Subject: July 3, 1998 - Montreux, Switzerland - a review

From: Carsten Wohlfeld (happyjaq@confetti.ruhr.de)

Date: 08 Jul 1998 13:00:00 +0100

        Bob Dylan

        Montreux, Switzerland, July 3, 1998

        Montreux Jazz Festival, Stravinski Auditorium

        A Review by Carsten Wohlfeld

After the pretty good show in Dijon we spend the off-day in sunny  

Lausanne, right next to the staggeringly beautiful Lac Leman. Montreux is  

only 20 miles away from Lausanne, so it made much more sense to stay in a  

budget hotel there rather than paying the ridiculously expensive Festival  

prices in Montreux. Montreux is an amazing city though. The main street is  

right next to the lake, and is was sunny throughout the day, except for a  

short and heavy rainfall in the afternoon. It was my first time there and  

it was pretty amazing, cause you don't expect a city in the south of  

Switzerland to look a lot like Miami Beach, with all the palms and the  

chrystal clear water... The Congress Centre is a huge building that not  

only includes the Montreux Jazz Festival offices, but also the two venues,  

the Miles Davis Hall and the Stravinski Auditorium, where Bob was going to  

open the 32nd annual Montreux Jazz Festival and where he had played before  

in 1994. We got our official T-Shirts for $18 (designed by Phil Collins,  

but very nice looking nevertheless) and then started getting in line,  

while enjoying the free internet services in the lobby and watching Italy  

lose against France in the soccer worldcup.

The venue itself is a rather small theatre-like place, with standing room  

on the floor and plush seats in the balcony. Very similar to the Alte Oper  

in Frankfurt, where Bob played in 1996. It holds around 2,000 people and  

it was the smallest venue of the whole tour. Boogie-Woogie-pianoman-weirdo  

Al Copley opened and played for 45 minutes. Didn't like it at al, although  

I have to say that his pianoplaying was impressive. After his set the TV  

cameras were turned off and we were allowed to get up right to the very  

low stage... some of us almost could've reached Bob's microphone. The band  

didn't use their own PA-system and the stage-set (also designed by Phil  

Collins) looked very different to the usual black curtain. Very nice. Bob  

came out at 9.35 to open with:

        Gotta Serve Somebody

At last! Obviously we all wanted to hear this song since we didn't had the  

chance to hear Bob play it in England and even though his vocals were  

hardly audible in the bad mix, we all very much enjoyed it and laughed at  

the "female" backing vocals courtesy of Bucky and Larry... "seeeerve  

somebody!"

        The Man In Me

was next as expected. It had been on the cuesheet quite a few times  

before, so it was just a matter of time till he'd play it. Solid  

performance, nothing THAT special, but nice to hear nevertheless.

        Cold Irons Bound

Bob and Tony had a long discussion before this song, no idea what they  

were talking aout, maybe Bob wanted to remind Tony that the band better  

get it right thistime since the last couple of versions weren't too  

convincing? Solid version.

        I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

Gunter is right, I guess. This is the perfect evidence for the fact that  

Bob doesn't care where he plays. I don't think that there's a song less  

fitting for a Jazz Festival than this country-jangle that - to top it al -  

was very badly performed as well. Around this song Bob mumbled something  

like "Montreux jazz Festival..proud to be here", even though it might have  

been ironic, since that's exactly what the somewaht overexcited support  

act Al Copley had said an hour earlier. "I Believe In You" was on the  

cuesheet, but wasn't played unfortunately.

        Can't Wait

The intro was messed up, but apart from that it was probably the strongest  

song of the set so far, definitely Bob's best vocal performance so far.  

The heat was almost unbearable by now, but Bob's bodygurad and the  

security did a very good job, making sure nobody got crushed in the front  

rows and handing out water. Nice.

        Silvio

rocked as usual and had a completely messed up ending, where Larry and  

David totally lost it.

        Mr. Tambourine Man (acoustic)

I hate to say it, but this was another highlight. Bob really seems to like  

the song lately, he's always putting a lot of energy into it. Sounded very  

smooth nevertheless.

        The Times They Are A-Changin' (acoustic)

For people who like greatest hits this was the perfect choice of course,  

for me it was just another - exceptionally flat - rendtion of a song I  

don't have to hear again.

