Bob Dylan wasn’t great. But that doesn’t really matter

Bob Dylan wasn’t great. But that doesn’t really matter

Daily Comfort Zone

norman lebrecht

November 10, 2024

The jazz expert and festival director Richard Williams is one of the most perceptive and humane observers of the great  musicians of our times. If you don’t know his writings, start right here.

Richard has been to a Bob Dylan gig. Again. Like many others, he felt let down. But is that really the point?

There were moments of grace, mostly when the instrumentation was reduced to voice and piano, as in “Key West”, or voice and guitars, as in “Mother of Muses”. The first two verses of “Made Up My Mind” were lovely, as were the out of tempo bits of “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, delivered against Tony Garnier’s bowed bass. By the time Dylan got to “Goodbye Jimmy Reed”, the penultimate item on the set list, he was singing beautifully, with clarity and marvellous timing.

Every time you see him now, you think it might be the last. So this one wasn’t great. But that doesn’t really matter, even if there aren’t any more. Time past, time present: lucky to have it at all, all of it.

Read the full review here.

Comments

  • Andy says:

    Well he’s gone on well into his 80s, like a Rolling Stone…….

    • Andrew J. Clarke says:

      Well, Dylan sounded 80 when he was in his twenties to my ears, but a bigger issue is that when he and Jagger go to The Big Stadium Concert in the Sky there will be nobody to replace them. That whole ‘sixties thing is moribund, and the generation that grew up with it just can’t let it go, which is why The Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney just keep on going. The alternative is Ariane Grande and K-pop …

      • Jim Tomlinson says:

        Couldn’t agree more, I’m 77 and am aware of tempis fugit,I know some Germans who are about thirty who play guitar,all the music they play is from the sixties and early seventies,

  • Margaret Koscielny says:

    Dylan was an icon of his time. He has a Nobel Prize in literature. He’s an old man now, and times have changed. He wrote about the times changing, back in his time when things were really changing.
    The repercussions of that change are on-going. So, “greatness” is a designation for the ages to come. Time will tell.

  • Mike Lobell says:

    You are an imbecile if you don’t
    get the genius of Dylan.

    • June says:

      And if you appreciate Dylan like i do….never go to a show with someone who doesn’t. Makes for bad convo before and after.

  • Yuri K says:

    “…[Bob] Dylan… was singing beautifully…” Isn’t there something wrong in this phrase? Dylan never was much of a singer, but this is not why we love him.

  • Weir_Garcia says:

    I’d like to hear Bob Dylan DJ another season on Sirrius Radio.

    He talked and selected Playlists of Americana music with wit and charm once a week. He’d pick a topic like Rum or Coffee – to Rivers or Travel, and jam tunes on that topic. His dialogue was so fascinating and funny.

    It’s posslble no one ever has shared and communicated the American experience translated in story telling better or more vividly than the Bard Nobel prize winner – Bob Dylan.

  • Jonathan B says:

    I think what Mr Williams is saying is that Dylan *was* great, but he can’t now match his prime.

    But he’s still with us and performing, with moments that remind us of his best. “Like a Rolling Stone” indeed, great comment.

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    Of course it wasn’t great; Bob Dylan is a very old man. Doah!!

    • geo. says:

      So is Willie Nelson, and he’s still worth hearing. At 90 Rubenstein was still a musical force. Roy Haynes in his 90 still gigging and playing great. Sonny Rollins played into his 80s.

  • Phil Wright says:

    No he wasn’t great, he was utterly brilliantly amazing! Desolation Row was worth the ticket money on its own.

  • Steve says:

    It was the worst concert I have ever seen , time to pack up and go home Bob. I only wasted my money to help a friend out who wanted to see him.

  • Col redshaw says:

    Sat in row c, block c. Bob dylan is like marmite, you either love him or loathe him. His music like a spiders web, once you’re in, there’s no getting out. Was well worth the £8.70 for a pint of guinness. Hearing him sing when i paint my masterpiece, to the tune of puttin on the ritz was priceless

  • Osaukanucee says:

    I don’t care who you are! Bob Dylan is a man that has given us a part of his soul & He is Awesome & anyone who can’t see or hear how HE gave us music, songs when WE needed them❤️Love, Peace & Blessings to BOB DYLAN!
    Let’s see You go on road and go,go,go Do what he did when you reach his age!
    Love you Bob Dylan & many who I heard thru words & music

  • Con Duit says:

    I read somewhere that amongst classical music appreciators, Bob Dylan is the least liked of these types. No one else’s singing is as opposite to the classical ideal as Bob Dylan’s.

  • geo. says:

    It’s not about his voice, it’s about his lyrics.
    “I was out there paintin’ on the old wood shed, when a can of black paint fell on my head. I went down to rub and scrub, had to sit in the back of the tub. Paid a quarter, half price.” If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand the social history of the US.

  • Archie says:

    No matter what was / is said of Bob Dylan, he’s achieved a lot more than any artist or musician. He’s earned himself a Nobel laureate, a feat that no one in the entertainment industry has attained. His songs have been covered by many singers. I like his style. Bob is one of the best singer, song writer and poet of our time. He is very original. He’s a Nobel laureate for crying out loud.

  • Rome says:

    Forever young

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