Review: Bob Dylan, In Concert, Fox Theatre, Detroit, November 13, 2012
by Scott
Click here to see the setlist for Bob Dylan in concert at the Fox Theatre, November 13, 2012
When the lights came on to reveal Bob Dylan and his band already playing the show’s opening number “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” it wasn’t easy to tell where Dylan actually was on stage. “Is that him playing the piano?” my wife asked, “Or is he singing from off stage?”
We were pretty far up, in the back. But I doubt even people in the ground floor had it much easier. Dylan and his band were spread out on the huge Fox Theatre stage, but there was no spotlight on the star of the show to guide us where to look at any time, which is just how Dylan probably likes it.
This was the second time I have seen Dylan in concert, and it was a much better show for me because of it. Any fan from Gen X, Y, or Millenial times who has seen Dylan for the first time has often been disappointed with his refusal to address the audience, the way he completely changes most of the songs to the point that you can’t tell what song he’s singing until you hear some of the lyrics, and worse, his sometimes inaudible grumbling can be a turn off, and make it even more difficult to tell which song he’s playing, until he finally gets to the hook of the song.
But the second time is more of a charm. Your expectations are far lower. You know what you’re getting yourself into. It becomes a bit of a game to try to figure out what song he’s playing before everyone else does. He fooled me twice. The first time, when he played “Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” to the basic tune of “Just Like a Woman.” The second time is when he played “Love Sick” but at first it sounded like “Forgetful Heart,” and then like “Ain’t Talkin’”. But I managed to pick out most of them before my fellow Dylan lovers.
And that is why we’re we there, whether it was your disappointing first Dylan show, your cautious second, or your seasoned third, fourth, or fifth. This guy may be an introvert, a bit hostile in interviews, and actively attempting to gall his audiences, but those songs are meaningful to you, and you know that his still-growing songbook is one of the best by any songwriter ever.
Particularly excellent tonight was his version of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright,” which had all the ironic gentleness of the original. But it was odd to hear him sing it. It was almost as if it was a completely different person–some wizened 71 year old–singing the song, not the near 21 year-old who wrote and recorded it.
Compare that with a song he played tonight from his newest album, Tempest. “I’ll Pay in Blood” might sound the most like a Tom Waits song, on an album where you think nearly every song could have been a Tom Waits song. But there was a bouncing quality to it–a skip in its step–that made it seem like it was written by a younger man. According to Harold Lepidus at The Examiner, this is only the third song from the new album he’s played in concert since its release. This was good news for me, as I was hoping to hear songs from the new one. Other treats were “Beyond Here Lies Nothing” from the underrated Together Through Life album, and two of my favorites from the last decade, “Mississippi” and “Thunder on the Mountain.”
The show ended with the old hits: a very Tim Burton soundtrack version of “Ballad of a Thin Man,” an almost joyous “Like a Rolling Stone,” and a hard-driving “All Along the Watchtower,” and encored with “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
I’m sure some people were disappointed. But I thought it was a great, mumblings and all, in a great venue, that made Dylan sound as good as he possibly could–much better than if he would have played The Palace, as originally scheduled.
Setlist for Bob Dylan at the Fox Theatre in Detroit, November 13, 2012
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
Things Have Changed
Tangled Up In Blue
Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Pay In Blood
Love Sick
Highway 61 Revisited
Mississippi
Thunder On The Mountain
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Like A Rolling Stone
All Along The Watchtower
Encore:
Blowin’ In The Wind
I’ve seen 3 or 4 of the ‘Bob Dylan as an old minstrel” shows. I would have rather gone to the Fox Theater show ( it sounds like it was better) but Grand Rapids was more accessible. I’m getting tired of the reworking the songs til they’re unrecognizable. I don’t have a problem with his voice – He can still use that effectively – but people love those songs and they’d like to hear something closer to the way they were originally written. The new songs are more in sync with the way his voice is now, but he can’t play much of his new material that’s what other songwriters like to do. Does he want his audiences to come to gawk at the icon and clap like monkeys every time he puts a harmonica to his lips or does he want people to hear the music that made him a star ? What a novelty that would be.
I can understand your frustration, Marty. Fact is, he’s been reworking the tunes to his songs since the 70s. Yesterday, I listened to the “Hard Rain” album, and every single song on that album sounds different from the originally recorded version:http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Hard+Rain/215805
I was also reading the recent Rolling Stone interview with Dylan, and thought this was interesting:
“My songs are personal music; they’re not communal. I wouldn’t want people singing along with me. It would sound funny. I’m not playing campfire meetings. I don’t remember anyone singing along with Elvis, or Carl Perkins, or Little Richard. The thing you have to do is make people feel their own emotions. A performer, if he’s doing what he’s supposed to do, doesn’t feel any emotion at all. It’s a certain kind of alchemy that a performer has.”
I see this as an answer to why he performs like he does, but certainly not an explanation. And I also don’t agree with him on this, although I can see someone like Stephin Merritt, for example, having the same philosophy. One thing is certain: Dylan certainly does make it so you can’t sing along with him.
I too thought it was a great show. We sat in row A behind pit and thought security were a bit distracting. beer cut off too early but Bob still has it!!