        Desolation Row (acoustic)

Known from now on as "the goofy song". It is beyond me how you can smile  

and dance and play around as much as Bob did on a song like this, but he  

was obviiusly amused by a guy who fainted right in front of him and then  

was carried out by the security. "Desolation" was given the usual nice  

treatment and I think this time he got all the world right, even though I  

don't think he sang more than six verses. After the song he said something  

like: "it's so hot... so hot". And then, best joke all night we heard him  

say: "Carry out more people". Larry almost dropped his guitar cause he was  

laughing so hard!

        Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)

Okay, you probably will skip this one since he's doing it every night, but  

you better read on. This was AMAZING! In 1196 we got the very slow  

versions with harp that lasted around 11 minutes. When Bob started his  

Euro tour "Tangled" was around 7 minutes and without harp. Tonight it was  

veeeeeeeery slow again but featured some of the best and longest guitar  

slos I've ever heard Bob play! And as if that wasn't enough he reached for  

the harp at the end. Now Josh is right when he says that his harmonica  

playing has been just a show effect lately, just 1 minute-and-out for the  

audience (the solos haven't ben very loud either lately) but tonight  

everything was gonna be different: This was by far the best harp solo I  

ever heard Bob play in person and it took at least three minutes, but  

probably four. I didn't check my watch but I wouldn't be surprised if this  

song lasted well over 12 or 13 minutes. Bob was drenched in sweat  

afterwards (despite the heat he was wearing his usual suit - the gray  

"Grammy" one tonight - and his bow-tie) and looked as if he would've loved  

to leave the stage right away. But he stayed of course, introduced the  

band and launched into:

        'Til I Fell In Love With You

Understandibly it was the greatest version, but better than the cuesheets  

alternate of "River Flow" and "Highway" without a doubt. We all thought  

that the strange set 6 electric-4 acoustic-1 electric was due to the heat,  

but there were actually no more than 11 song-slots on the cuesheet for the  

mainset.

        (encores)

        Love Sick

The cuesheet had "Ain't Me Baby" before this one and the roadies had put  

up the acoustic instruments as well, but - probably due to the heat - Bob  

skipped it and gave us a tired sounding version of "Love Sick" while  

flirting with the girls in the first few rows.

        Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35

Equally tired and of the "glad we're outta here soon" variety.

        Blowin' In The Wind (acoustic)

Crowdpleaser, a little bit out of place at a Jazz Festival, too, I think.  

Bob wasn't as animated as he'd been at previous shows, even though he  

obviously liked the low stage and the contact with the audience.

Robert wanted to catch the train to Verona right after the show and Gunter  

and I wanted to get in the car to drive home. Somehow we just felt it  

wouldn't be right to leave after a show like this, that was very good, 95  

minutes song (despite the fact that it only had 14 songs) and somehow was  

promising a lot more for the shows to come. So we decided to get gas  

instead of a train ticket for Robert and went south instead of north. We  

hit Italy at around 2.00 am, passed Milano at 4.00am and reached Verona at  

8.00am. Found a very nice and reasonably cheap hotel and took a nap. More  

from the show in Villafranca di Verona soon. Thanks for reading.

Carsten Wohlfeld

 

From: office@carstenwohlfeld.de (carsten wohlfeld)

To:  karlerik@monet.no

Date: Sun, 07 May 2000 13:58:16 +0200

Subject: zurich review

        Bob Dylan

        Zürich, Switzerland, May 06, 2000

        Hallenstadion

        A review by Carsten Wohlfeld

Here we go again: Yet another European tour starting at Tim &

Regine's place in Überlingen and then on to Zurich, one year and

one week after his last show at the same venue. This time around

they sold even less tickets and even though the Hallenstadion

didn't look empty, it was far from being sold out. One

interesting detail was apparent even before the band hit the

stage: They had all new equipment: A new (black instead of gold)

drumset for David, new amp and bass for Tony, new amps and

guitars for Charlie, a couple of new guitars for Larry. After

being treated to classical and indian music for two hours Bob and

the gang took to the stage at 8.15pm to open with:

Roving Gambler (acoustic)

Nice start, without being extraordinary. The sound seemed to be

really bad on stage, as both David and Charlie looked as if they

couldn't hear them at all. Further proof for that theory is Larry

acually started the song while Al was still saying "Ladies and

gentlemen..." - strange! Bob's singing was clear and quite good

though. For one he didn't try to play around with the phrasing

too much, which allowed Larry and Charlie to follow him quite

easily, when they joined him for the chorus.

