a high energy performance with Bob giving it all he's got. Bob introduce Paul Simon as "One of the greatest talents of the twentieth century". It was something to see them on stage together. Bob was still smokin' hot when Simon arrived who hadn't yet had a chance to warm up. "Knockin' on heaven's door" was their last song together and their best. Bob had had a chance to cool down and Paul had warmed up. Paul Simon concentrated heavily on "Rhythm of the Saints" with rich textures and beats which ggave the audience a chance to dance. Simon had many accompanying musicians which contrasted well with Dylan's sparse band. Simon also made use of stage lighting effects which Dylan mostly ignored. "Late In the Evening" gave Simon's horn section a chance to show their stuff. Bob Dylan 8:07 I'm Ready 8:11 Mr. Tambourine Man 8:17 Masters Of War 8:23 Girl Of The North Country 8:28 Tangled Up In Blue 8:36 All Along the Watchtower 8:41 Not Dark Yet 8:47 Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again 8:55 Just Like A Woman 9:02 Highway 61 Revisited 9:09 Love Sick 9:15 Like A Rolling Stone 9:22 Don't Think Twice, It's Allright Bob Dylan and Paul Simon 9:31 The Sound Of Silence 9:37 I Walk The Line 9:40 Blue Moon Of Kentucky 9:41 Knocking On Heaven's Door Paul Simon 10:17 Like A Bridge Over Troubled Waters 10:21 Can't Run But 10:29 The Boy In The Bubble 10:32 The Coast 10:37 Trailways Bus 10:43 Mrs. Robinson 10:47 Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard 10:51 Further To Fly 10:57 Graceland 11:02 The Cool, Cool River 11:08 Slip Slidin' Away 11:13 Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes 11:20 You Can Call Me Al 11:27 Late In The Evening 11:32 Still Crazy After All These Years 11:38 The Boxer [Encore]
From: laksq@telis.org To: karlerik@monet.no Subject: Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1999 08:07:09 -0700 Portland, Oregon June 12, 1999 Dylan went first - I guess they are taking turns. And it makes sense that nobody would want to follow either one of these guys! It was so cool! The first song, Hallelujah, I'm Ready', seemed like it primed the audience, let them know that this was about music and about the spirit and about why they are so tightly linked. That morning in the paper, the headlines were NATO ROLLS INTO KOSOVO. When they played a haunting rendition of Masters of War, it reminded me, perhaps necessarily, what complex layers of truth and untruth we are constantly having to chew through. Girl from the North Country made me think about someone I haven't heard from in a long time. Only forever lasts. When they pounded into 'Stuck in Memphis', what hit me was how totally into it the diverse crowd was. How excellent this music is for just blowin' and yellin', and how it's reaching more and more people like ripple-waves expanding. Not Dark yet is a reality check. I receive it very personally, my reality, or rather my awareness of mortality. And yet there are our parents, may parents, a whole generation out front there, and what am I doing thinking I'm old? I don't know the answer, but I still think it's valid. I'm not sure if he did 'Tangled Up in Blue' last year, but I had just re-read some of 'Behind the Shades', and it talked about how that had become another anthem, or at least a signature song. And as the man does with his signatures, he forges and fakes and shades, changes his middle name and last, and the song was steaming, a bitter wind. Jack Daniels is my co-writer. All Along the Watchtower cannot be achieved. Maybe Jimi made the statement, and all, including every group dylan puts together, can just pay homage. But maybe it's the song itself, not the version, that is a pinnacle beyond the pale. Still, Larry Campbell painted master strokes as Dylan splashed and lashed like Pollack in chains, and it moved me. Then the encores began, and he just came back, they came back, and flew into a miniset of four smashing pieces. Lovesick, Just Like a Woman, Like a Rolling Stone, Don't Think Twice - and the music was like the ocean, the waves, the thunder, the depth. and a harp solo on Don't Think Twice that was like a journey into a heart of stone. Then he introduced Paul Simon, 'One of the greatest artists of the 20th century'. They did a slow, mournful 'Songs of Silence'. Watching through the binocs, I'm struck with how serious and concentrated Dylan is. The harmony is not easy, but it is an elegant structure - I guess just so meaningful to me and many more. And at the end, he hit the harp again, and drove me out of my mind. Screams of silence, shrill and rending and magnificent. I Walk the Line was cool, what with Johnny's tribute and his health and all, and it was magical the way they eased into the violin within the song, then let the violin take them over into Blue Moon of Kentucky. Knocking on Heaven's Door - Not Dark Yet previsited. Oh, yeah. Paul Simon was good, too. Love from Gordon
