Dylan

Last night I drove up to Indianapolis to see Bob Dylan in concert. It was the first time I'd seen him live, even though I've been a fan for a few years now. (Cindy commented, "We're going to see your god!")

It was great. A good mix of old and new tunes. It's always worth seeing Dylan play his old tunes because he always reinterprets them. It was quite interesting to hear old classics like Rainy Day Women, It ain't me babe and Tangled up in Blue played in his current rolling-blues style. But with his now raspy voice, changing the tunes makes them rather hard to recognise. It made me realise how much more Dylan reinterprets his own songs, compared to most of the covers out there that simply try to recreate the original. (E.g. Dylan played another electrified version of "I don't believe you", different again from the Royal Albert Hall version. And his bluesy "Tangled up in Blue" so much more different from the original than The Whitlams' cover.)

He only played guitar on the first few, he then played keyboard for most of the songs, bringing out the harmonica for the old tunes. (The crowd cheered the first time he brought out the harp, because he doesn't use it as much these days.) It was a great night.