Tuesday, January 18, 2011

hard times in new york town: bob dylan @ terminal 5 X 3 (november, 2010)

okay straight up i am not a big bob dylan fan. but we seem to gravitate towards each other.

like for example in 2008 when i found this great basement record store in the village at the back of West 4th subway (that had been there for 30 years and was closing in 3 weeks) and along with the 7"'s i bought the guy accidently included a 12" which happened to be this bob dylan bootleg:

 
btw it says "robert zimmerman" on the back!
i didnt steal it though. i told him and i came back to buy it (i got 30% off too)

and now i happen to be in new york for 8 days and he happens to be playing 3 shows. so i went to all 3 shows to see what all the fuss was about. 


ok so they were military about cameras. so because i had to be kinda ninja with the snaps i dont have great photos. and i dont have many photos. but i think a couple are enough.
what was surprising was his voice was pretty bad. he literally sounded like scooby doo. like that raspy-breathless-exhale sound which unfortunately rendered all the songs monotonous. he tried. and he got better over the nights. and it was nice to see him. especially in a small room (3000 people) but i just saw leonard cohen and i was unfortunately expecting more. 

but after all of that... it was very endearing. he might have sounded pretty shit (some may argue he has always been a shit singer) but everyone was singing along (he played like a rolling stone and jolene!) and it redeemed him considerably. i mean, love tends to do that.

i was jealous. what made him play 3 small shows and not one big one when his voice wasnt 100%? could it be that he wanted to give his fans a chance to see him intimately (relatively)? wow. i mean i heard he could be quite a jerk but i mean that's pretty sweet right?

im 23 and i have seen bob dylan 3 times in a crowd of no more than 3000 people. he's coming to australia to play venues that hold 15,000.

alright as i said i am not a bob dylan fan but www.brooklynvegan.com know their shit and have setlists for all 3 nights if you're curious. 


few more photos below!


 
bob dylan and donnie herron
 

 
tony garnier and charlie sexton
 


i really like this background effect. it's like there's this mirror reflecting the stage on the back wall. (fyi george receli on drums)


i like this background effect too. it really suited him. i mean it's nice. nothing too grotesque. and smart. both are pretty clever. nice.

XoDeo

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