My Back Pages (acoustic)

Larry picked up the fiddle and starts this song with one of his

gorgeous violin solos. It could've been a real highlight of the

night, but apparently the sound on stage was still really bad (or

Bob didn't practise his guitarplaying at all while being off the

tour for the last few weeks, but after the great start with

Larry's solo and Bob's equally good delivery of the first couple

of verses he stopped playing guitar completely for 20 seconds or

so (much to the surprise of Larry and Charlie - a real "non-solo"

spot) and when he came back in he played some of the worst guitar

ever - way too loud and mostly unconnected to the tune. Charlie

noticed it too and his look seemed to say: "Oh my god, what the

fuck was that?" Another disappointment was that Bob got so upset

with his own performance, that he basically abandoned the song

halfway through, thus only singing four verses.

It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

More bad guitarplaying, but at least the vocal delivery was

really good (as good as on any versions late last year) and the

song became the first real treat of the show. Still love the

arrangements with the loud and quiet parts too. I think most of

Dylan's arrangement lacks that kinda change. The band sounds very

different from song to song, but once they hit a groove they

usually keep it for the duration of the song. Not on this one,

which is very nice.

Love Minus Zero/No Limit (acoustic)

Began with another great solo courtesy of Larry, this time on the

pedal steel. It quickly got really nasty though when Bob couldn't

remember the first verse at all and very little of the second and

third. To add to it, his guitarplaying (if he was playing at

all!) was as shambolic as on the first few numbers, which made

this - one of my fave Dylan songs - one of the worst performances

I've ever heard of this song. Tim pointed out that "there's no

success like failure and failure's no success at all" - it was

really appropriate, cause he must have known that this song was a

complete and utter failure.

Tangled Up In Blue (acoustic)

Save some nicely stretched lines, a pretty average version, with

some nice  lighting effects to go with it.

Delia (acoustic)

A real surprise, as this was the first rendition of this

beautiful oddity since 1993?! Nicely done, with an interesting

drum part and great vocal delivery, despite some mixed up lyrics.

Tim also pointed out later that he paused after the second line

of each verse, which sounded much different compared to the

Supper Club rendition.

Country Pie

Bob obviously was happy that the sound problems and the acoustic

set were behind him now, as he got a lot more animated during the

electric set and this one was a real treat (yeah, I know it looks

unlikely on paper). Fast, loud, rocking, funny. Great dual solo

by Larry and Charlie (both playing Telecasters for this one song

only), nice new fake ending.

Can't Wait

was done in a completely new, reworked arrangement. Slowed down

and played as a heavy blues it was actually much, much better

than the original faster arrangement that got a little boring

with time. They used some nice green, flickery lights to go with

this song, too.

Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again

As great as any version in recent times. Even though he still

skips a verse or two every nice, this is one one the few songs

which are very enjoyable almost every single night. The most

memorable change to last years versions was that Larry and

Charlie changed their roles. Larry is now playing acoustic rhythm

guitar and Charlie electric lead. There were some minor lyric

changes on a lot of songs tonight, and here it was "smoked my

eyeBALLS" instead of "eyelids" or the usual substitute "eyebrow".

Watching The River Flow

with Larry on steel guitar, business as usual. It rocked and

Bob's guitar solos were getting a bit better (he actually changed

back and forth between his two Stratocaster guitars for this

show).

Not Dark Yet

Sung very well (as we've come to expect it by now) but still

somewhat different to last year's version, as Larry was playing an

old, beat-up Stratocaster and Charlie a nice looking red

Gretsch, which made the song sound quite different (and even

better, I might add.) Band intros followed. After that Tony asked

Bob if he wanted to do "Highway", but Bob shook his head, so we

got

Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat

instead. Compared to the recent live versions I've heard on tape

it seemed to be MUCH louder, harder and it featured some pretty

good soloing by Bob and Larry and Charlie as well. A few bows and

they were gone.

