KEY POINTS:
Music icon Bob Dylan played Christchurch last night on his tour of New Zealand.
Here is what fans can expect:
Here is what he played in Christchurch:
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Watching the River Flow
It's Alright, Ma, (I'm only Bleeding)
Workingman's Blues #2
Rollin' and Tumblin'
Just Like a Woman
Lonesome Day Blues
Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
Tangled up in Blue
Spirit on the Water
Highway 61 Revisited
When the Deal goes Down
Summer Days
Masters of War
Thunder on the Mountain
All Along the Watchtower
What he is played on his other tour dates
Picking a Dylan set list is always hard. The man has recorded some 32 albums, with his song list running into the hundreds.
At the same time, he likes to keep audiences guessing.
But on his 2007 tour he has tended to stick to a core of songs, many from his latest album, Modern Times.
In his recent concerts in the US and Europe he has been most likely to play:
Thunder on the Mountain (Modern Times)
Ain't Talkin' (Modern Times)
Rollin' and Tumblin' (Modern Times)
Workingman's Blues #2 (Modern Times)
When the Deal goes Down (Modern Times)
Summer Days (Love and Theft)
Highway 61 Revisited (Highway 61 Revisited)
Rainy Day Women #12 and 35 (Blonde on Blonde)
Masters of War (The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan)
All Along the Watchtower (John Wesley Harding)
Cats in the Well (Under the Red Sky)
Lay Lady Lay (Nashville Skyline)
Blowin' in the Wind (The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan)
What reviewers have said about the concerts:
Mr. Dylan and his band - the one that backed him on Modern Times - arrived in black suits and black hats, and for the first few songs Mr. Dylan played electric guitar before moving to electric organ. He was unsmiling and intent on the music. The frog rarely leaves his throat nowadays, but his vocal lines are as improvisational as ever, swerving onto or around the beat. And he uses his gruffness both playfully and bitterly, sometimes dropping to a pitiless, sepulchral bass.
- New York Times (Bethel, New York concert)
Dylan's singing, which in the past has forensically examined every melodic crevice of his creations, with phrasing and invention that equalled Sinatra or Coltrane, is tonight just a series of staccato statements, for as the band ignores the arrangements, so Dylan all but ignores the melodies. This adds to the evidence that Dylan needs a great lead guitarist as a catalyst to his musical explorations, no Robbie Robertson, Mick Ronson, Fred Tackett, G.E. Smith or Charlie Sexton tonight, only these inept guitar hacks looking and sounding like washed up back room bagmen from the Bada Bing. If there's an original idea out there, they sure could use it now.
- Blogcritics Magazine (Birmingham concert)
Bob Dylan was obviously digging the funky outdoor Bluesfest atmosphere last night. Unlike his claustrophobic showing at Scotiabank Place in November, Dylan strutted front and centre and actually faced his audience of 25,000 partiers. Well, okay, maybe that wasn't the only surprising thing about Dylan's show. The 67-year-old troubadour was also in terrific voice as he tore through a set of standards with youthful energy and elusive charisma. Fresh from his standout performance Wednesday night in Montreal, Dylan opened his second visit to the capital in less than a year with a set of four standards, Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35, Don't Think Twice, It's Alright, Watching the River Flow and It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), all with Dylan on guitar before moving to the keyboard for Tangled Up in Blue and Masters of War.
- Ottawa Sun (Bluesfest concert)
