 |
|
|
|
|
Bob Dylan Click Here for Bonnaroo Photos Over the past few years my obsession with Bob Dylan and his music has flourished to the point that I have been transformed from a music lover who respected Dylan for being a revolutionary force behind contemporary music into a full blown Dylan fanatic who owns over 25 of his albums, has written an obsessive article about his obscure and dynamic 1974 album New Morning (see Naked Sunfish Issue 18 January 2004), and has read many of the compulsive, and often frightening, chronicles of Dylan’s extraordinary life. Even though I have developed into a proud Dylan worshipper I had never seen him in person, despite numerous opportunities of see him play in various venues around Columbus and throughout Ohio, until I headed into the backwoods of Tennessee for the third installment of the Bonnaroo Music Festival. Of course, I love the live music Dylan has created throughout his career. I have a few unauthorized live bootlegs from the 1990’s and I have collected the amazing authorized Dylan bootleg series, including a pair of discs from perhaps the greatest rock and roll tour ever 1975’s Rolling Thunder Revue. So, as I stood waiting in the hot summer sun I could hardly contain the excitement and anticipation I was feeling, because I was finally going to see one of my idols. It was appropriate that the first time I was going to see Bob Dylan was in Tennessee, only 60 miles from Nashville where Dylan recorded one of his most captivating albums, 1969’s Nashville Skyline. After an introduction that included a climatic classical arrangement blaring through the speakers and an announcer who boasted praising clichés that portrayed Dylan as rock and roll’s messiah, Dylan and his band coolly strolled onto stage and jumped into a version of “Down Along the Cove” from 1967’s John Wesley Harding. Surprisingly Dylan looked very healthy, looking almost like a different man from the ghost like figure that performed at the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Dylan’s band sounded outstanding as they moved into the only song from Nashville Skyline played during the set, “Tell Me That It Isn’t True.” Throughout his performance Dylan was perched behind an old electric piano. He never picked up a guitar and only blew on his mouth organ for a few numbers. Although his keyboard was buried beneath the other instruments, Dylan’s voice sounded strong and reverberated around the festival grounds. A cover version of the Grateful Dead’s concert classic “Samson & Delilah” followed the country flavor of “Tell Me That It Isn’t True.” Dylan’s arrangement of “Samson & Delilah” was extraordinary and resulted in enthusiastic twirling and gyrating from the sweaty and sunburned festivalers. At some point during “Samson & Delilah” a painter walked right in front of me and proceeded to create an improvised painting to the beat of Dylan’s backing band. The painter danced along with the rest of the audience as his creation transformed itself from a blob of paint into a tribute to Ray Charles, who had recently passed away. As Dylan’s set continued with “Watching the River Flow”, Hank Williams’ “You Win Again,” and “Cold Irons Bound” the artist’s vision took shape upon his canvas and released itself as a beautiful image of jubilant Ray Charles slappin’ some ivory while singing a song. This image of Charles was very fitting for the performance that Dylan was giving behind his keyboard. As he sang the lyrics to Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home” everything that the painter and Dylan were doing seemed to coincide and become in sync. This spontaneous random inspiration and creativity was exactly what the Bonnaroo Music Festival aspired to do. “Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine)” followed the beautiful rendition of Merle Haggard’s outstanding song. This version was just as intense and spirited as the original on, perhaps Dylan’s greatest album, 1966’s Blonde on Blonde. A rousing “Highway 61” came next. I don’t know if it was the intense heat or the killer traffic congestion leading into to event that made this Dylan classic resonate so greatly with me. I could hear and feel the inner angst of the song and once again everything that was happening around me was being summed up in Dylan’s masterful lyrics. “Poncho & Lefty” by Townes VanZandt, “Seeing the Real You at Last” from the often-overlooked Empire Burlesque, the rare “Blind Willie McTell”, and “Honest With Me” from 2001’s Love & Theft flowed effortlessly from Dylan and his tight group of musicians. Every song the band played was extremely well done. None of the songs sounded exactly like the original album versions, but instead contained a sort of loose feel where any song could come out sounding completely different, while at the same time sounding exactly like it was suppose to. “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright” and an extended and rocking “Summer Days” closed out Dylan’s Bonnaroo set. Although Dylan did not play guitar during Bonnaroo, the entire set sounded great and the guitar work of Larry Campbell and Stu Kimball more than made up for not seeing Dylan strumming a six string at center stage. The sun set over the Bonnaroo nation and the citizens of the make shift Tennessee city of 90,000 proclaimed it’s affection for the poet king of rock as Dylan and his band once again took the stage for an encore of “Cat’s in the Well” from 1990’s Under the Red Sky and “Like a Rolling Stone” 1965’s Highway 61 Revisited. The encore was a perfect mix of a song most people have not heard and a song that the entire world has heard. This combination was a fitting example of Dylan’s well rounded songwriting ability and the fact that every song he has ever recorded contains a little bit of Dylan’s seemingly magical mastery of the English language. Some say rock and roll is a young man’s game, but there are a few ageless artists and musicians who possess the ability to give meaning to music that transcends all time and space and Bob Dylan is one of them.
Balls out kick ass rock and fuckin’ roll. The best hour of music I have seen all year long. The Kings of Leon were the first performers on day two of the Bonnaroo Music Festival and they rocked harder than anybody else there. They sounded like everything that is perfect in rock and roll music right now. Intense rhythm guitar, searing lead melodies, and constant and precise drumming made this youthful band into a glorious wall of sound. The bass player, Jared Followill, sounded like a test tube accident that resulted in the perfect cross between The Band’s Rick Danko and The Rolling Stone’s Bill Wyman. The Kings of Leon are huge stars in Europe and I hope that after they put out their new record in a couple of months they will be all over the airwaves here in the states. Spirited musical fire that branded all that heard it with the greatest new sounds of rock. Please Listen to Cory Tressler’s
Weekly Internet Radio Show on Tuesdays at 1pm on www.underground.fm
|
