Last Sunday, I, a lowly, plebeian university student, witnessed history. With my own eyes, I observed the performance of a lifetime. With my own ears, I heard the sounds of an idol – NAY, legend – NAY, messiah – NAY, GOD. Yes, at the University of Northern Iowa, Bob Dylan bestowed me and other serfs the honor of being in his holiness's company.
What an incredible, mind-shattering disappointment.
I have never been "into" Bob Dylan, but I must say, I used to really respect his artistry. As with most artists I first begin listening to, I started off by listening to his first album, titled Bob Dylan. "What an incredible voice," I thought. It had the uniqueness of John Lennon or Ray Charles but the honesty of an American coal-miner. And what lyrics – in fact, the song I liked best on the album was one of the two he had actually written, "Talkin' New York." There was something about his personality which reminded me of myself and made me more enthralled. I continued my musical quest by listening to various other tracks, probably up until Blonde on Blonde.
It seems like I enjoy songs more when I am familiar with their writers. I've read bits and pieces about Dylan, watched various interviews, and observed his attitude at his performances in the 60s. What an incredible journey he had – growing up as a folk-loving kid to becoming a star in the art/hipster scene to becoming a full-fledged rock idol. I really enjoy watching these transformations in musical artists. It's one of the reasons I like The Beatles so much – they were inexperienced kids cast into a world of immense fame and wealth, and they had to deal with it. But why I really think I like The Beatles so much is because they all basically retained the cores of their personalities all along the way. Paul was always professional, domineering, etc., George was always a bit on the sidelines, Ringo was always a decent, witty guy, and John was always this sarcastic, jealous, honest dude. It is nice to listen to music from people you know are real.
I had thought the same of Dylan. I thought of him as this decent guy thrown into the limelight who had to deal with it. I thought he must hate being an idol, and I wondered if he was or is really satisfied with himself. I thought I would act the same as him in many regards, and I identified with him. I was also intrigued by his mysteriousness.
But, everything aside, I am unsure what to think of him now. One thing I can say for sure – to me, he is no longer a musical legend, no longer a person I can identify with, and no longer credible. It is sad to see that he has fallen so low but continues to perform.
But what's a statement like this without a critique?
Going into the concert last Sunday, I was somewhat expecting to be disappointed. I had watched recent live performances of Dylan on Youtube, and I was surprised by how unenergetic and awful they were. I thought, "Oh, it might be different when I am actually in the seat listening – the video just doesn't sound good." However, once I took my seat in the McLeod Center and the concert began, I realized I was in for a long two hours. He started off with an incomprehensible version of "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35," as if he was trying to prove to everyone he was still "cool." The sound system was awful and muddy (I had seen a couple other concerts in this venue, and they were not muddy), and the bass drum boomed throughout the entire auditorium, drowning out Bob's low growls of rasp.
The backing band was mediocre. The musicians were uninspired and uninspiring. The solos the band played were expected; they sounded like a decent cover band. They have nowhere near the soul nor musicality of The Band. On top of this, I was really annoyed by the drumming. You know those drummers that sound really good when they play, spicing everything up with lots of cymbal hits and fills? I just don't feel that Bob Dylan's music fits with this mainstream cover-band style drumming. It seemed so fake to me – not in the style of Dylan's original arrangements at all.
Speaking of Dylan's original arrangements, some of the songs were absolutely slaughtered. I understand that after forty years of playing the same songs, they'll get boring to play, but why on Earth would you change such a lovely song into something cheesy and unlistenable? For example, I was so excited when "Ballad of a Thin Man" began but quickly realized it was nothing near the original. It sounded like a bad Halloween tune with an angry old man grunting overtop of it. And "Tangled Up in Blue" was just stupid.
About Dylan's voice – everyone claims it's awful these days. And they're right, it is. He actually sang probably one note the entire concert, and it was in a cover of a Muddy Waters tune. Other than that, it was always just low, incomprehensible ramblings. What Dylan is primarily known for – his lyrics and poetry – were lost amongst crappy sound engineers and crappy vocal performances. This is very sad – people could only hear the boom boom boom-ing band, not the man himself. It felt like he was giving us a privilege by even speaking the words to us – the entirety of his vocal performance was just ridiculous and not worth the ticket price. During his performance of "Rolling Stone," I was just craving, hoping, praying that he would belt out one of the notes in the song, like "how does it FEEEEEEEEEEEL" or "like a complete unKNOWWN." No dice. Nothing.
As far as Dylan's musicianship – also, not good. That's to be expected, though. On keyboard, Dylan occasionally showcased some really awful organ solos, consisting of two notes or stupid, badly played, repeated licks. He also whipped out a harmonica a few times and likewise played very mediocre two-note solos. It was so disheartening to hear the crowd go absolutely nuts over these crummy displays of musicianship. It was almost like the audience had never heard someone play a harmonica or keyboard before – I really did not understand. It was ridiculous.
Finally, as for Dylan's stage presence – it was absolutely disgraceful. He did not once address the audience. The only utterance somewhat directed at us was the introduction of his band during the encore. Other than that, nothing. It was the most arrogant and impersonal performance I had ever witnessed. I couldn't believe he could be so unentertaining toward people who paid good money for tickets.
I could go on and on with my disappointments, but it'd take far too much time. In general, the show wasn't good, and him being Bob Dylan doesn't justify that. Bob, if you're going to identify yourself as a performer, then perform. Just because people will see your show no matter what doesn't mean you should treat them as strangers – these people are your fans, and many of them grew up and drew inspiration from your songs. Have some respect or quit touring.
Still, I have an alternate theory to his ridiculousness so hear me out. Perhaps Bob Dylan is intentionally giving crappy performances to rub it in his audience's faces. If you know his history, you know he hates mainstream culture – he hates universities and professors and education. What more of a power trip could it be than the put on a mediocre show for this very demographic and have them worship you for it? Or perhaps he's trying to kill his own legacy and idolatry by letting people remember him as a hackneyed artist before he dies. I don't know. He's a complicated character.
In conclusion, Bob Dylan live sucks, and Bob Dylan sucks live. I guess a rolling stone does gather moss – especially around its vocal cords.
P.S. The title of this blog post is a John Lennon lyric. At least Lennon is cool enough to denounce idols like Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman). If Lennon were still alive, I think he'd call Dylan out on these completely B.S. performances.