Dylan Rocks Seattle

A man doesn't choose his heroes.

He may choose who he wishes to admire, who he wishes to emulate, but his heroes speak to some portion of his character and personality where he does not rule and his vote does not count. It has been the good fortune of my life to have seen all of my heroes in the flesh (those still alive, anyway).

On Oct. 5^th, 2009 I saw the last of the three great heroes of my life, Bob Dylan.

Dylan is the kind of artist who gets under your skin. I don't mean it in the derogatory sense. Rather, once you start listening to Dylan, once he slips past whatever walls you've thrown up in his way, he goes straight for the bloodstream, and you can never be free of him. His music haunts you, showing up in random places and attaching itself to half-formed thoughts in your mind. You dream him. You think him. And, in the end, you are irrevocably changed by him.

If there was ever any question about Dylan's ability to still influence a wide and diverse body of people, it would easily have been laid to rest last night in Seattle. The audience ranged far and wide, and relatively few of the concert-goers could have been called Baby Boomers, the era which Dylan falls squarely inside of. Last night's audience was surprisingly young, some half of it under forty and a good quarter or more between 15 and 30.

More, this was an excited crowd. People were laughing, having a good time, and verily eager to see His Bobness appear on the stage. When he finally did, the place erupted.

The other issue that was nailed in its coffin was whether or not Dylan could still rock. The music he's produced in the last twenty years is mostly blues/folk/Americana, which would leave some pondering if Dylan still has it in him to rock out.

The answer?

My god, does this band ever rock. Half a dozen times Dylan about ripped the roof off the WaMu Theater, hailing the crowd with numbers that were louder and filled with more rockin' energy than the work of artists a third his age. The depth of Dylan's journey through early American roots music forms has tapped the vein of what makes the foot stomp, the heart pound, the hips sway. If an entire generation seems to have forgotten how to dance to anything other than computer generated drumbeats, Dylan is here to remind us just why we rock n roll in the first place.

What follows is the setlist, lyric excerpt and a few notes.

Enjoy.

Gonna Change My Way of Thinking

From: Slow Train Coming

I got me a God-fearing woman

One I can easily afford

This is one of the few tunes Dylan still plays from his Christian-convert days in the early 1980's. He released two albums of Christian rock, rather a surprise at the time to his fans, who didn't exactly picture their hero as a Believer. While he abandoned the convert pose, this song still fits within Dylan's end of the world, world gone wrong repertoire of blues.

Lay Lady Lay

From: Nashville Skyline

Stay, Lady, stay

Stay with your man awhile

As classic as it gets. One of Dylan's most popular songs. Dylan sounded a bit scratchy here, but his delivery now, in his late 60's, gives this song a whole new kind of meaning, and is a rare kind of pure romantic note in Dylan's current show. However, it is his raw, blues-drenched voice that is able to convey the depth of feeling in this song now, which is missing from the album track.

Beyond Here Lies Nothin

From: Together Through Life

We'll keep on lovin pretty baby

For as long as love will last

From his new album, this song really rocks. It is short, sweet and to the point. From this song forward it was obvious that Dylan wrote the new album with the live performances in mind, because their blues foundation gets kicked into high gear on stage, and they bring down the house.

Spirit on the Water

From: Modern Times

Sometimes I wonder

Why you can't treat me right

You do good all day

And then you do wrong all night

A ballad of broken love, one of Dylan's most tender and beautiful songs. On the album it is moody and long, a meandering meditation on heartbreak and love. Sped up in concert, it still moves, but the band seemed to be rushing.

Honest With Me

From: Love and Theft

I'm not sorry for nothin I've done

I'm glad I fought

I only wish we'd won

If they were rushing it was to get to this song, because the band tore the place apart with it. This song showcases Dylan's brutal sense of irony and his acerbic wit. He is one of the funniest lyricists in rock n roll, and this number, along with all of Love and Theft, attest to his mastery of humor.

I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)

From: Another Side of Bob Dylan

But now something has changed

For she ain't the same

She just acts like we never have met

A classic Dylan song, I've heard this done half a dozen different ways over the years, and yet Dylan reinvented it here again for his current show. It may be the best recreation, as he slowed it down and parceled out each lyric, giving it more weight and more grove. And, I think, more sorrow.

