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Bob Dylan at Sheffield Arena - REVIEW
AN off-stage voice introduces him as a poet, a prophet, the victim of drug-fed indulgence.
And the clichs, the name-calling the faithful know Bob Dylan has spent a lifetime denying, is drowned out as the band meanders into life.
A prophet? A messiah? Nah! Just a guy who writes simple songs. And to prove it, he started the show with Under the Red Sky's Cat's in the Well, a nursery rhyme, a nonsense song in 12-bars.
The band lined up facing Bob and he held them in his gaze through two hours of the best, most compelling music Sheffield's heard in years.
It was as though he was the sorcerer (an illusion emphasised by the compass rose projected on to the stage floor) showing the way to his wayward apprentices. Then, he became a lion tamer, holding a pride of guitar wielding primitives in check.
Half the songs came from his last three albums (none from his newest, released today). They were performed pretty close to the recorded versions. Old classics (All Along the Watchtower, Like a Rolling Stone, It's Alright Ma, etc) were reworked so they belong in these modern times.
Some would prefer to hear the old favourites done the old way. But Dylan is never going to give us a Greatest Hits tour.
And his Sheffield Arena show showed why. There is still plenty of creative genius flowing through his veins. But a messiah? Well, the night closed with another denial of prophet-hood. He hasn't got the key to the world's woes. The answer is still blowin' in the wind...
What do you think? Add your comment below.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
