It’s night time in the big city as we sit in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Prospect Park listening to Bob Dylan. He is now 67 years old and for years he has toured all over the world. We never know when age will catch up to him and he’ll stop giving concerts. We left home by 5 PM since the ticket indicated 6:30 PM as the starting time. We took the subway because I didn’t want to worry about finding parking in Brooklyn. When we arrived at 6:30, there was a long line of people waiting to get in. Lee took out the set lists from the last two concerts that I got from http://www.boblinks.org. The young man standing behind us said he was Mike Gardner who gave the information on the previous concerts to Bill Pagel who compiles that site.
We walked into the bandshell at 7:15 PM and found our seats. About half of the tickets were for spots on the lawn. I am glad that I sprung for more money to get a seat. I took my camera with me but was told that photography was prohibited. I looked around to see if I could spot any “celebrities” in the audience. A woman looked like Rita Houston of WFUV, but I could not tell for sure. These seats were the closest that I ever sat to the stage at a Dylan concert. It didn’t begin until 8:25. I guess they want to give people time to buy food and drink.
I just hate it when people stand up at concerts. Everyone could see just fine if they just sat down. What could I do? Although I was warned not to take photos, many people were opening using their cameras. I took mine out, but couldn’t get any good pictures since my camera does not have a zoom lens.
Dylan was playing the electric piano as he has done of the past several years. I guess he has lost his desire to play the guitar. He did play the harmonica on some of the numbers. He voice has passed its prime after thousands of concerts over the years. He often slurs his words making it difficult to ascertain the song being played. As usual, the only time he talked to the audience was at the very end, when he introduced the audience. The set list for the concert may be found at http://www.boblinks.com/081208s.html . Some reviews of the concert that were sent to Bill Pagel may be found at http://www.boblinks.com/081208r.html . There is a review in the New York Daily News found at http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2008/08/13/2008-08-13_bob_dylan_does_classics_in_brooklyn.html
My favorite song of the concert was Girl of the North Country. This was a unique arrangement different from the acoustic version recorded in 1963 on the Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album. There was also a duet of this with Dylanand Johnny Cash. Lee said that Like a Rolling Stone was his favorite of the night since he didn’t play Tangled Up in Blue. We arrived home at midnight. Went back to work today.
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