(encores) Love Sick

Featured some very welcome new lighting effects and was good

without being really excellent. The drums were much louder in the

mix than usual, maybe that was done on purpose or just due to the

sound problems they had all night.

Like A Rolling Stone

A great version very well sung by a very animated Bob who finally

seemed to adjust to being on stage after this month-long break as

well. Nice solos at the end.

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (acoustic)

a pretty average version, as Bob tried to experiment a bit with

the phrasing without actually getting anywhere.

Not Fade Away

Yet another fun rendition of this song, Bob could remember all

the lyrics (a rarity as you might know) and Larry's and Charlie's

solos were fun to see and hear as well, Larry and Charlie joined

in to sing along for the chorus. After this song it looked for a

second as if Bob wanted to leave for good (at least that's what

he seemed to say to Tommy), but then he changed his mind and

returned for

Blowin' In The Wind (acoustic)

which was just your average (overplayed) version, save for the

harmonica solo at the end, which itself wasn't that amazing, but

quite long and Bob seemed to really enjoy it (and the crowd's

reaction to it). Larry and Charlie on backing vocals.

Rainy Day Women Nos. 12&35

Yeah, that one, too. Usual, raunchy version with Larry on steel

guitar, this time with more (improvised) verses than the usual

two he used to sing for ages. The house lights came on during

this song, a sure sign that the show was about to be over after

close to two hours.

All in all a very weird show, halfway between open rehearsal (not

unusual for a tour start) and exciting experiment ("Delia" and the

newly arranged "Can't Wait"). Don't know what to make of it

really. It definitely wasn't a good show, that's for sure. It was

more fun than last year's show at the same venue, which was

better quality-wise, but generally quite boring. Thanks to Gunter

(the next Michael Schumacher :-))  and our lovely hosts Tim,

Regine and Hannah. See ya next year ;-)

Carsten Wohlfeld (mail@carstenwohlfeld.de)

 

Review by Carsten Wohlfeld

The good (and the bad) thing about being on the road following around Bob

Dylan is that you talk way to much about Bob all day. You just can’t help

it. So Gunter, Robert and Tim discussed the setlists of the previous shows

at great length during our 3 hour drive south to beautiful Montreux. The

song I desperately wanted to hear was „Absolutely Sweet Marie“, always a

favourite of mine and a song I hadn’t heard in more than three years,

while Tim’s dream setlist included „Blind Willie McTell“ and since his

daughters are called Hannah and Louise, you could bet that he definitely

wanted to hear „Visions Of Johanna“ as well. The problem with that?

Despite the fact that Bob has played around 2,000 concerts, these three

songs NEVER made it on a setlist together. Now I’m really bad with maths,

but I know for sure that getting to hear all three songs was not very

likely AT ALL.

The queue, getting tickets and wristbands was a mess, but I won’t get into

that here, because it was basically the only frustrating thing about the

whole show. The Starvinski Hall is a great place to see Bob. Fairly small,

only a few years old, with a surprisingly low (and pretty small) stage,

but best of all there is no barrier at all, so you’re right at Bob‘s feet.

Despite the disorganised queue ,Tim and Gunter managed to get right to the

front while I settled for a spot a dead center in the third row. At around

8.40PM Bob and band came on stage to open with:

DUNCAN AND BRADY (acoustic)

Which was once more nice, yet unremarkable. It was after this song that

the three canadian cuties around me really began to annoy me, because

although they had discussed before the show that getting to hear

„Hurricane“ was less than likely, they yelled for the song repeatedly

RIGHT IN MY EAR and while Bob had already started the first solo verse of

SONG TO WOODY (acoustic)

By the time my poor ears had recovered, Bob was already halfway through

the song, it sounded alright, although I was actually thinking more about

strangling the girls than the song. Quite an impressive choice though.

This was a song that nobody mentioned during our lengthy setlist

discussion, probably because nobody dared to mention this, the by far best

selection for the #2 slot.

