Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was in really good form last night at Terminal 5. His voice was rather rough during the first couple of songs, but he warmed up considerably after that. He was more animated than I've seen him recently (often taking center stage), and his band was extremely sharp. Charlie Sexton is awesome and Dylan even played lead a few times, which I hadn't seen him do for awhile. Much better than the show I saw at the United Palace a couple of years ago.

We were treated to some excellent songs, including This Wheel's on Fire, Things Have Changed, Simple Twist of Fate, Hard Rain, High Water, Masters of War, and Ballad of a Thin Man. Workingman's Blues was a real highlight for me, understated and powerful. "They say low wages are reality if we wanna compete abroad," Dylan sang. Something about this song sounds really mournful and emotional; he can still connect with an audience and write stuff that has the strength of his old songs. Not an easy trick, but he makes it look that way.

All in all a fun night and worth seeing him if you get the chance. The venue is not the greatest, best to get there early as it is packed to the rafters. Crowd was pretty good for the most part, a little weirdness with some fighting near us but otherwise they were into the show.