BOB DYLAN : OSLO 2022

 

Disc One (51:17)

  1. Intro
  2. Watching The River Flow
  3. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
  4. I Contain Multitudes
  5. False Prophet
  6. When I Paint My Masterpiece
  7. Black Rider
  8. My Own Version of You
  9. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
  10. Crossing The Rubicon

Disc Two (52:05)

  1. To Be Alone With You
  2. Key West (Philosopher Pirate)
  3. Gotta Serve Somebody
  4. I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You
  5. That Old Black Magic
  6. Bob Dylan thanks
  7. Mother of Muses
  8. Goodbye Jimmy Reed
  9. Band Introduction
  10. Every Grain of Sand

Label : Crystal Cat Records

Venue : Spectrum, Oslo, Norway

Recording Date : September 25 , 2022

Quality : Audience recording (A+)

Review (Collectors Music Reviews) : The Crystal Cat label have come back around again with two new shows from Bob Dylan’s ‘Rough And Rowdy’ tour of the continents. From the 7th of November, 2022 we have the Dublin show played at the 3Arena. Not surprisingly, the only show on the tour that features an instrumental cover of the traditional, ‘Oh Shenandoah’. The Oslo show at the Spektrum was unique in the fact that is was the only show where Dylan started the show on guitar, through, ‘Watching The River Flow’.

Concert Review (Norway Posts English) : Dylan’s so-called “never ending tour” can now come to an end. “The Rough And Rowdy Ways World Tour” will last until 2024! The Oslo audience gets 100 minutes during a concert that gets better and better almost song by song. When he visited Bergen (and a few days later Oslo) in June 2019, it certainly felt more like a jam than a concert with talented musicians. That’s how it is in Oslo Spektrum tonight too. It rattles off and occasionally sounds slightly sour. But – fortunately, it is gradually happening. The band and Bob play up and, as so often before, correct the overall impression. It’s almost a good thing that a band made up of such good musicians can “mess it up” at the start. That is to say, it takes an hour before they are as coordinated as they should be when they are called Tony Garnier, Don Herron, Bob Britt, Charley Drayton and Doug Lancio. The first two have played with Dylan for a number of years and should know him inside out. But there is always something reconciling about Dylan. Tonight he sings like I’ve never heard him before, clear and distinct and as far away from his occasional mumbling as you can get. Moreover, he talks more than he usually does, he wishes Oslo “good evening” and asks if he is saying it correctly – and follows up with an approved “thank you”.- before introducing the band. It seems that Dylan has become more open over the years and therefore more generous with his words. There is otherwise much that is not usual with a Dylan concert. You never know what you’re going to get. The fact that he practices a complete ban on photography has, on the other hand, become a habit, but the new move that all audience members must put their mobile phones in a bag with a lock that is opened after the concert will hopefully not be. More on that later. In 2019, old classics came in a row. This evening, Dylan & Co. focus on the – for now – last album, 2020’s fabulous “Rough And Rowdy Ways” (all but the 17-minute long “Murder Most Foul”), interspersed with a few older “good tunes”. The opening “Watching The River Flow” is, for example, over 50 years old, and the only rocker of the evening, “Good Serve Somebody”, has passed 40. There is no room for any “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” or “Like a Rolling Stone”, because, like the album, the concert is unusually blues-oriented. The evening’s sunny highlight is nevertheless the slow one “Key West (Philosopher Pirate)”. «If you lose your mind, you can find it there»sings Bob – and the approximately ten minutes the song lasts does not feel a single minute too long. Dylan has characterized himself as a “song and dance man”, but there is little dancing tonight – too! “Show” is not Dylan’s thing. The stage set-up is as simple as it can be, a reddish carpet that is lit in the same way throughout the concert. Dylan sits a bit withdrawn behind a piano, and the band of five is more visible than himself. In recent years, he has been more predictable when it comes to the songs he plays. With a few exceptions, he sticks to the same ones every night. The fact that he devotes so much space to “Rough and Rowdy Ways” is perhaps surprising, but it shows an artist who is actually looking ahead at the age of 81. It also shows an artist who writes better lyrics than in a long time, and in Spektrum tonight is it possible to hear every single word he “speaks”. As the concert progresses, it becomes like a festive moment to be reckoned with “Every Grain of Sand” as a perfect ending. Extra number? It’s not for Bob Dylan. Dylan does not make it easy for his audience. The photo ban is, to say the least, annoying for a press that wants to do a job and that thinks photos are an important part of a concert review. This time Dylan goes even further. Those of us who have been to concerts a lot in recent years have noticed that quite a few members of the audience seem more interested in filming, transferring or taking pictures on their mobile phone during the journey than experiencing the concert itself. Dylan, or perhaps just as much his management, has grown tired of this. Like a few other artists, he has therefore decided that no one will be allowed to bring their mobile phone or iPad into a concert. It works, because it is, with few exceptions, a mobile-free concert. But it goes without saying that it could become a problem for freedom of expression if everyone thinks like Dylan. But then I guess it’s like that there are slightly separate rules for His Bobness. That is why we are reviewing the concert even though we are strongly against the photography ban. And after all, he does as he pleases, and his concerts, with prices of up to NOK 1,500 for the best seats, are usually always sold out.

Concert Review (Boblinks) : The show started with Bob coming in and trying to play some electric guitar on Watching The River Flow but sits down at the piano after a long intro. He seemed irritated at the band during the first song and waved to them 3-4 times during the song as they didn´t play as he wanted. They sure stood on their toes during the rest of the show. I´ve never seen Tony so concentrated. The arrangements were almost the same as in the US this summer and little has changed on the setlist but I really liked that he had replaced Melancholy Mood for the much better Old Black Magic (but in the same time you can wonder why he doesn´t play one of his own songs instead). Bob is sometimes in a hurry to start singing while the band tries to catch him up and then he comes in that typical backbeat phrasing again. But he sings good in 2022 and plays the piano very well. Key West was lovely perfomed and I really enjoyed When I Paint My Masterpiece with just Bob Britt and Donnie Herron beside him on the stage. It is all carefully performed and a bit less intense than it was about a year ago. One wonders though how long he will be able to tour like this. There is nothing wrong with his singing and piano playing, but he almost can´t stand in front of his audience any longer and that is sad to see.