Bob Dylan is at first, nearly indistinguishable from his band; his voice is gravely and he mumbles lines so that the words are often inaudible. Fans who come to hear their favourite tunes from records at home would indeed be disappointed. But as Dylan’s ‘never - ending tour’ of 20 years continues, so do his sold out shows for whom Dylan is still a counter cultural icon from years gone by. The show on 18th November at the NEC was by no means an extravaganza. The stage was relatively small and for those of us sitting nearer the back, there was a lack of side-screens. I tried to close my eyes and soak up the music, visualising Dylan’s civil rights performance in Washington in 1963, but nothing I was hearing resembled the images in my mind. Constant reinventions There in itself is the beauty and travesty of Bob Dylan today. His brilliance is in the constant reinvention of his work, changing, playing with the melodies; and yet these characteristics are the ones alienating him from his audiences, who derive little pleasure from concert song-versions they can’t follow and lyrics they can’t hear. The concert opened with ‘Maggie’s Farm’ and a voice textured with the gravel tones of Tom Waits. Although initially disconcerted, I soon found the depth of his voice soothing and beckoning. The audience cheered desperately for any recognisable sign of the Dylan they were familiar with. His harmonica playing is still savoured and although his delivery of ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ seemed little recognisable in tune, hearing the words emerge from Dylan’s mouth seemed powerful enough to generate thrills of excitement. Lacking warmth Dylan does not introduce songs, nor speak to his fans during the performance and, in doing so distances himself from his eager spectators. He is there to do one thing only - sing his songs in the way he connects to them best at that moment, and seems little bothered whether the audience likes it or not. The concert lacked any atmosphere until the encore when it finally felt like someone had breathed life into the arena and Dylan performed ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ much to the appreciation of devoted fans. Iconic status With an audience as diverse as the concert itself, ranging from middle aged couples to marijuana smoking twenty-somethings, Dylan proved that he still holds the iconic status for which he has been revered for the span of his career. Seeing him perform in the flesh, sharing the same air space as this once revolutionary musician is more than likely the reason he still draws such immense crowds. Despite my initial disappointments, at the end of the show, I thought I heard Dylan say something to the effect of recognising that the concert had taken place in Birmingham. Perhaps I imagined it, but I would like to believe he did acknowledge that he was actually here as a small token of his awareness for local fans, who know how sparse his spoken words really are. Dylan gives a totally genuine, raw and unscripted performance - entirely original and evolving every single time. Leigh Gower, site user. ============== Ben Macnair gives a second opinion Pop music’s first unofficial poet laureate Bob Dylan played the latest date in his never-ending tour, when he played to a sold out NEC Arena audience. Backed by a talented band, the dapper, behatted 60 something tore into one of the finest back catalogues in rock and pop history. The famously uncommunicative troubadour covered a lot of ground, from his first hits in the 1960’s, to songs from his last album, all of a uniformly high quality. The concert started with the blues boogie of ‘Maggie’s Farm’ and continued with many more of his songs. His voice has always been something of an acquired taste, but within the context of this band they seemed to fit in with his vision of ‘that wild mercury sound’. Dylan played keyboard as opposed to his more usual guitar, which was largely inaudible for the concert, with only irregular blasts on the harmonica that along with his voice, is one of his most recognisble musical signatures. Dylan stood side onto the audience, and barely paid attention to us, didn’t thank the audience for their applause, or introduce songs as they were played. The band sounded very good though, and Dylan sounded like he was having fun playing. Martin Scorsese’s recent documentary about Dylan will have done a lot to resurrect Dylan’s legend, and perhaps have alerted a much younger audience and generation to his work. Some of his more famous songs, such as ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ received a new reggae treatment, and loud audience applause, as did other songs such as the brooding ‘Ballad of a Thin Man’ and his older songs such as ‘Watching the River Flow’ and ‘Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again’. Newer songs such as ‘Honest with Me’ and ‘Summer Day’s finished the set, whereas older songs such as ‘The Times they are a-changing’ ‘Love Minus Zero No Limit’ ‘It’s all over now baby blue’, ‘I Shall Be Released’ and ‘Don’t think twice’ where conspicuous by their absence, and would have fitted in with the set a lot more. After a set that lasted nearly two hours, the band encored with an incendiary reading of ‘Like a Rolling Stone’. It was enough to please most people, except for the die-hard fans who criticise him for going electric, and yet don’t understand that it was what he wanted to do, and as the writer of these songs, had the right to do it as well. Ben Macnair, site user. | 