IT’S ALL OVER NOW BABY BLUE (acoustic)

Beautifully sung with Larry on pedal steel. I think it was on this song

that Bob got visibly upset with his sidemens guitar playing and he didn’t

recover all night, giving both Larry and Charlie angry looks and even a

few nasty comments allnight. During „Baby Blue“ he went so far to play his

guitar solo on top of Larry’s. Sounded pretty bad, but Bob wanted to prove

who‘s the boss, I suppose. The harp solo at the end made up for the mess

he made earlier though. So at the third show for me this year I managed to

get through the first acoustic set without thinking „Oh no, I really don’t

need to hear this song ever again.“ To be honest, I didn’t think Bob would

be able to keep the standard of song selection this high. My thoughts went

back to Braunschweig, where a fairly decent acoustic set was followed by a

boring „Tombstone“ and a horrid „Baby Tonight“. Montreux was different

though.

CRASH ON THE LEVEE (DOWN IN THE FLOOD)

Is not the kind of song I usually would get excited about, but the

rocking arrangement worked quite well tonight. I still liked Bob’s

phrasing on the early 1995 versions better, but oh well, it was still tons

better compared to  „Stuck Inside Of Mobile...“ as the electric opener.

After the song, Larry picked up the bouzouki and I had a big smile on my

face, because this either meant we’d get to hear a new song or indeed

„Blind Willie McTell“. So I spend the first few chords looking over to Tim

so see his reaction.

BLIND WILLIE MCTELL

Actually it took him a bloody long time to recognize it, but the smile on

his face soon after was just priceless, as was Bob‘s word-perfect

performance of this great, great song. It rarely sounded better and that

really says a lot given that the sound so close to the front is usually

pretty bad. The definite highlight, not only tonight, but on my personal

three date mini tour. Could it get any better? Well, having heard „Baby

Tonight“ and „River Flow“ as the third electric song at the previous

shows, I would have been happy to hear „Lay Lady Lay“ and since Larry sat

down at the pedal steel , for whatever reasons I was convinced that this

was the song we were about to hear. So I was COMPLETELY in shock when I

heard Charlie play one of my favourite riffs in a Bob Dylan song

ABSOLUTELY SWEET MARIE

Wow! This was GREAT. Actually I have heard better versions, as this

seemed not to have the driving power of the 1998 arrangement, but hey,

they only do it once every six months or so and with that in mind, it was

pretty good. After all, it was the thought that counts right? And in my

book an okay „Sweet Marie“ is still A LOT better than bascially anything.

MASTERS OF WAR (acoustic)

Was the first semi-letdown. Not only was it a repeat from the show a

couple of nights ago, it was also the first song in the set from the „I

think I’ve heard this song often enough even if i live to be 100 years

old“ category. Being so close to the front the vocals got kinda lost in

the mix and (because of that?) I found the song less impressive than in

Braunschweig. A lot of people in the audience were clapping along. That

often happens and I never figured out why anybody would want to clap

during this song. Oh well. Larry picked up a guitar with a capo afterwards

and this could only mean two things: We would either get one of my least

favourite songs or somebody in the crowd would be EXTREMELY happy very

soon. The first capo song obviously is „Tangled Up In Blue“, a song I

heard at over 95% of my dozens of Dylan shows. In fact I believe

Braunschweig and Schwäbisch-Gmünd were the first two shows I’ve seen EVER

where Dylan didn’t play the song two times in a row. To see a whole tour

(well, my three shows) without a single „Tangled“ still seemed

unthinkable. Like Neil Young (almost) said: „It‘s gone, but not

forgotten“. To make a long story short, we got the other capo song. BIG

smile on Tim’s face, big dumb grin on anybody‘s face really, because it

was

VISIONS OF JOHANNA (acoustic)

Okay, it’s not much as a sensation to hear it as it used to be in say,

1999, but obviously the fact that they play it more frequently means that

the performance improved a lot since the song returned to the set in early

1999. This version didn’t have a harp solo and I believe Bob mixed up a

couple of lines, but still this was probably the best version I’ve heard,

well, since the 1966 bootlegs really! Bob‘s vocal delivery was STUNNING

and made this a strong contender for the best song of the night together

with „Blind Willie“.

IT AIN’T ME BABE (acoustic)

Somebody threw some flowers on stage during this song (they were removed

by Dylan‘s roadie Tommy after the song had ended), but it wasn’t the

flowers that distracted Dylan during this song, it was what he thought to

be really bad guitarplaying courtesy of Charlie and Larry. Dylan even

paused during the closing harp solo to make some pretty harsh comments on

Charlie’s playing (off-mic, obviously). A so-so performance.

