Review: Bob Dylan - Syracuse, NY

This review was published on Ray Padgett’s Flagging Down the Double E

After three years of the same Rough and Rowdy Ways songs every night, I have been eagerly anticipating this Dylan tour since it was announced in February, but I truly had no idea what to expect. During the last week, we have seen one of the most puzzling setlists from Dylan in years, cryptic messages in Tempest t-shirts, and a mixed bag of covers from the 1950s. I’m excited to announce that nothing weird happened tonight, and it was probably the best his voice has sounded since the tour began. The only disappointment was learning on our drive to Syracuse that Willie Nelson had to cancel again due to illness. Here’s hoping for a swift recovery.

We were late after being stuck in eternal traffic at the Canada-US border, but arrived just in time for a stellar performance from Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. Their set featured four classic Led Zeppelin songs (“Rock and Roll,” “Gallows Pole,” “Battle of Evermore,” and “When The Levee Breaks”) and the greatest hits of the two Plant & Krauss records. “Please Read The Letter” was particularly stellar. Plant is still one of the greatest showmen in music, and his charisma alone is worth the price of admission.

Like he has at every show since the second date of the tour, Dylan began the evening with “Highway 61 Revisited.” After seeing him rotate between sitting or standing statically on the Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour, it was satisfying to see Dylan sway along with Bob Britt’s groove. This version of “Highway 61 Revisited” was heavy and hit harder than anything played on the last tour other than some occasional raucous “Goodbye Jimmy Reed”s.

Even as a die-hard Dylan fan, I have to admit that I found Dylan’s voice during the first night of the tour in Alpharetta to be a little shaky. However, halfway through “Shooting Star,” we realized we were in for a night of fantastic singing. It seems like he has shed the rust from the first few dates, and he was enunciating clearly throughout the concert, sometimes reaching for and hitting higher notes than usual. “Shooting Star” is a personal favorite of mine, and it was special to hear Bob sing it masterfully tonight. 

“Love Sick” was one of the top performances of the night, featuring an extended Dylan piano solo. During the last line, he dramatically extended the words and we even got a slight chuckle. It might have been aimed at one of the strangest quirks of the evening, which was the number of people who were ambling along all night on a mission to nowhere. In what can only be described as a pedometer step contest, there was a never-ending flow of people walking back-and-forth through every aisle without paying any attention to what was happening on stage. This was incredibly distracting during the first few songs of the night, but by the end I somehow got used to the brash marathon walkers blocking my view every twenty seconds. 

Dylan then launched into back-to-back covers of “Little Queenie” and “Mr. Blue,” Bob’s voice sparkled on the latter, but I found that the pace of “Mr. Blue” jarringly broke the flow after the high rollicking of “Little Queenie” and the hard bop jamming on “Love Sick.” I find “Mr. Blue” by The Fleetwoods to be a strange choice to cover, and it was reminiscent of the slower standards that Dylan covered on his 2017 tour. Despite that, it led to some touching scenes of couples waltzing in the aisles:

“Early Roman Kings” was perhaps the one underwhelming performance of the night, although we did get to hear a surprising half-measure of harmonica from Dylan toward the end of the song. If Bob is insistent on playing songs from Tempest on this tour to match the now-famous t-shirt, I think “Pay In Blood” or “Duquesne Whistle” would work better in this spot to jolt the crowd back after the sleepy “Mr. Blue.” There were a lot of unsold tickets, and the space between people was really felt during these slower songs.

Before starting “Can’t Wait,” Bob got up to speak with Tony Garnier for what would be the first of several huddles during the night. I was honestly blown away by the subsequent arrangement of “Can’t Wait.” The stripped-down arrangement was similar to how he transformed “Key West (Philosopher Pirate)” during the last leg of the Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour. At times Bob was singing it completely acapella and would accentuate certain lines every few verses with a bit of piano. Bob’s articulation was hyper-focused and this new arrangement put the crowd’s attention squarely on the incredible state his voice was in. We even got a “well, thank you” from Bob after the performance, right before launching into “Under the Red Sky.”

This version of “Under the Red Sky” completely resuscitates the song from the schmaltzy production of the studio recording. I consider myself to be a passionate Dylan fan, and even I have trouble getting through the full Under the Red Sky album due to the production. This performance of “Under the Red Sky” makes me long for a fresh remaster similar to the organic-sounding version of Time Out of Mind that we heard on Fragments.

Other than shirts stamped with a grinning Willie Nelson, the second most popular uniform for the Syracuse audience was some form of Grateful Dead t-shirt, tank top, or Hawaiian shirt. I don’t know if these Deadheads were expecting “Stella Blue,” but once they realized what song Dylan was playing, they erupted in applause. It was one of the night’s most captivating performances, leading to some of the loudest cheers. 

Like “Mr. Blue,” “Six Days On The Road” by Paul Davis is another song I didn’t know before Dylan played it last week. It had a solid groove with some of Dylan’s best piano solos of the night, before he slowed down the last few words of the song to transition into “Soon After Midnight.” Usually at Dylan concerts, I’m insulated by people as crazy about his music as I am. Tonight, I must have seemed like an absolute crazy person to the non-initiated near me when I gave a loud holler when “Soon After Midnight” began. Between the empty seats and the piss-drunk Willie fans jabbering during Bob’s songs, this was one of the many points in the night when I felt like that Swedish television host where Dylan was performing only for me. Despite being one of his most played songs of his career, “Ballad of a Thin Man” had fresh new life tonight courtesy of Jim Keltner’s drum fills punctuating the ends of each refrain.

Personally, the highlight of the night was “Simple Twist of Fate.” Out of nowhere, a man in a red jacket who I didn’t recognize walked on stage as a guest harmonica player. Later, during Lukas Nelson’s set, he was introduced as Willie Nelson’s long-time sideman Mickey Raphael. Before Raphael could get settled, Dylan said something that sounded like “well, I’m just going to play,” and the first guest of the Outlaw Festival did an incredible job keeping up. I always love hearing how Dylan transforms the lyrics to “Simple Twist of Fate,” and tonight had too many lyric changes to keep track. Mickey Raphael’s harp playing was heartfelt and mesmerizing, I hope he continues to guest with Dylan on the rest of the tour. 

I was amused and puzzled by the first Alpharetta date of the Outlaw Festival, but now I solidly support the setlist that Dylan has settled into. Tragically, I’m in my early 30s and haven’t had the lifetime of Dylan shows that many of my friends in the community have experienced. This was only my Fourth Time Around, having first seen him in 2017 and then twice on the Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour. Tonight was without a doubt the best Bob Dylan concert I’ve attended (so far).