I once asked Daniel Lanois what he thought about when people praised him for resurrecting the careers of musicians such as Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. He very humbly replied that great musicians will always be great musicians, no matter what they are going through. If you have greatness inside you, it will come out sooner or later. After the interview I started listening to Bob Dylan's music again, and my interest was further re-fueled when I saw the documentary put out by Martin Scorcese some years back.
I was never a 'die-hard' Bob Dylan fan, and to this day still believe that the best Dylan tunes are the ones covered by others, possibly because these singers made me aware of who Bob Dylan is. John Martyn springs to mind, singing Don't Think Twice, on the brilliant London Conversation album, one of many fine albums put out by Martyn over many years.
So I find myself at The Entertainment Centre last night with my friend Chris Vitek taking in the Bob Dylan experience. I went out of respect for Dylan's music, knowing here was one of the great creative musical visionaries of my time. The show didn't 'rock my world', however I'm glad I experienced it. The Dylan I heard was very much performing a kind of southern Texan, rockabilly style country music. Most of the show saw Dylan behind his keyboards, only playing guitar on three tracks. He also didn't play too much harmonica, which I would have liked to have heard more of. The band was comprised of a double bass player by the name of Tony Garnier, as well as a pedal steel player by the name of Donnie Herron, who also played lap steel guitar and violin.Dylan seemed to cover off most of the tracks off his most recent release Modern Times, as well as favorites such as Highway 61 Revisited (an almost rockabilly version), When The Deal Goes Down, as well as Thunder On The Mountain, and to finish the show a great version of All Along The Watchtower.
After the show I drove home listening to Masterpieces, playing Dylan singing All Along The Watchtower over and over again. I'm glad I heard him sing live just once, and even though I sat about 100 feet away from the stage, you could sense that greatness that is Bob Dylan
