Dylan Keeps On Mumblin'

It was a night of firsts for me on Wednesday. I set foot in downtown Oshawa and saw Bob Dylan. And now I can safely say that I see no reason to do either again.

I own a handful of Dylan records, I have great respect for his legacy and I'm familiar with all his best known songs, so I'd call myself a casual fan. But since he's one of the legends of 20th century music and he's now 67, I figured I should finally see him before it's too late. My expectations weren't particularly high going in, so I wasn't drastically let down by what I felt was a mediocre two-hour performance.

The arena, with folding chairs on the floor augmenting the capacity, probably holds between 5,000 and 6,000 people for a concert. There were quite a few empty seats, and those with bums in them were generally filled by pretty lethargic people. Aside from some yahoos in the men's room before the show, and the enthusiastic ovations given after the main set and encore, the house was pretty quiet.

But Dylan's enunciation is so atrocious that you still couldn't make out most of what he was singing. And the fact that he sometimes changes arrangements and lyrics didn't make it easy to identify certain songs.

Now that I have that negativity out of the way, Dylan's musicianship was excellent. He stood behind his keyboard through most of the set, while wearing a wide-brimmed white hat and a black suit with a white stripe running down the side of his pants that made it look more like a uniform. The organ played a prominent role in many of the songs, and Al Kooper probably would have been proud of the way his notes were played. Dylan also stepped out to play harmonica on several occasions, most notably to extend "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues."

If you've ever been in a decent southern Ontario tavern that offers live music over the past 25 years, you probably came across blues-rock guitarist Paul James somewhere along the way. Dylan did just that a couple of decades back at Toronto's Nags Head, and the two have apparently kept in touch since.

James was the lone guitarist on stage for the first five songs, and he rocked "The Levee's Gonna Break" and offered a nice solo on "High Water (For Charley Patton)." He was also on hand for an altered arrangement of "Tangled Up In Blue," which got a big balding guy with a ponytail and a bright orange T-shirt spinning around and waving his arms behind the floor seats. "Fat spinner," as I referred to him in my notes, made return appearances for "Honest With Me," "Highway 61 Revisited" and "All Along The Watchtower."

James mysteriously disappeared after "High Water (For Charley Patton)," never to be seen again or even acknowledged when Dylan introduced his band members late in the show (the only time the man born Robert Zimmerman spoke to the audience all night). He was replaced by the band's two regular guitarists, Stu Kimball on rhythm and Denny Freeman on lead. Along with Dylan, bassist Tony Garnier, drummer George Recile and multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron (who played viola, banjo, mandolin, pedal and lap steel), they made a tight and talented combo .

A solid blues-rock groove was laid down through most tracks, though "Honest With Me" rocked a bit harder, "When The Deal Goes Down" was almost done in waltz time, and there was something of a reggae/country mix in "Nettie Moore." Though Dylan sounded like he was gargling through most of the set, his most spirited delivery probably came through on "Highway 61 Revisited."

After leaving the stage to an appreciative response following "Thunder On The Mountain," it was no surprise when Dylan and company returned to encore with "Like A Rolling Stone." To use a word that gets bandied around the ChartAttack office from time to time, the song is epic. Unfortunately, the performance wasn't. The chills I hoped would pulse through my body never materialized.

I've now seen Dylan, and I suppose I'm glad that I did, but I'm sure my impression would have been much more positive if I'd caught him in his prime. The man can still play, but it's his lyrics that have really struck a chord with people, and I didn't have a clue what he was singing 90 per cent of the time on Wednesday.

Here's the set list:

"The Wicked Messenger"
"Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues"
"The Levee's Gonna Break"
"Tangled Up In Blue"
"High Water (For Charley Patton)"
"Man In The Long Black Coat"
"Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum"
"Desolation Row"
"'Til I Fell In Love With You"
"Simple Twist Of Fate"
"Honest With Me"
"When The Deal Goes Down"
"Highway 61 Revisited"
"Nettie Moore"
"Thunder On The Mountain"
"Like A Rolling Stone"
"All Along The Watchtower"