Wednesday 26 October 2022

Tour Diary Part 1: London Palladium, 23rd and 24th October 2022

 


I was lucky enough to be in the audience at the last two shows of Bob Dylan's London Palladium residency. Here are some thoughts about what I heard and saw...

23rd October


If I had to use one word to describe this show, I would say “absorbing”. It took a few songs to find the groove, but, much like a David Simon TV drama, it gradually pulled you in. The first four songs were good (I particularly loved watching Bob leaning into the microphone, one arm draped over the top of his upright piano, delivering a tender ‘I Contain Multitudes’), but things really started to fall into place on ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’. 

When I saw this song performed in New Orleans earlier this year it didn’t make much of an impression on me. Here, however, it came alive. The musicians transformed into an old-time southern mountain string band straight off a 1950s Folkways album: Bob Britt switched to acoustic guitar, Donnie Herron picked up his fiddle and Tony Garnier played double bass. Drummer Charley Drayton, meanwhile, largely sat the song out, springing into action here and there to add the occasional percussion flourish.

Speaking of Charley: you need to see him play the drums on ‘Black Rider’ if you haven’t already. Frankly, I’m not entirely sure “playing the drums” is an accurate description of what he does here. He has a box of percussion devices that he dips into throughout the song, including what appeared to be a pearl necklace that he dragged across the cymbals. This man is a master of his craft: you could spend the entire show watching only him and go home a happy customer.

The success of ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’ set the tone for the rest of the evening, in that (from my perspective at least) the older tunes were the highlights of the set. ‘To Be Alone With You’ had a great gospel style intro, with Bob playing solo piano before the band shifted the song into the acoustic stringband format from ‘Masterpiece’. 

‘Gotta Serve Somebody’, which also features a solo piano intro, highlighted how important the visuals are to these shows, featuring some dramatic moments where guitarist Doug Lancio – who up to this point had been rooted to the spot directly behind Dylan – suddenly rushed centre stage to trade guitar riffs with Britt. ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’ was also warmly received, morphing from another solo piano introduction to a rocking middle section, and then into a slow blues finale.

All three of these songs had a real gospel flavour to them. Standing behind the piano, Bob now resembles a John Bunyan-esque preacher holding forth from the pulpit.

‘Every Grain of Sand’, while not quite on the level of the rendition I saw in New Orleans, was a fitting end to the show. As Bob sang, I could see his left hand crawling across the top of the piano towards his tray of harmonicas. Would he play it? Yes! And he really played – I’ve seen shows where the harmonica playing felt like more of a gesture than anything else, but this powerful, heartfelt solo was the real deal.

Let’s talk about the Rough and Rowdy Ways songs. They were performed well, but – except for ‘Black Rider’, which was excellent – I got the impression that Bob was struggling to get into them on this night. ‘Key West’ in particular felt a little off: Bob stumbled over the words at the beginning and never seemed to entirely get the song back on track. ‘False Prophet’ still felt like it was adjusting to its recent rearrangement, and ‘Crossing the Rubicon’ had been toned down compared to the huge, lumbering monster I witnessed in New Orleans. Having said that, it was fascinating to watch Dylan wrestle with these songs and try to find a way into them.

As Bob stood centre stage at the end of the show, I got the feeling he might have been slightly frustrated with his performance. This is the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour after all: those songs are presented as centrepieces, and for them to be overshadowed by the older material may have bothered Dylan. It was something he would seek to rectify the following night.



24th October



I knew this was going to be a very different show just from the manner of Dylan's arrival. Before the lights had even gone down, or the sound man had time to cue the intro music, Bob strode onto the stage looking like a man on a mission, followed by his band. They looked like a bunch of 1930s gangsters on their way to carry out a mob hit.

Once the music started, things were again different from the previous night. Like the day before, we got a quiet piano overture from Bob, followed by Bob Britt cueing Charley into ‘Watching the River Flow’, but this time Dylan remained seated behind the piano, the lights still down while the band jammed and we (both audience and band) waited for him to start singing.

But he didn’t - at least not for a while. Instead, he spun around and beckoned Doug Lancio to come closer to him. This led to the strange yet thrilling sight of Lancio playing a solo while literally leaning over Dylan’s shoulder, just inches away from him. The interaction between the two became one of the themes of the night: Bob would suddenly turn and point to Doug, who would oblige with a deft, restrained solo. Watching this play out reminded me of how Dylan would single out Freddy Koella when he was a guitarist in the band, and I really hope Bob’s connection with Doug continues in this direction.

The entire show felt as though Bob had sat in his hotel room and reviewed a tape of the previous night’s performance, identifying areas for improvement. Whereas that concert had taken a while to start cooking, on this night Bob was razor sharp from the beginning. He also seemed to be on a mission to ensure that the Rough and Rowdy Ways songs were the standout tracks: ‘I Contain Multitudes’ swelled beautifully, ‘False Prophet’ finally found its feet in the new arrangement, and by the spooky double header of ‘Black Rider’ and ‘My Own Version of You’, you could tell that Dylan knew he was on a roll.

‘Crossing the Rubicon’ also came across better than it had done the previous night, and highlighted another striking aspect of the show: Dylan’s unconventional piano playing. It struck me during this concert that Dylan’s piano is the main rhythmic instrument in the band, more so even than the drums or bass. Everyone onstage is following Bob, and he leads with his piano.

As I mentioned before, I felt that 'Key West' – with its relatively new, ultra-minimalist arrangement - hadn’t quite worked on the 23rd. On the 24th, however, it was nothing less than sublime. To listen to this performance was to fall under the spell of a master storyteller, and the hushed atmosphere in the theatre as Bob went into full ‘Shakespearean soliloquy mode’ was something to behold. 

The momentum continued with excellent, tenderly sung versions of ‘I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You’ and ‘Mother of Muses’ (which featured an extended intro that sounded to me like the traditional ‘Shenandoah’), plus a strong ‘Goodbye Jimmy Reed’ on which Bob once again sought out the lead guitar services of Doug Lancio.

All the older songs were well performed, but with this concert they resumed their intended place as supporting actors rather than the stars of the show. Once again, I loved ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’ and the accompanying theatrics from the guitarists, and Bob also delivered an excellent performance of the standard ‘That Old Black Magic’ (which, incidentally, is the only song remaining in the setlist from the first time I saw him at the Palladium in 2017). We were treated to another virtuoso harmonica solo at the end of Every Grain of Sand – plus Bob playfully singing the first two lines of ‘Friend of the Devil’ at the start of the song – and that, it seemed, was that.

But it wasn’t! As you have doubtless already heard, Bob’s final bow was greeted by an incredible standing ovation which never abated, leading to him and the band returning for not one but two extended curtain calls. It looked like he was tempted to play another song, but eventually decided against it (possibly because the crew had already removed the guitars and some of the amps from the stage).

I don't think I've ever witnessed an outpouring of love from an audience to a performer quite like this, and Dylan appeared moved. The message being transmitted by both parties was clear: nobody has to ask Bob Dylan how he feels about this town, and nobody has to ask this town how it feels about Bob Dylan.

You can find parts 2 and 3 of my tour diary on Ray Padgett's Bob Dylan newsletter Flagging Down the Double E's:

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