On April 21, 2013 I saw Bob Dylan perform live in Bowling
Green, Ohio at BGSU’s Stroh Center. The indie-folk band Dawes opened for Dylan,
and they were pretty good. The doors opened at 6:30; Dawes began their set
promptly at the designated 7:30 set time. Around 9 p.m., a 71 year-old version
of Robert Zimmerman appeared on stage. He performed for approximately an hour
and a half with a large group of very talented blues musicians. Dylan sang
(well, he did his best with his decrepit vocal chords), played piano and played
harmonica – at times a tad too loudly. His set list revolved around mostly
playing new songs from his very good 2012 album Tempest, and really only played four classics: “Tangled Up in
Blue,” “All Along the Watch Tower,” “Ballad of a Thin Man” and “Visions of
Johanna.” (Apparently he opened with “Things Have Changed” but I don’t
remember/didn’t recognize it.)
This is the only thing I can confirm from that unforgettable
evening. Everything that follows this sentence, is purely speculation and me
trying to figure out what actually happened on that fateful April Sunday
evening.
Bob Dylan is
the last of his peers. Sure, there are the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys and
the surviving members of the Beatles, but Dylan is on a planet of his own. He
is an enigma; he loathes the spotlight and media attention, but has actively
toured and released music since 1962. Seeing him on stage, there is a profound
self-awareness about him as he carries his aging body in front of a crowd made
up of a few college-aged hippies and a large assortment of middle-aged fans
enthralled to witness a man whom they admired since their youth. All of these
people will leave around 10:30 p.m. completely alienated and confused.
Dylan stands in a mostly-filled arena, that on tamer nights
is the home of a below-average college basketball team and the occasional
graduation ceremony, and he is noticeably the oldest member of the
congregation. When he comes on stage the crowd erupts, and this would be the
last time that Dylan’s performance meets any expectation of a concert or live
performance.
The legendary singer-songwriter gets right into his set
without greeting the crowd. This was the first tip off that this night was
going to be both bizarre and completely unforgettable. Like many have warned me
before the show, his vocals are not what they once were. I was fully prepared
to hear the man on Tempest and his
weird ass Christmas Album, and not the man on Blood on the Tracks and Freewheelin’
Bob Dylan, so his vocal performance was not in the least bit upsetting to
me.
The crowds’ reaction ranged from completely excited (the
middle-aged die hards) to completely withdrawn, checking their cell phones and
eagerly awaiting their next beer (the college kids who realized they are not as
big of Dylan fans as they would lead their Facebook friends to believe), to
drugged out (that one crazy lady who had a minor seizure in the aisle next to
me), to completely alienated and confused (everyone else in between). The
audience was asked to sit a couple times throughout the performance; the most
annoying time was during “Tangled Up in Blue.” This event led to much of the
crowd interchanging arguments on concert protocol and whether or not they
should stand or remain seated.
In their defense, I too was a bit confused on what the
appropriate position for the performance. I have attended many high-energy
shows where everyone would stand and sing or rap along with the artist. I have
also attended soft, intimate performances where the audience will remain seated
while a bearded gentleman will sing and play acoustic guitar. Bob Dylan’s
performance at BGSU was somewhere awkwardly in between those two settings. The
music was often slow-tempo, but there was enough energy in the performance from
his harmonica and guitar players to call for your typical standing position.
But at the same time, it was not a performance that one could sing along with. For
one, a vast majority of the audience probably only recognized a third of the
set list. And the songs that were recognizable, were often warped – likely so
Dylan could sing along, as his chops are no longer able to match the faster
paced songs – beyond recognition for the average fan.
Dylan’s set list was also much longer than I had expected.
And I think the most surprising moment of the evening was when he came back on
stage to do an encore. He did “Ballad of a Thin Man,” which was totally
unexpected and awesome. At the end of the song, he approached the mic; up until
this point he did not speak or engage the crowd in any way (ie: your standard
“thank you BG!” or “how we feelin’ tonight?!”). It appeared that he was about
to speak, but decided to instead point with both hands to right balcony area of
the arena. This was awesome and confusing. We’re still unsure what he was pointing
at, but someone told me that it involved some sort of promotion for the Red
Cross or something. I like to think he wanted to make the crowd feel more
confused.
My friends and I left the Stroh Center dumbfounded. We
thought it was incredibly “ice cold” (cooler than being cool (c) Andre 3000)
that he did his set without doing anything a performer normally would. As we
were about to cross Wooster Street to get some Burger King, we saw Dylan’s tour
bus head towards I-75, no less than 15 minutes after his show had concluded.
It’s been weeks since that night, and I’m still trying to
figure out what exactly happened. My hypothesis: Dylan is the last living true
rock star. In an era where the masses love a politically correct, clean-cut
entertainer/athlete, we are not used to an artist who is going to do what the
fuck he wants. And that’s exactly what Bob Dylan does – and always has. Most
musicians, like the opener Dawes, are eager to impress a crowd, Dylan would
rather challenge and alienate an audience. Dylan, who has spent the bulk of his
life entertaining, no longer has anything left to prove and he is completely
aware of this fact. This is why he would release an album that Rolling Stone
called the darkest in his catalog, 50 years after his debut. This is why he is
not selling out arenas and playing “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Times They Are a
Changin’.” While many artists his age are happy with letting their legacy keep
them relevant, Dylan is continuing to re-invent himself.
While I can’t say exactly what
happened at the weirdest performance of music I have ever witnessed, I can say
it was truly unforgettable. And awesome. Stay cool, Bobby D, stay cool.
