Review: Bob Dylan plays a cracker at Adelaide’s Bonython Park — unless you’re in the cheap seats

IN a tent on the edge of Port Road, the most important figure in modern music delivered an incredible show — but as great as Bob Dylan was, it wouldn’t have been as much fun at the back, Nathan Davies writes.

LAST night, in a tent on the edge of Port Road, the most important figure in modern music delivered a cracking show.

Twenty one songs, stretching from 1962 (Blowing in the Wind) to 2012 (Pay in Blood), delivered with passion and underpinned by the restrained excellence of his band (led by the ever-suave Charlie Sexton).

As great as it was, though, it can’t have been much fun down the back.

Bob Dylan’s refusal to even consider using video screens means that you’d better have a good seat, or at least a good pair of binoculars if you want to see him.

It’s a shame.

Even those near the front didn’t see a lot of the man they’d come to watch, with Dylan spending the majority of the show seated behind a grand piano that was positioned in a way that obscured the audience’s view.

It was only when he left his stool to play standing or blow his harmonica that you got a good glimpse.

A couple of microphones positioned front of stage hinted and teased that we might see Bob pick up the guitar, but it wasn’t to be.

Strolling onto the simply-lit stage, Dylan and band launched into Things Have Changed, from the soundtrack of the 2000 movie Wonder Boys, before dropping a couple of old classics — It Ain’t Me Babe and Highway 61 Revisited.

It Ain’t Me is given an upbeat, almost jaunty, rearrangement while Highway 61 is played pretty straight and allows the band to rock out.

A jazzy version of Simple Twist of Fate from 1975’s masterpiece Blood on the Tracks, sees the first harmonica solo, much to the crowd’s delight.

Duquesne Whistle has an almost Dixieland feel, and it’s followed by an excellent version of When I Paint My Masterpiece, a song Dylan wrote but was first recorded by The Band.

By the time the set arrives at Tryin’ To Get To Heaven and Make You Feel My Love — both from 1997’s Time Out of Mind — Dylan has found his voice, and Pay In Blood, off Tempest, sounds particularly fierce and is a highlight.

Classic Tangled Up In Blue gets a bluesy makeover, which probably annoyed a few.

As a friend commented, there’s no point coming to the lecture if you haven’t read the book. He was being literal, referring to Dylan’s Chronicles where he writes at length about why he rearranges so many of his songs live.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t have liked to have heard Tangled Up In Blue, probably my favourite song on my favourite record, played a little closer to the recording.

But hey, as my kids say — you get what you get and you don’t get upset (although they usually say that when they’re cutting a piece of cake in half, not watching a rock concert).

Early Roman Kings sees the band go into full blues mode and the song is another highlight of the night, and it’s followed by another 60s classic, Desolation Row.

Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right is also majorly reworked, with Dylan slowing it right down, but this rearrangement works well, and then he’s rocking out with his band again on Thunder on the Mountain, a track from Modern Times.

Soon After Midnight and Christian-era Gotta Serve Somebody round out the set, before an encore of Blowin’ In The Wind, now with added violin, and a faithful rendition of Ballad of a Thin Man bring the night to a close.

This was the best of the three Dylan shows I’ve seen.

His voice was good (by Bob’s standard), the band were on-point and the set list, ranging across six decades, was hard to fault. The old bloke even cracked a smile or two.

The couple of times he came out from behind the piano Dylan looked all of his 77 years, and you have to wonder how much longer he can maintain his gruelling touring schedule (he’s been on the road more or less constantly since 1988).

After last night I hope Mr Dylan will visit one more time.

P.S. Vance Joy did a stellar job of opening — the bloke sure can sing and he just looked stoked to be there. As he said, it’s a story for the grandkids.

BOB DYLAN SET LIST

1. Things Have Changed (Wonder Boys, 2000)

2. It Ain’t Me, Babe (Another Side of Bob Dylan, 1964)

3. Highway 61 Revisited (Highway 61 Revisited, 1965)

4. Simple Twist of Fate (Blood on the Tracks, 1975)

5. Duquesne Whistle (Tempest, 2012)

6. When I Paint My Masterpiece (originally Band song, 1971)

7. Honest With Me (Love and Theft, 2001)

8. Tryin’ to Get to Heaven (Time out of Mind, 1997)

9. Make You Feel My Love (Time out of Mind, 1997)

10. Pay in Blood (Tempest, 2012)

11. Tangled Up in Blue (Blood on the Tracks, 1975)

12. Early Roman Kings (Tempest, 2012)

13. Desolation Row (Highway 61 Revisited, 1965)

14. Love Sick (Time out of Mind, 1997)

15. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (The Freewheelin'’ Bob Dylan, 1962)

16. Thunder on the Mountain (Modern Times, 2006)

17. Soon After Midnight (Tempest, 2012)

18. Gotta Serve Somebody (Slow Train Coming, 1979)

19. Encore:

20. Blowin’ in the Wind (The Freewheelin'’ Bob Dylan, 1962)

21. Ballad of a Thin Man (Highway 61 Revisited, 1965)