JUST LIKE TOM THUMB’S BLUES

Wow, another very welcome surprise. A pretty nice version, although I

don’t have much to compare, because I hardly ever heard him do this (in

person or on disc).

DRIFTER’S ESCAPE

The usual hard-rocking blues version, this time with an extra guitar

solo by Bob before the expected harp solo to end the song.

RAINY DAY WOMEN Nos. 12 & 35

I told you how much I hate the song many times before, but tonight I was

actually pleasantly surprised, because this meant we wouldn’t get to hear

„Pillbox“ and with that, yet another 11 (!) new songs in the mainset

compared to the previous show. „Rainy Day“ included the band intros

halfway through the song (if I remember correctly – Bob didn’t say a word

all night apart from that though) and was the usual jamming arrangement

which gave Bob the chance to flirt with some of the women in the front. He

got every upset with somebody in the front row though, so much in fact

that he stepped to the front to tell the person in question „I don’t want

to see you ever again at one of my shows“ (or words to that effect). The

formation followed as did a short break.

 (encores)

THINGS HAVE CHANGED

A tiny bit slower than the previous night, I believe, but Bob‘s vocal

delivery was just as good as in Schwäbisch-Gmünd. I always thought the

renditions last fall lacked the passion that the kinda rough romps had

made the song so enjoyable last May, but this came pretty close to what I

would call a perfect version!

LIKE A ROLLING STONE

Again, a great performance, with the same engery that had fired  up the

song the night before. More flirting, and now - at long last - some nice

guitar licks from Charlie. Larry broke a string and managed to change

guitars halfway through the song.

IF DOGS RUN FREE (acoustic)

Obviously a perfect choice for a JAZZ festival, I liked it better than in

Braunschweig. The highlight was an extended solo by Larry, who got his

first and only chance to shine on this song.

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER

Rocked, rocked, rocked! Again, the first verse was repeated after the solo

parts.

KNOCKIN‘ ON HEAVENS DOOR (acoustic)

With Charlie on electric guitar. I still love the new arrangement, even

though it wasn’t as well done as in Braunschweig. Charlie didn’t play his

Leslie „organ solo“ and he missed the cue for a couple of lines as well,

thus making this a bit of a confused version.

HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED

More of what you expect from this song.

BLOWIN‘ IN THE WIND (acoustic)

And still more of what we already knew... Then they stood in formation for

a few seconds as usual, Bob took a few bows, making some funny shadow

boxing moves and then they threatened us to leave. But in fact they didn’t

even leave the stage, as they turned around very soon to do another song.

With „Rainy Day“ used up in the mainset already, it was

CATS IN THE WELL

Again. It rocked, it was fun, it was a nice way to end a near perfect

show.

Actually it still kinda left me confused, because I didn’t expect that Bob

could get so angry at his band of seemingly perfect musicians. The setlist

obviously was a killer, probably the best I’ve ever heard/saw in person,

and some of the performances were just too good to be true, but some songs

suffered from the surprisingly weak performances by the backing band. So

although an excellent show, I think it‘s safe to say that I’ve seen better

Bob shows already. In a way it was like the Tramps show in 1999.

So what are my thoughts after seeing three Bob shows in 2001? I never got

to hear so many different songs in the space of just three dates (well

over forty!). The mixed up setlists took away a bit from the perfection of

the performances I guess, at least there were a lot more things happening

on stage – some on purpose, some seemingly not on purpose – than late last

year. Where this will lead Bob is anybody‘s guess. Despite the fact that

over all I was quite impressed with the three shows, I sold the tickets to

the two remaining shows in Germany that I intended to see at first. Never

done that before. If that is an indication of burnout onh my part or an

indication that Bob needs to change things even more to keep it really

exciting is up to you. I’ll see Big Star instead which should be special

as well.

Thanks to the touring crew – Gunter, Robert, Tim (and Regine), Janice, Joe

and Ray – for the free rides, the funny stories, the place to stay and

generally a great time as usual. Hope I managed to get across the vibes of

the show(s) without making too many mistakes, I had to rush these reviews

a bit. See y’all next time!

Carsten Wohlfeld