Seein' Bob
Went to the Bob Dylan concert at the Midland Theater last night. Also Merle Haggard, but that’s not the topic at present.
I have never been inclined to go to high dollar concerts by big name performers. People sometimes approach me in a moderate state of excitement and say something like. The famous “Famous Person” is playing here next week, you oughta’ go see him.” My standard response has always been, well OK, I like “Famous Person” some, and if he wants to stop by the house and pick a few tunes, I’ll buy some beer and snacks and invite some other folks over. However, I am not interested in spending $50 or $100 on a ticket to see and hear somebody who can’t actually sing that much better than I can.
That attitude has served me well and saved me a good deal of money and time. I have managed to see live performances by a fair number of famous persons at festivals or other places where the cost was minimal, and I have seen hundreds of live shows by not so famous persons who were very good. However, a combination of circumstances combinated to cause me to go see Bob. I had to go to Kansas City anyway for some work, I have always really liked Bob Dylan, I had never been to the Midland, and I had a chance to attend with some people that I like to hang out with. So I shelled out $50 for a cheap seat and went. Caught a break and actually got to sit in a much better seat than I paid for, so that part worked well.
As to the music, I saw 2 guitar players, bass player, drummer, and a multipurpose steel and violin player, all competent, none in any way inspired or inspiring. Your standard competent to pretty good rock band. Sound level was a bit too much for the acoustics of the hall, so everything tended to get mushy as it bounced around. Mostly the only way to determine that one song had ended and another started was that the crowd stood up and screamed.
As to Bob, he stood in one place, mostly in one position, played keyboard, occasionally blew a bit of harp, and sang. His vocals were lost in the mix to the degree that if you didn’t already know the song, you could not understand a word. That seems to me to be the ultimate screw up for a guy whose claim to fame is to be the greatest lyricist of the last 40 years. The show was mildly entertaining because and only because I knew that one of those guys down there in the black coast and hats was Bob Dylan.
So why was everybody standing up and screaming? Same reason I was mildly amused, because it was Bob Dylan and when he finishes a song at a live concert, you stand up and scream. No way in hell was anything else happening there that would inspire anybody to wild applause.
So was it worth it? Yeah, it was. I had a couple of drinks and a couple of laughs before and after the show, was impressed by the venue, and “saw Bob Dylan”. Would I go again? No way.
Got to thinking today, Dylan is enough of an artist that he must realize by now that that screaming applause after every blessed song means absolutely nothing other than that he is who he is. Part of performing is the bit of disappointment when you do something that you think is pretty decent and get only polite applause. That’s what makes it so great when something really goes down well and you get some serious hoots and hollers. Seems to me that a performer would get really cynical after a few years or no meaningful feedback from a concert audience. If it were me, I would likely stay in the bus until show time than go out and do my songs with no attempt to interact with the audience, then get back on the bus and get out of town with however many thousands of dollars. Which of course is what happened near as I can tell.
Haggard’s show was a lot better for what it is worth.
I have never been inclined to go to high dollar concerts by big name performers. People sometimes approach me in a moderate state of excitement and say something like. The famous “Famous Person” is playing here next week, you oughta’ go see him.” My standard response has always been, well OK, I like “Famous Person” some, and if he wants to stop by the house and pick a few tunes, I’ll buy some beer and snacks and invite some other folks over. However, I am not interested in spending $50 or $100 on a ticket to see and hear somebody who can’t actually sing that much better than I can.
That attitude has served me well and saved me a good deal of money and time. I have managed to see live performances by a fair number of famous persons at festivals or other places where the cost was minimal, and I have seen hundreds of live shows by not so famous persons who were very good. However, a combination of circumstances combinated to cause me to go see Bob. I had to go to Kansas City anyway for some work, I have always really liked Bob Dylan, I had never been to the Midland, and I had a chance to attend with some people that I like to hang out with. So I shelled out $50 for a cheap seat and went. Caught a break and actually got to sit in a much better seat than I paid for, so that part worked well.
As to the music, I saw 2 guitar players, bass player, drummer, and a multipurpose steel and violin player, all competent, none in any way inspired or inspiring. Your standard competent to pretty good rock band. Sound level was a bit too much for the acoustics of the hall, so everything tended to get mushy as it bounced around. Mostly the only way to determine that one song had ended and another started was that the crowd stood up and screamed.
As to Bob, he stood in one place, mostly in one position, played keyboard, occasionally blew a bit of harp, and sang. His vocals were lost in the mix to the degree that if you didn’t already know the song, you could not understand a word. That seems to me to be the ultimate screw up for a guy whose claim to fame is to be the greatest lyricist of the last 40 years. The show was mildly entertaining because and only because I knew that one of those guys down there in the black coast and hats was Bob Dylan.
So why was everybody standing up and screaming? Same reason I was mildly amused, because it was Bob Dylan and when he finishes a song at a live concert, you stand up and scream. No way in hell was anything else happening there that would inspire anybody to wild applause.
So was it worth it? Yeah, it was. I had a couple of drinks and a couple of laughs before and after the show, was impressed by the venue, and “saw Bob Dylan”. Would I go again? No way.
Got to thinking today, Dylan is enough of an artist that he must realize by now that that screaming applause after every blessed song means absolutely nothing other than that he is who he is. Part of performing is the bit of disappointment when you do something that you think is pretty decent and get only polite applause. That’s what makes it so great when something really goes down well and you get some serious hoots and hollers. Seems to me that a performer would get really cynical after a few years or no meaningful feedback from a concert audience. If it were me, I would likely stay in the bus until show time than go out and do my songs with no attempt to interact with the audience, then get back on the bus and get out of town with however many thousands of dollars. Which of course is what happened near as I can tell.
Haggard’s show was a lot better for what it is worth.
posted by tickmeister at 6:31 PM
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