For the last two nights it has been my utmost pleasure to
see Bob Dylan live at the Beacon where the man himself has put on two great
concerts. I’d say that the first one was
better overall as his singing was stronger and he was more animated. My only complaint about the shows was that he
played the same setlist both nights, but I knew that coming into the shows as
he’s had a rather static setlist of late.
The move towards a regular setlist may be the reason why he is in good
vocal form as he and his great band have mastered each of the 19 numbers they
barrel through. I believe he picks and
reworks songs to fit his voice which is why he emphasizes his later day
material (also his later day material is great for anyone who thinks
otherwise). He only played four songs
from the 60’s-70’s (“She Belongs to Me”, “Tangled Up in Blue”, “Simple Twist of
Fate”, and “Blowin’ in the Wind”) but I was not disappointed as I enjoy the
later material. The highlights were “Love
Sick” which was played with a growling intensity, “She Belongs to Me” (a
beautiful song played with a driving and pounding melody), and “Long and Wasted
Years” from the first night. “Long and
Wasted Years” was performed with ferocity and force with each line becoming
more intense than anything that preceded it.
Everyone in the crowd was whipped into a frenzy as Dylan powered through
each verse. There were the usual calls (especially
on the second night) for a return to older material, but not as many complaints
or walk outs as I have seen at Dylan concerts.
The crowd for the most part knew what going to a Dylan show in 2014
entails and one fan jumped the stage but was immediately taken down by
security. Dylan didn’t miss a beat or
seem to particularly notice the fan getting his ass kicked by security. I guess that once you survive Soy Bomb and
Newport 65, these things just all blend together. The Minnesota Bard spends half his time at a
grand piano next to a bust of Athena and the other half perched at the
microphone whilst leisurely strutting around during the musical interludes
coupled with his occasional harmonica solos.
Every song ends with him standing in front of the drums with his hand on
his hip in a judging pose, as if he is surveying his audience to see if they
are worthy of his precious time leading a quite the funny scene. Again, the man has the taste for the
dramatic. The only words he spoke to the
audience were his announcement that they would be taking a short break and even
that was garbled. The shows ended with
him playing a gospel tinged Frank Sinatra cover, “Stay with Me’, that was
better the second night, and was the perfect way to end both shows. The song sounds like a plea to whoever’s
listening and perhaps hints at the content of his next album (a rumored record
of Sinatra covers). The shows were great
and I can’t wait to attend the next three shows he’s playing at the Beacon
(Monday to Wednesday) and hope that he changes the setlist a bit because he is
back in New York City and we sure do love him here.
The other big cultural event of my weekend was the Star Wars 7 trailer which I may have
seen over a hundred times by now. The
teaser is simply amazing. My brother
woke me up (I was awakened like the force! – see what I did there) to watch it
on his phone and I stood there in stunned silence after 88 seconds of pure Star Wars. After each cut to black my eyes widened until
the point where I probably looked like a cartoon character whose eyes had
popped out of their sockets after seeing a sultry female. The dirty droids and distressed people gave
the look of a lived in Star Wars
universe as opposed to the cold, CGI world of the prequels. I have no problem with the lightsaber
longsword as I just think it looks awesome.
I have no further analysis other than “oh shit that Sith looks pissed”! The X-Wings over the water looks great, but
the real prize was seeing the Millennium Falcon back in flight dodging its way
through some Tie Fighters. Instead of
dogfights in space we may be privy to spaceships duking it out over water and
sand so that would be a first. All in
all I don’t know if it is possible to not be excited for Star Wars after seeing such a masterful teaser. I’ve been high on JJ Abram’s new film and
this clip only puts my excitement into overdrive and promises that the wait until
December 18th 2015 will be excruciating. All I ask is that we get a trailer with Luke,
Han, and Leia for Christmas. Then I’ll
be able to calm down a bit until asking for another trailer.
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