Have you seen Bob Dylan and was he any good?

[Funky_monks]

Bob Dylan Ruined my 40th!

We all went to see him as a birthday present for my dad - must have been for his 40th, which would have made me 8 or 9. I'd heard my dad play his records and sung along with him in the living room. I refused to believe it was the same person. I think we left early, my dad, a lifelong Dylan fan trying not to look truly dissapointed with his birthday treat.

 

[ice-is-forming]

saw him at a 'secret$spontanious' gig at the 100 club umm 1978,? was shit.

 

[scooter]

cool, that was during the religious period. He probably played loads of Jesus songs. Even Dylan's religious albums are quite good (as religious albums go).

In fact, he's never made an actual bad album. There was one album he made which he deliberately tried to make shit - filled it with loads of cheesy country cover songs in order to get rid of all the mad fans and the "messiah" shit - but even that's actually quite a good album, if you're in the right mood.

 

[YouSir]

Saw him a few years back, was average, shit by what you'd hope for from him though.

 

[Kaka Tim]

Best time I saw him was back in '84. A classic Dylan gig - Just Dylan, stood at the front with acoustic guitar/harmonica combo playing all the greats - Tangled up in Blue, Desolation Row everything. Truly a holy experience.

From what I've heard though, he's got arthritis so he can't do that anymore. That's why he sits at the piano.

Still, it doesn't matter whether he's good or bad. Just being in the same room as the great one is worth the admission fee. I'd pay the admission fee to have him shit on my head.

your attitude is exaclty why Dylan has been able to get away with his half arsed, badly played live performances for the past 20 (30?) years.

He treats his audience with contempt - and that doesn't bother you?

 

[bluestreak]

I've never met anyone that's seen Bob Dylan do a good gig.

He was bloody awful when I saw him.

Ditto. Saw him at Wembley around the turn of the century. Fucking awful.

 

[grimble]

Saw him at Brixton a couple of years ago - he stood with his back to the audience playing keyboards. My mate and I played "can you guess what it is yet?", and sometimes, by the end of a song you could work out that it was "visions of johanna" (although it may not have been). We left early. Glad to have ticked off a legend (sad as that is) but it was utter rubbish.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

I've got a mate who is a serious Dylan fan/collector. I haven't seen him for a few years, but the last time I remember him coming back from a Dylan gig saying that it was fantastic was (I'm pretty sure) summer 1984.

 

[seeformiles]

I saw him at Glastonbury (in 1998?) - he was on near the end of the festival when the rain had stopped at all the mud was turning into hard clay. He wasn't too bad as I remember but he'd nearly died about 6 months before so maybe he had an excuse. What pissed me off more about that gig is that he refused to let himself be projected on the big screens so he remained a speck on the horizon throughout.

 

[belboid]

seen him three times. he was poor once, but great the other two times.

he turns up. plays songs he wants to, in styles he wants to. some of those bear almost no resemblance to the original version, and sometimes they're rubbish, but sometimes they're magnificent.

he's bob dylan, he can do whatever he fucking well likes.

 

[Paul Russell]

Saw him two or three years ago. He was fucking dreadful. The band was great and all that but he just can't sing at all any more, the melodies of the songs were pretty much gone in favour of a sort of hurried, atonal wheezing sound

It's funny how all the really diehard Dylan fans say that he's re-interpreting his songs when, well on the occasion I saw him, he just makes them sound all the same.

Thing is, I think he went through a long period of treating his audience with contempt but more recently he does seem to care about the concerts but he just doesn't have any voice left to do the songs justice...

 

[nino_savatte]

1978 at Blackbush Airport, and he was excellent. The rest of the bill was good too - Eric Clapton (about whom I was sceptical, but who rocked), Graham Parker and the Rumour, Joan Armatrading and Merger.

I was there! I also saw him at Earl's Court months earlier and he was ever so tiny (because I was sitting right at the back).

 

[danny la rouge]

Yup, saw him in St James park, and he was terrible. Absolute garbage: Distant, unengaged, going through the motions. Every song could have been just about any other song. He may have barked the odd syllable between songs, but it was clear he couldn't give a toss.

It wasn't cheap either, so I never repeated the experience.

 

[Roadkill]

I have to say, much as I'm glad I've seen Bob Dylan, I don't think I'd go again. I was a bit apprehensive about seeing him in 2002 because he can be very patchy live and I thought it might be a huge disappointment. I must have caught him on a good night, though, because it's still one of the best gigs I've been to. However, his voice is deteriorating as he gets older, by all accounts he's not the performer he once was (and back in the 60s and 70s he was astoundingly good), and I can't help thinking another gig wouldn't be as good. I think it's great that he's still going despite his health problems and advancing years, and his last few studio albums have been very good, but I'm happy not to see him live again.

 

[fractionMan]

I saw him at glastonbury and he was ace.

Nothing quite like dancing around to rainy day women in the pissing rain imo.

 

[fractionMan]

he's bob dylan, he can do whatever he fucking well likes.

this

 

[Fedayn]

he's bob dylan, he can do whatever he fucking well likes.

Which, I hope, is that he fucks off, stops whining that fucking nasally whine he calls a voice and takes a vow of fucking silence for the rest of his whining fucking life.

 

[William of Walworth]

Mine was Glastonbury. It was horrible.

Presumably 1998, he was utterly dire wasn't he? Scarely audible and completely incomprehensible. We gave him 4 'songs', then escaped rapidly to the Cider Bus which was considerably more entertaining

To be fair I also saw him at the Brixton Academy in 1994, and to my surprise to be honest, he gave a pretty good show then.

 

[danny la rouge]

this

Not if it means over-charging for a heap of shite and thinking that's just fine.

I went right off him after that gig. (Early 80s).

He has recorded some fine music, but if he thinks being an arrogant cock who just deserves my money whatever he does is OK, he can fuck off.

 

[William of Walworth]

I saw him at Glastonbury (in 1998?) - he was on near the end of the festival when the rain had stopped at all the mud was turning into hard clay. He wasn't too bad as I remember but he'd nearly died about 6 months before so maybe he had an excuse. What pissed me off more about that gig is that he refused to let himself be projected on the big screens so he remained a speck on the horizon throughout.

He was awful!

I'd forgotten about him being seriously ill a while before, but even so ....

 

[William of Walworth]

I saw him at glastonbury and he was ace.

Nothing quite like dancing around to rainy day women in the pissing rain imo.

Were you on drugs AND cider??

 

[marty21]

I was there! I also saw him at Earl's Court months earlier and he was ever so tiny (because I was sitting right at the back).

you're older than i thought, or very young to go to a gig 31 years ago!