re: #54 teleskiguy

I saw Dylan at Red Rocks back in 2007. He played guitar on the first tune “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” and that was it. He played keys for the rest of the show. No harmonica. He did play “Blowin’ In The Wind,” but other than that it was stuff from Time Out Of Mind, Love And Theft, and his new album at the time Modern Times. I thought the experience delightful, but the olds there were quite disappointed.

makeitstop, your explanation of why Dylan does what he does these days makes a lot of sense.

This tour, Dylan is playing pretty much all college campuses and smaller venues (with the exception of the wrap-up, which will be ten nights at the Beacon in NYC). They’re always looking to change up what they’re doing to keep it fresh. I’ve seen Bob four times in the past two years, and every time they’ve played new arrangements of his songs. I’m told that that’s what Bob does with his time off the road - getting ready for the next tour.

And even the concept of the ‘endless tour’ was formulated to break the music industry mold of recording an album, touring for 18 months, then waiting for a year before recording another album and starting the cycle again. Bob loves being on the road but hates doing the expected, and that guides everything he does and how he does it.