BOB DYLAN : HONOLULU 2014

 

Disc One (48:35)

  1. Things Have Changed
  2. She Belongs To Me
  3. Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
  4. What Good Am I?
  5. Waiting For You
  6. Duquesne Whistle
  7. Pay In Blood
  8. Tangled Up In Blue
  9. Love Sick

Disc Two (58:31)

  1. High Water (For Charley Patton)
  2. Simple Twist Of Fate
  3. Early Roman Kings
  4. Forgetful Heart
  5. Spirit On The Water
  6. Scarlet Town
  7. Soon After Midnight
  8. Long And Wasted Years
  9. All Along The Watchtower
  10. Blowin' In The Wind

Label : no label

Venue : Neal S. Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Recording Date : April 29, 2014

Quality : Audience Recording (A+)

Review : Wonderful audience recording of Dylan's passage at Honolulu in April 2014.

Concert Review (Bob Links) : Susan and I were lucky enough to be in the audience for the Honolulu show. I loved it. The crowd loved it. I won’t go into a song by song analysis here since all of you are maybe a bit too familiar with the set list by now. Just some impressions. The show begins with the lights going dark, the NBC chimes are heard, and then Stu enters wonderfully riffing on the acoustic guitar like heat lightening on the horizon – or as I heard in a song once –like the stillness in the wind before the hurricane begins. I love this new intro to the shows. I’m also glad the somewhat under-utilized Stu gets a chance to show off a bit. The sound 12 rows or so back, in the center, is great throughout the show. I keep marveling how this is as good as any acoustics I’ve heard for any show I can remember. And a good thing too, because the show is very strong for its lyrics, delivery, color, atmospherics. Not a rock-and-roll show really. A bit subdued by that measure. But rich in its other measures. The crowd is a smart crowd. Very appreciative of the moment. And they seem to know all the new songs quite well! He has their attention – for the most part anyway, there’s always the chirp and the chatter of the people who come to talk non-stop during the songs. (If you want to talk with each other or just hear your own voice, go to a coffee shop and save a hundred dollars – that’s the advice I hear from Ed. Great advice.) By midway through the show the crowd has learned what to expect on this night, and they seem quite happy to be there. During the show I’m thinking how things have come full circle with Bob (though the wheel’s still in spin). His very early career – before picking up the electric guitar - is all lyrics, delivery, atmosphere, and story. And so it is tonight as well. And he never picks up the electric guitar; in fact it is no longer even on the stage. But the show contains well delivered killer Dylan-gems such as ScarletTown, Long and Wasted Years, and Forgetful Heart. All very recent songs. But it is the old Dylan, in both senses of that phrase. It is the old Dylan in the sense that it is lyric and atmospheric and acoustic, and it is now an old man’s writing and singing. The wisdom was always there, but it is richer now. Thank you Bob! Thanks for the opportunity to catch up with old friends. Thanks for getting us off our butts and to Hawaii (and why did we wait so long to do that? Damn its nice here.) And thanks for the great show. I’ve been to many of your superlative hard-core rocking shows. But this quiet show is one I’ll remember for a long time.