Bob Dylan 990626 in Las Vegas, Nevada

From: Eme1ok@aol.com
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 12:19:46 EDT
Subject: review of the vegas experience...
To: karlerik@monet.no

to a large extent, this is a review of the experience rather than
a song-by-song review. check the setlist for that...

it started out with the feeling of a very odd night. simon opened
which i was thrilled about. i must have miscounted shows because
i thought it would be bob's turn to open. paul came out at 8 to a
mostly empty barnlike arena in the basement of the mgm grand
hotel. it holds about 15,000 and they expected 13,200 i was told.
as soon as paul started playing "bridge over troubled water" they
started streaming in. very very old crowd. lots of guys in
tuxedos. just about the only people there my age were some 30 and
40something wives of 80somethings. people were eating popcorn out
of big buckets like at the movies and drinking like fish. mixed
drinks. not just beer. paul was doing ok. if you love paul simon,
there's really nothing to dislike at his show. the setlist didn't
change but some of his stage patter was altered slightly which
made me happy. i should say very very slightly but anyway...

the lady behind me said "i hope people aren't going to stand. it
makes it so hard to enjoy the show." i thought we were in big
trouble. starting off, there were quite a few folks that changed
into paul simon shirts that they bought at the venue. just a
couple of old bob shirts. it seemed like there was a smattering
of "fans" but for the most part it was just folks staying at the
hotel coming down to see the "headliners". coulda been sinatra,
wayne newton or sammy davis but it was bob and paul. that was the
feel.

paul was very well received. his "3 drummers" showboaty thing was
great for vegas and the crowd dug it. paul introduced bob to a
roaring ovation. i could hear people making comments...some on
how good bob looks and some on how bad...the duets were the least
adventurous of the 3 shows i saw. it was good but bob really
stayed in the backround and his harp was not as bold. it was
still good though and folks were delighted...i have to say that
bob was laughing a lot with paul doing that "i hear you knocking
but you can't come in" answerback to "knockin' on heaven's door."
paul does a good job as an entertainer i think on those duets. he
chats it up with bob quite a bit (off microphone) which the crowd
wants to see...now, when bob brings paul out for the duets, paul
says at the end "see you in a few minutes". bob doesn't do this.
he just walks off. to most crowds i don't think this is a problem
but here i heard many say "that's it?." the people behind me
(older, tuxes) were going to leave and i explained bob would be
back out. they went for drinks, came back but had decided to
leave anyway because "bob never was much of a singer and he
hasn't gotten any better." i told them it was a great show and
they already paid $125, may as well stay. so they did. i did go
to up to one of the ushers and offer a tip if they could move me
from the 20th row up to the front. i was sure there would be an
exodus after a couple of songs by bob since this definitely
seemed like a "make it sound like the record" crowd. suffice to
say that i never got the chance...bob killed as far as this crowd
was concerned.

bob sounded great and was looking very happy but the setlist was
pretty standard but a good one for first timers. "hallelujia"
sounded good and was fairly well received. bob smiling up a storm
and nodding to the crowd. "tambourine man" was pretty standard.i
was hoping for something like tears of rage or senor or whatever.
i knew there would be no highlands, not in this town, not for
this crowd. can i say again that bob sounded great? dead-on
vocals...i didn't hear the "highlands" chords that were mentioned
on pagel and i was listening pretty intently because i knew
that's where they played it the night before. i hope there's a
boot to make sure but i would wager on "happyears" by someone who
really wanted to hear it.

things really started cooking during the second half electric
set. the crowd (including the lady behind me) was up on it's
collective feet and digging it in a big way. the joy on people's
faces was incredible where i was sitting. charlie ripped the solo
on "61". i can't for the life of me figure out why they don't
give him more to do. right now, it's like hiring mario andretti
to drive your kids to school but he seems to be having a great
time nonetheless.

it was a very good dylan show. much, much better than concord and
to my ear, not quite up to shoreline but close. bob delivered.
people clapped hard for another encore...i assume that they have
to take bob out in some sort of public place because they kept
the lights off for a long time after the last song. the t-shirt
stands were mobbed afterwards. shuffling out, with all the sweaty
people and the tuxes and the liquor, i felt like i was coming out
of a heavyweight boxing match or something.

later in the casino, the people behind me came up to me and one
of the tux guys put his arm around me and said "you are THE MAN!
i woulda left if you hadn't talked me into staying. that was the
greatest!" he even gave me a few chips

brian