CHARLES BABINGTON: Bob Dylan's coming to town. Go see him
Saturday, April 20, 2024 -- When you're Dylan's age, maybe you'll ask your grandkids, "Hey, did I tell you about the time I saw Bob Dylan?"
Posted — UpdatedHere’s my nearest claim to fame: I’ve seen Bob Dylan in concert in six different decades.
The most recent was in April at the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans. The first was the best: Charlotte in 1974, when I was a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill. His backup group was The Band. (Yes, The Band!)
In between, I’ve seen Dylan every few years in Texas, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and other places. I’ve seen him in huge arenas and minor league baseball stadiums; in iconic rock’n’roll venues like the 9:30 Club in D.C.; and in unglamorous places like the parking lot of the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland.
I’m a Dylan fan, not fanatic. I don’t own all of his 40 studio albums. I don’t know all his 600-plus songs. I’ve passed up countless chances to see him in concert, because he tours almost non-stop.
I’m weary of the “Dylan can’t sing” trope. I like the way he sang most of his career (admittedly it has fallen off in recent years). But you don’t have to like his voice. There are thousands of great covers.
What’s stranger to me is the near-exclusive focus on his lyrics. “The poet of his generation!” Yes, he totally deserved that 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. But why so little attention to his fabulous melodies and arrangements? Show me an artist who has composed a greater, more varied body of tunes that rock, gallop, saunter, haunt, mystify and delight.
Of the dozen Dylan documentaries, the best are D.A. Pennebaker’s “Don’t Look Back,” and Martin Scorsese’s “No Direction Home.”
If you go to Dylan’s concert, a word of caution. Don’t expect to hear his greatest hits, or tunes you can hum along with (or even recognize in many cases). Don’t look for chitchat between songs. He typically says not a word, not even “hi” or “thanks.”
Truth is, you go to a Dylan concert these days not to hear him, but to see him and pay homage. That seems fair. He gave us “Lay Lady Lay,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “The Times They Are A-Changin’” and a gazillion other great songs.
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.