@ Deer Valley Mountain Ski Resort, Park City UTAH Sunday, August 31, 2008.
Here's the setlist on that electrifying, stormy evening:
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Stuck Inside A Mobile w/the Memphis Blues Again
It's NoT DaRk yeT
DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALRIGHT
a MILLION miles
DESOLATION ROW
The Levee's Gunna Break
she belongs to me
Honest With Me
Simple Twist of FATE
HIGHWAY 61 Revisited
QUEEN JANE Approximately
THUNDER ON THE MOUNTAIN
LIKE A ROLLING STONE
Bob Dylan rocked our darned socks off. Damn that was a blazing blistering set to help a crowd withstand torrential rains, but no amount of bad weather could put a damper on Bob Dylan or his band's set this evening. They just seared their way through song after song — 15 in all, I think — yes, most likely a foreshortened set due to the inclement weather, but it just made songs like 'The Levee's Gunna Break' all the better.
The fact it all started with 'Rainy Day Women #12 & 35' was just perfect. My sweetheart and I were well-prepared this time for an outdoor lawn show. We bought these low-slung back-pack chairs and these 2 overlarge wicked windproof, rainbow-colored umbrellas so when the downpours came (and boy did they ever come) we were sittin' pretty high and dry. We had a bottle of very nice Sonoma county wine we'd been saving since last year's vacation, which we poured into these medieval metal goblets. We enjoyed sesame water crackers with goat cheese as well as some Greek and Chinese food. No sooner than Bob was singing 'Everybody Must Get Stoned' at the show's start in the rain did I begin to dance; this was not the slow rollicking beat with brass instruments version your Dad remembers, but more of a wicked fiery Hellbilly ride.
Bob loves nothing more than changing up the arrangement of his songs, and it was quite evident in the next song 'Stuck Inside A Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again', a much quicker and upbeat version which got me on my feet and dancing in no time flat. Bob's band really got into the swing of things. Before my mind could catch up with what was actually happening to us all, 'It's Not Dark Yet' began, and it was so pitch-perfect. It was a brisk and tense delivery of a heartfelt anthem and was really quite moving. Then the rain finally stopped, some clouds parted, and we spied a section of blue sky up there above the mountains. You gotta understand Deer Valley is a ski resort catering to the rich and, yes, famous. It is clear and beautiful up at that elevation. We were lucky the sun broke through because it would remain relatively sunny and dry for over the next hour and nine songs or so. Everyone began pouring their libations of wine and bringing out their fancy picnic meals and whatnot. Shasta and I broke out the gourmet dark chocolate w/bits of ginger in it and quaffed more red wine while Bob Dylan and his band began jamming out an intro to the next song, which struck a familiar chord yet was being played too fast to be immediately recognized. I started dancing my ass off to this song, and before I knew it, realized I was twisting to 'Don't Think Twice, It's Alright'!
It was then and there during this 5th song that a feeling of Awesomeness struck like a bolt of lightning from above, this was one of Bob's ON nights! Every song he played was uncut, and if anything, an extended version from the original. His band was ON it, jamming this unbelievable fusion of down home country ragtime, rock'n'roll, periodically injected with elements of swing, jazz, and Mississippi delta blues. Gone was the old folk element Dylan cut his teeth on; these here versions were fully electrified and transformed beyond their classic guises into something far more electric & dynamic.
His Bobness pretty much stood in one spot sporting this nice Stetson hat and these black pants with a silver stripe down the sides of the legs, he was all got up good'n'proper like the Man in Black oughta be. I couldn't quite tell if he ever played a guitar or not — most of the night I was letting go gyrating and having a grand ol' time — but his voice shone through the dizzying arrangement of musical stylings in a crisp nasal tone that, although a bit raspier than it used to be, nonetheless managed to carry the songs through to their respective ends. The energy Bob and his band instilled in the crowd was palpable and electric, everyone was going nuts.
