He walked onto the stage of the Swansea Building Society Arena with no fanfare. For an hour and 45 mins he sat on a piano stool, either looking at the back of the stage playing his guitar or playing piano facing the front of the stage slightly hidden by the music stand of his baby grand. At 9.45 the music stopped. He got up and together with his band lined up at the back of the stage behind all of the equipment. Then he walked off. As one, the crowd rose to their feet and cheered him to the rafters.
A few minutes passed. The applause and shouts for encores rose as a few dark figures returned to the stage. With that the house lights came on to illuminate the crew clearing empty bottles of water from the stage. ‘HE’ had probably already left the building.
Some were a little shocked, some disappointed, others were revelling in the afterglow of spending time in the presence of a legend. Me…I wasn’t surprised because I had already been to a concert by… Bob Dylan.
Bob Dylan has been a star for the whole of my life. His first album just about sold enough to break even. His second ‘Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’ turned him into a star. He was easy to understand a poet of his times. He played acoustic guitar and harmonica. His songs were topical and political, and they captured the mood of a nation of young people who wanted to rebel against the man. He was even awarded the ‘Tom Paine Award’ from the Emergencies Civil Liberties Committee at their Annual Bill of Rights dinner. He had gained acceptance.
That night instead of the acceptance speech they were expected Bob rambled on offending just about everyone in the room. His speech was greeted by boos. The organisation had to write a letter to the guests to, sort of apologise, but still sort of stand by Bob. He wrote them a rambling Dylan poem which ran to well over 2000 words and ended with
‘respectfully an unrespectfully’ Bob Dylan
I would have been blissfully unaware of all this when I played some of his songs at those lunchtime band sessions at Brynhyfryd Junior School in 1969. He played acoustic guitar and so did I. He wrote songs and that’s what I wanted to do. He was the perfect role model…except.
By 1969 Bob was already upsetting people who thought they understood the ‘box’ they had put him in. When he went electric the folk music establishment claimed he was a sell-out. In one memorable performance recorded in Manchester in 1966 one member of the audience can be heard shouting ‘Judas’. How could the Messiah of folk let everyone down so badly and pick up an electric guitar?
I must admit I became a vinyl junkie in university. The oil crisis had led to records being more flimsy and bendy than previously but ‘Andys’ Records’ in Cambridge Market must have had a special deal to bring in cheap albums from Spain and Portugal.
By this stage I had discovered Bruce Springsteen. I had also moved on from that acoustic Dylan of my childhood but when I saw a special deal on the Live double album ‘Bob Dylan At Budokan’ I couldn’t resist. The track listing looked solid, all of the hits. I put the record on and sat back.
The voice was the only thing that was the same. This was a full band with backing vocals and woodwind. With such a different ensemble of musicians it wasn’t surprising that the songs sounded very different from how I remembered them. I loved it. I just hadn’t realised that in our years apart Bob Dylan had also moved on.
It was at university I saw the film ‘The Last Waltz’ featuring the last performance of The Band. The Band had brought together lots of big stars to share their final show. These included Joni Mitchel, Van Morrison and Neil Diamond, but the highlight was Dylan. Now I understood. In the years I had lost sight and sound of Bob he had worked with The Band to create some amazing albums that I would soon pick up one by one from ‘Andy’s Records’.
Whilst still in university the news started spreading that Dylan had found God. This came after a profound experience in a Tucson hotel room where he claimed to have met Jesus face to face. Dylan had been saved!
Not everyone was delighted that Dylan would take on the religion of those so many in the counter culture hated but that didn’t seem to bother Bob. His album ‘Slow Train Coming’ was immaculately produced and featured Bible influenced songs. I loved it. The next album entitled ‘Saved’ was little more intense shall I say. I bought it but didn’t ‘love it’ as much as the others. It just wasn’t what I was expecting!!!
Years later I toured Europe supporting Art Garfunkel. He had the most incredible band of musicians including Eric Weisberg who had a worldwide hit with ‘Duellin’ Banjos’ from the film Deliverance. I used to love sitting quietly on the tour bus as these old New York session musicians told stories. Eric started talking about recording up in Woodstock with Dylan.
What was it like I asked?
Apparently Bob would turn up with a pile of lyrics. First off he would play the song for the band. The second time the band would be expected to join in. The third time they would record the song. Then they would move on. I always wondered why Bob’s records sounded so loose. Now I knew, the band probably hadn’t properly learnt the song when it was recorded.
Bob Dylan, Hyde Park 2019
I had been bought tickets for Bob Dylan at Hyde Park in 2019 as a Christmas present. The supporting artist was Neil Young, another ragged genius. Neil carefully performed all of his hits. It was almost like listening to the record. Then on came Bob.
The band was wonderful, and his voice was classic Bob. He also played a lot of his hits but…it wasn’t like any record version of the hits I had heard before. The band would set up a groove and Bob would start that mumbling sing song voice and a minute or so in you would realise he was singing ‘Make You Feel My Love’ or ‘Blowing in the Wind’. As I walked out of the park I could hear some people eulogising whilst others were complaining.
And so to Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy at the Swansea Building Society Arena. It was everything I was expecting. His band was terrific. His voice was as clear and sharp as a jagged razor and he didn’t do anything expected of him. At 84 it might be the final time I get the chance to hear him and I’ll be grateful for that.