MEN Arena
Monday 10 October 2011
Rather like Jethro Tull, Bob Dylan is an artist that I have "got into" rather late in the day, except that it was MUCH later with Bob Dylan - well into my late forties until I "saw the light" as it were. He had toured in Manchester fairly recently but I wasn't bothered: even this time I was in two minds because, to be fair, I only really know his 1960s stuff, and even much of that, apart from the well known hits, is a fairly recent knowledge. I was soon swayed though - I like his stuff very much, I am getting to know more and more of it - and as he is now over 70, this might well be my last chance to see him. I blanched at the cost of the tickets, but it's another of those once in a life time events - so my fate was sealed!
There's no point doing an introduction to Bob Dylan himself, it's all well known stuff. I think he was alongside The Beatles in changing the world in the '60s, but his work was always more political and seemed to appeal to a mature audience. I'm not so sure what many of his "psychedelic" era songs were about, but one thing I do know is that their dense impenetrable lyrics and song structures were the foundation of much of what was to follow in progressive rock, even if the instrumentation and production values were a million miles removed. In amongst all the complex deeply meaning and impenetrable songs he also did some classic pop and country songs, and indeed, "Knocking on Heaven's Door" was my Dad's all time favourite - and what's more, my Dad couldn't "get" The Beatles at all, but he was a great fan of Bob Dylan. I’m just in the first year or two of getting into all that wonderful music, so whilst I was pleased to be going to the concert, it would have been preferable for it to be happening twelve months down the line.
The concert was either one of the best - or possibly the worst ever – I haven't made my mind up.
He had a very big name on as his support act – but Mark Knopfler, not unsurprisingly is dull, dull, and deathly boring. He can play the guitar quite well but does nothing with it and the songs are everything that is wrong with bloated, lazy, self indulgent soft rock.
Bob Dylan himself was quite literally SHOCKING, and I doubt if I will ever come to a conclusion on what was witnessed tonight. I absolutely can't forgive him for not having a big screen - he can't be short of money after fifty years in the business -but I could barely see him or the band. I can perhaps forgive him for his voice - but to be honest he sounded terrible, nothing like on the records - more like Lemmy. The music was fantastically contentious - he wrote all the songs, so heis entitled – after all these years – to play them as he likes - it's just that even the famous ones were so vastly different from the originals as to be almost unrecognisable. I’m sure that he played some famous songs but I just didn’t recognise them – for instance, the Manchester Evening News review said he played a rousing version of “All Along The Watchtower” – but I just didn’t hear it, whatever was played was nothing like his original album version OR the Jimi Hendrix cover. There was certainly no “Knocking On Heaven’s Door”, and that was my biggest upset of the night, as it means so much to dad’s memory. The instrumentation was totally different and the biggest surprise of all – and quite something for me to say after interminable rants about other bands - the volume was intensely loud – MUCH TOO LOUD!! - easily as loud as Judas Priest. To be fair, the sound quality and the bands playing were excellent - but it just did not suit the style of the songs and tended to destroy them rather than enhance them in my view.
The lack of a big screen was unforgivable bearing in mind the cost of the ticket. The standard of music and selection of songs is something I have to accept, because Bob Dylan is the “artist” and if I want to hear clean, sanitized versions I would do as well just to stay at home and listen to my CDs. The lack of communication with the audience was just downright rude though, in my view. He came on stage, he sang his songs and he went off stage at the end – maybe he has always been like this – if so, fair enough – but it was rude in the 60s and it’s rude now.
It was a weird and very controversial concert for me, with many things to dislike very much. On the whole I’m glad I went, because I have now seen one of music’s “greats”. If he ever appeared in Manchester again, I might well go and see him, because I would now know what to expect, would be prepared, and would be familiar with more of his material.
And no, despite all my frustrations, I wasn’t tempted to shout JUDAS!! at him…..