I proudly wore my original KoRn T-shirt, selected specifically for this show, and sported a Jester's Cap w/bells on — picture me dancing a crazy Peanut's Dance sped up to about 78rpms in this outfit, and you pretty much get the picture of Shaun @ Bob Dylan, 2008. Believe me when I tell you that throughout most of these rockin' tunes, the level of intensity in the musicianship was such that it afforded plenty of opportunities to break out in wild, spontaneous air-guitar soloes, and there was one point (during the song 'Honest With Me') where I gasped out loud in stunned disbelief on account of how much heavy momentum the jamming had acquired. Let me put it this way: there were a few moments wherein my imagination inserted speed metal leads to the music - it was that sick. \m/
Needless to say, I kept exchanging astonished looks with the folks standing next to us. I had read somewhere that lately, Dylan's shows focus so much on his more recent material that some audience members get disappointed. Well at our show in Deer Valley that Sunday evening, nothing could be further from the truth. After just having heard 'Rainy Day Women', 'Stuck Inside a Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again', 'Don't Think Twice, It's Alright,' and 'Desolation Row', I was personally so blown away with the hits that I didn't care one whit any longer what Bob had in store for us; it was just that well-delivered, and each song provided ample opportunity for the various musicians to shine respectively with their instruments.
So when 'You Belong To Me' played it was just another amazing classic song in a setlist chockfull of them, as far as I was concerned. I don't know which recent album the song 'Honest With Me' is from, but I will say it was the most rocking song of the night, just a scorcher through and through. And then Dylan dropped the bomb I had no idea was to come, and that was 'Simple Twist Of Fate'. I don't know about you all, but personally whereas I think 'Tangled Up In Blue' to be Dylan's greatest song, my mind has never been able to accommodate for both of these songs at the same time; When Simple Twist Of Fate plays, I forget all about Tangled Up In Blue, and vice-versa. Its the weirdest thing. Even the memory of Tangled Up In Blue was utterly annihilated while 'Simple Twist Of Fate' played, and all I could think was This has got to be the greatest song Dylan ever wrote...and I shouted as much when it was over: 'BEST SONG EVER,' I yelled out loud with devil horns thrown.
Then the well-oiled machine that is Bob Dylan's band launched into 'Highway 61 Revisited', and it was around this time that I realized we were witnessing an evening of pure transcendence. You Dylan fans reading this by now can most likely perfectly-well understand how fully amazed I was by this point in the show. Every song had a really cool and unique arrangement; but more importantly, the band were so in sync with one another, they just jammed all the tunes with masterful finesse.
The clouds had been gathering for awhile and the sun had been gradually obfuscated by the mountain line looming behind us when 'Queen Jane, Approximately' began to play. Shasta and I sensed the rain begin to fall again, so I started bustin' up our picnic and packing it all in. We grabbed our brightly colored umbrellas and popped them open just in time to catch the fatter rain drops beginning to drop. That's when Bob began on one tune I particularly enjoy from Modern Times — 'Thunder On The Mountain' — I don't know how he kept lobbing out these perfectly appropriate songs, but yeah the thunder that pealed down from the storm-laden night sky during this song could not have been more properly timed. And a hard rain began to fall, indeed.
Of course I think everyone there was half-expecting Bob to actually sing this song ('A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall'). I personally was holding out with fingers crossed for 'Buckets Of Rain', one of my perennial favorites. But the final song of the evening that was delivered with almost apocalyptic fury was 'Like A Rolling Stone'. Do I even need to mention we weren't let down in the least? We're all howling "Without a HOME like a complete UNKNOWN... like a ROLLING STOOOONE..." up into the rain at night on a mountainside with hundreds of other people while Bob Dylan led us along was certainly a memory I will carry with me for awhile, yet. Just as soon as that song was done, Dylan tipped his hat and briskly exited stage left along with the rest of his band and all the spotlights went on. Nobody in the audience hesitated, we just grabbed our shit and began our mass exodus in the pouring rain, every single one of us all smiles and chattering excitedly and making our way for the gates, nevermind we were all drenched to the bone. The thunderstorm never once let up from that point on, it was like a soundtrack for the end credits. The time was about 9:45 pm, which meant Bob Dylan had played for two solid hours in the sun and the rain. I can't imagine being more shocked and satisfied than I felt at the end of this stellar show which Mr. Tambourine Man & his devoted band delivered to us all that last day of summer in Deer Valley, Utah, 2008. In many key ways it stands out among the many mind-blowing concerts I've attended as the most enjoyable and gratifying I've had the good fortune to experience.
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