username Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 (edited) “He can’t sing. His voice is terrible. He’s old. He has no communication with the crowd. He’s standing there for himself. He has no joy in what he’s doing. He’s grown bitter. He’s grown arrogant. His show ruined Like A Rolling Stone for me. The humble poet from the 60’s is gone…. “That pretty much sums up the reactions I’d gotten over the past two months when telling people that I was going to see Bob Dylan live. I had pretty high expectations of the gig when I bought the tickets. And ever since they’ve slowly gotten less and less after a lot of negative responses. So I was actually quite nervous today when driving to Amsterdam to finally see one of my biggest musical heroes. The thinker, the writer, the lyricist, the folksinger, the voice of a generation. The poet. Mr. Bob Dylan. But would I still think of him like that after tonight? Around 18:00 the doors opened and we rushed in. At about 10 meters from the stage we got a nice spot and the wait began. It was supposed to start at 19:30. And at exactly that time some dramatic sounding type of movie music started, and died down again. The the lights went off and it was time. I have to say I was shocked. When the lights went on again this very fragile old man came on to the stage wearing a 60-style suit and a white hat. The old man looked like he could fall and break something any time now. So this was the legendary Bob Dylan? He made his way to the mic and without saying a word or having a good look at the audience they started to play. Dylan was never the most gifted singer, but even compared to the “old” Bob his voice seemed to have gotten worse. He often missed notes or made slipups. In his playing he was quite static and no, he did not pay much attention to the audience at all. He stood there, fragile as he was, and he played his songs. The old ones (It Ain’t Me Babe, Like A Rolling Stone, All Along The Watchtower) strongly adjusted so he could still do them. I think I can definitely understand why many people would have considered this quite a bad concert. But I would not agree with them. A lot could be said to burn it down to the ground. Yes, he’s a bad singer. Yes he has grown old and he seems fragile. No, he’s not a frontman or an entertainer. And all though his career he never pretended to be any of those things. He’s been Bob Dylan; The poet. Edited April 9, 2007 by username Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Axl Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 cool! I hate myself for not going to see him when he was here.Sounds like you had a helluva time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paula McKagan Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 wow Ronnie, talking about passionate... you could feel it with just reading your post really awesome review, my friend cool pictures also, glad you had a nice time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worldwideboss Posted April 9, 2007 Share Posted April 9, 2007 Glad you had such a great time. I'd love to see him live. I just wish he'd come closer, he isn't doing Spain neither Portugal this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Paul Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 I just seen him in Glasgow for the scond time the other night and I also understand why some people might be dissapointed with the performance, his work is so timeless that people forget they're going to see a man who is approaching 70!Glad you enjoyed the concert though. You got Chimes of Freedom and Nettie Moore, I'd be happy with that. And nice to see Bob playing the guitar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powerage5 Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 He played guitar on a few songs? When I saw him in August he only played keyboard...not even harmonica. It was still a great show though, and the first show I got to the barrier for! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevGNR666 Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 I saw him last year and it was awesome. I got a boppin version of highway 61 that still sends chills down my spine when i think about it. Also, his encore of like a rolling stone was worth every penny i spent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axlslash Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 You have no idea how lucky you are to see him guitar in hand. This tour is the first time he's played it sice 04, and 04 he played it on one song all year. That was it. Before that it went back to 2003.He doesn't put on a Springsteen or Stones type of show, but for us - his religious followers - it doesn't matter. I've seen him three times, two of them good nights for his voice. It sounds like you got a growly upsinging night, but when I saw him in October he sang well as ever. I actually really dig his voice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gracii Guns Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 My parents went to see Bob last Saturday night in Sheffield. They enjoyed it, but would prefer it if he played more of his older songs- and the old ones he did play were barely recognisable due to his voice changing so much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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