BRILLIANT BOB IS BACK – AND NOT ONE OF HIS KEYS WENT WEST

Reviewing the reviews as Dylan, at 80, gets ‘rough and rowdy’ on the road

Bob Dylan stepped back onto the stage after two years of ‘incarceration’ and gave a Cheshire Cat-grinning, ear churning, heartbreakingly beautiful two hour performance down at the Riverside in Milwaukee…

Andrea and I were still on that highway in Spain as Ol’ Bob took to the stage. It was 10am where we were in the blustery Autumn heat and 8pm in a Milwaukee chill as he walked out to meet his audience again.

He was dodging wires and speakers and posing hand on hip in his oversize David Byrne-style white jacket like a good’n.

Yep, he’s 80 and sometimes he can look doddery and as fragile as his famous wet-fish handshake … but he’s still going, still creating, still confounding, still writing, still rocking and still finding new ways to be Bob Dylan. And this time he is the poet of Rough and Rowdy Ways.

And then there is of course his new voice. It’s new but it’s been everywhere, told a million stories and hung out so many brilliant lines to dry.

No, nobody can ever take that away from him … and in Milwaukee he made his voice famous again.

After we unpacked our dusty old car at the castle in Lorca, I trawled around the net for reviews.

I didn’t find one dissenting voice… just fans who confirmed that Bob is back – looking a little bit older it has to be said – but performing brilliantly, singing like a dream and rocking the world’s expectations.

On Bill Pagel’s Bob Links Isabel Infantes said: “There’s no doubt that Tuesday show at Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater was the start of something very new, very different, and very bold.”

Tom Wilmeth, on the same site, said: “Nobody seemed happier about things than Bob himself, with facial expressions that were frequently joyous. Dylan was in good voice, and the sound mix was excellent – both Dylan’s lyrics and his piano were clearly heard.

“The night began with “Watching the River Flow,” a minor radio hit in 1971. Maybe Bob was using this number to tell us what he had been doing during his time off – nothing. “Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine” followed. .

“Bob interspersed tunes recognizable to even casual fans. He played “Simple Twist of Fate” and “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” as well as a rocking version of “Gotta Serve Somebody.” Dylan touched on his later catalog with “Early Roman Kings” and “Soon After Midnight,” “When Bob made his way from piano to center stage – he looked fragile, and at times unsteady on his feet but we still have Bob with us; let’s enjoy him today. We may not see him tomorrow”

Don Romundson wrote: “The show at the Riverside was unbelievable. It was clear from the start that this was going to be a very special show. In fact, Bob did a sort of a bow to the crowd, in Bob’s own way, after each song, an acknowledgment if you will, his stand at center stage gazing out, very appreciative of the crowd…”

Adam Selzer had this to say: “Bob seemed a bit nervous as he began “I Contain Multitudes”. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him look nervous before. But the performance was solid, and on “False Prophet” he was grinning, pointing, and seeming as though he was having a blast. Like he couldn’t wait for us to hear what line he’d sing next.”

Me, well I’m just glad to say that we’ve not seen the last of Bob’s winks and feints and his stunning panache. And the old man is back again, taking all the indefinable qualities that make him the true genius of this and the last century around the world again.

Good on ya Bob!

#bobdylan #roughandrowdy #worldtour #milwaukeefamous