There is a long instrumental intro by the band tonight, before Dylan arrives at the stage and at the piano, start singing “To Be Alone With You”, at thunderous applause from the audience. He has been walking that lonesome valley, but his mortal bliss is to be alone with us, or so it seems. He has made up his mind to give himself to us. He opened up his heart to the world, and the world came in. We can play with the intertextuality of his work and world literature, as well as with the intertextuality between his songs. There’s always a Bob Dylan song, for every occasion. Or so it seems.
The band is tight from the get-go, the new guitarists a perfect fit to the version of Dylan he wants us to meet this fall. With the hood over his head and in the yellow stage light, it almost seems like he has his Bob Dylan mask on, deeply concentrated on the song and the singing, leading the band with small gestures with hands and eyebrows, still teaching them how he want the songs to be played, sometimes by demonstrative hammering of the rhythm, like in “Man in the long black coat”, “I Can Tell” and “Crossing the Rubicon” – midways in the last one he is shaking his head and mumbling “Jeeses!!”, not totally satisfied with the drums.
“I Can Tell” was the only cover tonight, against the five from Saturday in Oslo. Six other songs was presented tonight, fulfilling all the grumpy wishes for him to get more of Dylan’s own songs. A great “It Ain’t Me, Babe”, with harmonica, followed a disturbing version of “Man In The Long Black Coat”, Dylan stood up an sat down several times, as he had to to drink from his cup more than once in some of the verses. At one point I was seriously worried that something was wrong, but fortunately, whatever it was, it didn’t last. After another fine “Trying To Get To Heaven”, the start of “False Prophet” got a warm welcome from the crowd, a strong and powerful performance tonight. Even more so, ” Black Rider” followed “I Can Tell”, and, for me, was one of the highlights of the show in Gothenburg. A beautiful version, with all its ups and downs, from “My heart is at rest, I’d like to keep it that way,” to “My soul is distressed, my mind is at war”.
“Tangled up in Blue” is as wonderful as it was in Oslo, with some other changes in lyrics, this time mixed up with some earlier versions, more or less planned I guess. The “book of poems” wasn’t involved, “Some are matematicians” was mentioned. The performance seemed to move the whole crowd, cheering after each verse and very much so after the song was finished. Even more applause followed after a swinging “When I Paint My Masterpiece”, I looked back from my place in the middle of second row, and could see the silent dance of the audience, from side to side in their seats. Then it happened, the absolute greatest highlight of the night, at least if was for me, the most heart-breaking version of “Girl From The North Country”, once more appearing in Gothenburg and Sweden, feeding the speculation about Echo Helstroem as at least one of the inspirations for that special song. Tonight it is a slow ballad, like it was in Trädgårdsforeningen in Gothenburg 2014. Every one of them words rang true. It brought tears to my eyes. Not only mine, as I could observe.
The most surprising addition to the set might have been “Spirit On The Water”, starting slow before the swing kicked in. A fine version, complete with the great finale, cheered by a “nooooooo” or two from the audience:
“You think I’m over the hill
You think I’m past my prime
Let me see what you got
We can have a whoppin’ good time”
And it really was a whoppin’ good time in Gothenburg. A fabulous version of “Under The Red Sky” followed, with beautiful guitar by the guitarist who is not Joel Paterson, and that most likely is Mike Seal (!?), extraordinary great solos tonight, receiving well deserved applaus and cheers from the audience. Joel Paterson is rock solid, but tonight the other one was the one really shining, smiling lucky every time Dylan nods his appreciation in his direction, Dylan even throwing him a smile at the end of some of the songs – lots of communication between those two tonight. Great choices of guitarists, one more time, and perfect for this setlist of songs.
Even if “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You” is one of Dylan’s newest songs, the audience receives it like it is a classic from the start, Dylan’s timing and phrasing lifts the lyrics to the sky. Last night I thought it maybe was the time to let “Goodbye, Jimmy Reed” go, but what a difference two days kan make, a great version, Dylan in top mood, and actively addressing the audience with both smiles, moves and small dance steps behind the piano. Great stuff!
As in Oslo, a very touching and tender rendition, with a little harmonica playing, of “I Shall Be Released”, is the show closer – or NOT! After a humble Dylan leaves the piano, his hand to the heart, even clapping to the audience, and leaves us all behind for a short while, he rewards the ovation by coming back for a wonderful and touching “Every Grain of Sand”. After the song he once more steps forward, acknowledging the audience and their important part in such a night, once more applauding them with his hands and nods. Then he’s gone into the night, once again headin’ for another joint, this time in Horsens, Denmark.
Johnny Borgan
