BOB DYLAN : MELBOURNE 2007 SECOND EVENING

 

Disc One (50:15)

  1. Intro
  2. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
  3. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
  4. Watching The River Flow
  5. Just Like A Woman
  6. Rollin' And Tumblin'
  7. When The Deal Goes Down
  8. Highway 61 Revisited
  9. Blind Willie McTell

Disc Two (66:21)

  1. My Back Pages
  2. Honest With Me
  3. Spirit On The Water
  4. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
  5. Ain't Talkin'
  6. Summer Days
  7. I Believe In You
  8. Thunder On The Mountain
  9. All Along The Watchtower

Label : no label

Venue : Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia

Recording Date : August 19, 2007

Quality : Audience recording (A+)

Review : Bob played 2 shows in a row at The Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. This is an excellent recording of the second show.

Concert Review (Bob Links) : The one thing that can be said for Rod Laver Arena as a concert venue is that it is never as bad as one thinks it will be. The same could be said for Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat. Unlike one member of the crowd on the “Fifth Time Around” (Hammersmith 1993) bootleg, I could never find Don't Think Twice, It's All Right boring. It remains a personal favourite and the country lilt provided a brief excursion from the swamp. Watching The River Flow makes me think of Leon Russell. Is this a good or bad thing? Just Like A Woman was superb. Dylan used his ability to mismatch the vocal with the intended metre to perfection. Rollin' And Tumblin' and When The Deal Goes Down echoed their album positions and provided an ebullient introduction to the ‘new’ album. Highway 61 Revisited was another vocal highlight. Blind Willie McTell could never disappoint. This masterpiece most closely resembles its studio version. Maybe even Dylan can’t bring himself to tamper with this one, which was an undoubted highlight and welcome surprise. My Back Pages has mercifully ceased to bear any resemblance to the all-star version. This time it was slow and beautifully sung. I was impressed that Dylan managed to transform the relatively recent Honest With Me, as he does his older songs. A good, but not great, version. Spirit On The Water. Thoroughly enjoyable. I could live without Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again. Do we really need a third track from Blonde on Blonde? Ain't Talkin'. Another solid Modern Times track. Summer Days is another personal favourite. I was anticipating this one and it did not let me down. The band was in full “Three Little Bops” mode. As a firm atheist I believe the only good thing to come out of religion is Slow Train Coming. I Believe In You was another (mild) surprise, and a welcome one. The audience could just as easily be directing this song at Dylan. Thunder On The Mountain was probably the best of the Modern Times tracks of those delivered tonight. The one thing I can say about All Along The Watchtower is that it is not “Blowin’ in the Wind”. Still, it was an okay version and it kept the bogans happy. I am from the ‘be happy with what you get’ school with Dylan, and I was. But my one big complaint was the drummer. Like cricket umpires, drummers are doing their job best when they remain unnoticed. This makes George Recile the drumming equivalent of Ian Howell. For those who this analogy (understandably) eludes, this is not a good thing. I am looking forward to the 50th anniversary tour!