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Dylan Now Mr. Piano Man
Fri Oct 18, 3:21 AM ET
By Phil Gallo
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - In the years since Bob Dylan (news) took the world by storm with 1997's "Time Out of Mind," he has toured constantly and managed to find a unique spark to make each go-'round distinct for the audience and energizing for the band.
His first tour since the one that supported last year's "Love and Theft" finds the guitarist focused on, of all things, the electric piano, songs penned by Warren Zevon (news) and a handful of other, faithfully rendered, cover versions. As has been his calling card for the past five years, his two-hour-plus sets change nightly save for eight or so songs and the encores of "All Along the Watchtower" and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."
In two of his three L.A. gigs that opened the remodeled Wiltern Theater, Dylan's songwriting and youthful exuberance took center stage, an omnipresent reminder that no other contemporary performer can hold a candle to his body of work.
An overstatement perhaps, but when Dylan strings together "Forever Young," "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and a magical rendition of "It Ain't Me, Babe" as he did on Wednesday, or Tuesday's mid-set run of "I Shall Be Released," "Drifters Escape" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," the list of rock artists with songs on par gets immediately reduced to about two. The vitality Dylan has brought to his live performances over the past five years -- after two decades of hit-or-miss affairs -- seems even more attached to his personal sense of mortality, driven by a mid-'90s health scare. Why else include three songs -- as he did Wednesday -- from Warren Zevon, a brilliant songwriter regardless, who is suffering from throat cancer and has suggested his life expectancy is months and not years?
Dylan's first night was the more explosive of the two, with his exemplary guitarists Charlie Sexton and Larry Campbell flaunting their cross-genre (flatpicking, rock 'n' roll, rockabilly, etc.) skills. "It's Alright Ma," turned into a driving blues with Dylan at piano and Campbell on mandocello, had a bigger and more urgent presence the first night and by including the new swing-shuffle blues number "Floater" toward the end of the show, Dylan ensured that the night would be certified rock-centric.
Generally Dylan isn't that concerned about overall pacing. After a six-song buildup -- five at the piano and then the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" -- he moves between the piano and acoustic and electric guitars with little concern for establishing a tenor for the evening. Both nights he followed "Brown Sugar" with acoustic ballads -- "One Too Many Mornings" and "Forever Young" -- almost willfully sucking the air out of the Wiltern, which now plays more intimately due to the removal of the orchestra seats and the floor planed into five levels.
"Mutineer," the Zevon tune performed at both shows, came off more effectively on night two when it was placed late in the set, right after the blistering "High Water (for Charley Patton)." All of the material from last year's "Love and Theft" and the covers -- Don Henley (news)'s "End of the Innocence," Neil Young (news)'s "Old Man" and Zevon's "Accidentally a Martyr" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" -- Dylan did true to the originals, fleshing out "Innocence" with George Ricelis' buoyant drumming and veering "Old Man" toward a harder edge by omitting the expected backing of banjo and pedal steel in favor of electric guitars.
His own tunes go through more of a metamorphosis, especially the numbers altered to let Dylan play piano instead of acoustic guitar (the tune from "Wonder Boys," "Things Have Changed" and "The Man in Me," for example). Ricelis' rolling drums brought a wholly new texture to "Tombstone Blues"; the three guitarists, on acoustics, treat the melody of "Mr. Tambourine Man" like a round; and "Drifter's Escape," the soft folky ditty that closes out side one of his '67 disc "John Wesley Harding (news)," has been honed into a fireball of electric energy. Mostly the changes are in the vocal inflection and "It Ain't Me, Babe," benefits the most from this re-thinking, his tendency to swallow words giving the tune an added, effective air of resignation.
With 22 dates scheduled between the L.A. shows and Thanksgiving -- he stops Nov. 11 and 13 at New York's Madison Square Garden -- Dylan continues to be an unstoppable force on the concert front. Word of mouth has made his shows sell out instantly and as if anyone need a reminder of the sort of laissez-faire shows he used to deliver, Columbia Records will release in November "The Bootleg Series, Vol. 5 -- Bob Dylan Live 1975: The Rolling Thunder Revue." Good in places as that tour could be, it lacked the seriousness with which Dylan takes his current act. With luck, Columbia will bless fans with a "Bob Dylan Live 2002."
Presented by Clear Channel. Band: Bob Dylan, Larry Campbell, Charlie Sexton, Tony Garnier, George Ricelis. Opened Oct. 15, 2002; reviewed Oct. 15 and 16; closed Oct. 17. |