My Wife's Home Town

From: Together Through Life

State's gone broke

The county's dry

Don't be lookin at me with that evil eye

Another of Dylan's funnier tunes, as he quips about his wife's hometown, Hell, and confesses how much he loves her anyway. The band played this one just right, and Dylan ripped into it on harmonica, an instrument that he has used for years but which suits him best now as he plays primarily blues-rock at this later stage of his career.

Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again

From: Blonde on Blonde

An I say, 'Aw, come on now

You must know about my debutante'

And she says, 'Your debutante knows just what you need

But I know what you want'

This is a great song. Dylan has recast it for his new band, but this old sixties tune is the first apex of the show. The band plays on and on, rolling out one flourish after another, and they hit a high note here that won't be reached again until the end of the show.

Forgetful Heart

From: Together Through Life

What can I say

Without you it's so hard to live

Can't take much more

Why can't we love like we did before

A slow, mournful dirge, Dylan took center stage and worked the crowd like the master that he is. This is a quiet, painful tune, and after the crescendo of the last song, its timing in the lineup is perfect. Dylan held the crowd in the palm of his hand.

If You Ever Go to Houston

From: Together Through Life

If you ever go to Austin

Fort Worth or San Antone

Find the bar rooms I got lost in

And send my memories home

A fun number, midtempo, a kind of Tex-Mex swing that shows just how far Dylan can push this band. The musical variety in Dylan's shows is always stunning, and here he plays with freewheeling sense of Americana that few other bands can pull off.

Highway 61 Revisited

From: Highway 61 Revisited

God say to Abraham, 'Kill me a son'

Abe say, 'Man you must be puttin me on'

God say, 'No'

Abe say, 'What?'

God say, 'You can do what you want Abe but

The next time you see me comin you better run'

Abe say, 'Where you want this killin done?'

God say, 'Out on Highway 61'

Another high point, the band broke out again into full rock n roll. This is one of Dylan's best songs, and his vocal performance here was superb. He growled his way through the story of God and Abraham and howled through the mishaps and misfortunes of the fabled Highway 61. A perfect rendition.

I Feel a Change Comin On

From: Together Through Life

Dreams never did work for me anyway

Even when they did come true

Another midtempo number in which Dylan wisecracks about being told that he has “the blood of the land in his voice.” As perhaps the only musician to be seriously held as the voice of his generation, this isn't a far stretch, and Dylan has played against this stereotype his whole life. Here, with some humor.

Thunder on the Mountain

From: Modern Times

I did all that I could

I did it right there and then

I've already confessed

No need to confess again

This song never quite reaches its full height on the album, but live it gets the blood pounding. With a name drop nod to Alicia Keys in its opening lyric, Dylan wonders just “where in the world Alicia Keys can be,” after which he growls a lecherous “oh yeah.” Another rocking song.

Ballad of a Thin Man

From: Highway 61 Revisited

Because something is happening here

And you don't know what it is

Do you, Mr. Jones?

One of Dylan's great epic songs, the band focuses in on the darker quality of it here, stressing again and again that you don't really know what's going on, do you? Over the years this has become one of Dylan's more subversive and weighted songs, as history has added echoes to its original intent.

Like a Rolling Stone

From: Highway 61 Revisited

You used to be so amused

At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used

Go to him now he calls you

You can't refuse

When you got nothin

You got nothin to lose

Rolling Stone called it the greatest rock song ever written. Nuff said.

Jolene

From: Together Through Life

Well it's a long old highway, don't ever end

I got a Saturday night special, I'm back again

A rollicking romp, Dylan takes the high road here instead of woman-done-me-wrong. Here he insists he's going to get what he wants and make old Jolene his. This is one of the most upbeat numbers from his new album, full of good times.

All Along the Watchtower

From: John Wesley Harding

'No reason to get excited,' the Thief he kindly spoke

'There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke

'But you and I we've been through that

'And this is not our fate

'Let us not talk falsely now...the hour is getting late'

There's a few folks out there who felt that Jimmie Hendrix outdid Bob when he released a rock n roll version of this song, which originally was a quiet, almost country like tune. Well, Jimmie's probably rolling over in his grave, because the version Dylan performs today is harder and more rockin than even Hendrix could have envisioned. The perfect way to end a show.

It was a great night, one of the best concerts I've seen. And I'd say if you have any doubts about Dylan, check out a live show. You won't have any doubts any longer.