Let me beat you to it — yes, John Mellencamp was probably better than Bob Dylan at the Les Schwab Amphitheater on Friday night. Everyone has been saying this for the past few days (during which I’ve been battling a print deadline and ignoring my blogging duties) and I’ll begrudgingly agree.
People say that Dylan didn’t even sing…which is partially true. They said he didn’t play many hits…that’s not necessarily true. Sure, he doesn’t sound that great behind the mic, but his band is still stellar and, most importantly, he allows you to say “I just saw Bob Dylan.” Check that off the “things to do in my life” list.
(Side note: Check out this article about young people’s reaction to Bob Dylan.)
But judge for yourself. Here’s some cheap-seats video from the show.
This article appears in Sep 2-8, 2010.
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I would like to see Bob Dylan do gangster rap and a sexy duet with Lady Gaga.
Who shot this video? Maybe they had some other kind of “shots” before the show. Dude! you need a steady hand to shoot videos. Kinda made me seasick!
Sorry, Stevo! I had to hold the camera up high to shoot over the crowd. And I barely had any shots before the show. Ha!
Mellencamp was awesome(hate that word, but it fits) and worth the price of the ticket alone. He covered all of the bases and the crowd responded accordingly.
Anyone stagefront during Dylan’s performance knows how enthusiastically he was received by fans of all ages. If the last album they bought was in the 70’s or 80’s (or, god forbid, the 60’s) the did not expect the Dylan of Love and Theft. If they haven’t been to one of his concerts, they probably didn’t expect the rock and roll he plays. News flash: He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what you think or feel. He is there for the poetry and the music–and that always evolves.
Didn’t play hits? Those people should have saved their money and rented a dvd of past Dylan performances. They are out there.