Legendary musician Robert Zimmerman, sometimes called Bob Dylan, visited the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham on October 28th. Will Griffin reviews.
There are some artists, for whom the opportunity to see them is not just a case of seeing a
night of live music, but a case of witnessing history. Bob Dylan’s performance on Friday was
undeniably a case of the latter. For Dylan to have given a performance so full of intimacy, to
an arena with a capacity of 10,000 only serves to cement his place as a generational icon,
for whom there will be no replacement.
Dylan took to Nottingham on 28th October in the midst of his three year ‘Rough and Rowdy
Ways’ world tour. The album, released in the midst of the pandemic to wide critical acclaim,
made the basis for much of the set, but Dylan reinvented them on stage, shaping his work
into often unrecognisable, but always brilliant new forms.
For much of the night, he stands behind a piano, sometimes obscured from view, only on
few occasions, emerging centre stage, as if to assume the microphone placed their. Duly,
the crowd roared its approval, before Dylan would edge back, looking almost unsteady,
before reassuming his place at the piano.
Interspersed in his performance of Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan provides older cuts, such
as Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine) from Blonde On Blonde and To Be Alone
With You, from 1969’s Nashville Skyline. Tonally, the performance rarely strays from the
bluesy, americana Dylan offers on Rough and Rowdy Ways, but the soul of his older work is
never lost. Dylan may cut the figure of a frail 81 year old on a relentless 3 year world tour,
but his performance never loses that brilliance that cements him as a legend.
Dylan may cut the figure of a frail 81 year old on a relentless 3 year world tour, but his performance never loses that brilliance that cements him as a legend.
Dylan is undoubtedly peerless, and is perhaps most impressively set apart by his unrivalled
lyrical genius, omnipresent on his newest work. Rough and Rowdy Ways sees Dylan litter
his work with cultural references, seen on I Contain Multitudes where Dylan pens ‘Got a tell
tale heart, like Mr Poe’, ‘them British bad boys, The Rolling Stones’ and ‘I sing the songs of
experience like William Blake’. The genius of Dylan’s lyrics are never more striking than in
his on stage performance.
That is perhaps the beauty of this tour. A no-phones policy means even in an arena like this,
all eyes are on Dylan. At no point during the near 2 hour long set did I take my eyes off the
stage. Dylan and his impeccable band excel in the intimacy of his work. No one will see
these unique compositions again, and nor do I think, could they be replicated.
Dylan is notedly more interactive with fans in Nottingham than on other dates. Following I’ll
Be Your Baby Tonight, Dylan announces to the crowd ‘We’re all baby lovers aren’t we’. It
strikes me that Dylan, at the age of 81, does not need to go on a world tour for money, nor
for fame. This is an artist, still wholly in love with his art, and sharing it after more than 60
years, a truth that is universally shared by those in attendance.
Much has been, and will be written on Dylan’s personal prowess. He is a genius, and much
of what makes the night so special is undoubtedly due to Bob’s charisma, his footing as a
legend. However, his band deserve recognition for just how remarkably brilliant they are. For
much of the performance they are waiting, eyes trained on Dylan, to react to his every move.
On this tour, no two songs are ever the same, and the brilliance of the night owes a lot to just how adept they are. As the performance draws to a close, Dylan recognises this, introducing
them all one by one for the attendants.
As Dylan lifts his hand in recognition of the crowd before disappearing off stage, the crowd
launches into a rapturous chorus of applause for a legend who may have taken the stage in
Nottingham for the last time in his career. Suspended in darkness, my Grandad, who
accompanied me, turns and says ‘You’d think they’d turn the lights on’, just as Dylan and his band returned to the stage. Since the start of the Rough and Rowdy Ways tour, the setlist has been practically unchanged, but tonight, Dylan gave the crowd a one song encore.
I hope that’s not the last time I have the pleasure of seeing Dylan live, nor I hope is it the last time he plays Nottingham, but if that is the case, there was truly no better way for him to say farewell.
Earlier the same day, rock and roll icon Jerry Lee Lewis had passed, and in a final act of the
night, Dylan offered his tribute. ‘I don’t know how many of you know, but Jerry Lee’s gone.
We’re gonna play this song, one of his. Jerry Lee will live forever, we all know that’. With the
entire arena now on its feet, Dylan then proceeded with a heart wrenching rendition of I
Can’t Seem to Say Goodbye. At the conclusion of the first verse, there’s a shake in Dylan’s
voice. Looking up at him, stood at the piano, it felt more true than ever at that point, that we
had witnessed one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, still at his inimitable
best. I hope that’s not the last time I have the pleasure of seeing Dylan live, nor I hope is it
the last time he plays Nottingham, but if that is the case, there was truly no better way for
him to say farewell.
Will Griffin
Edited by: Jake Longhurst
All images courtesy of Bob Dylan. All videos courtesy of Bob Dylan on YouTube.
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