Mr. Tamourine Man
Bob Dylan kicked off his tour
last night in Seattle with Merle Haggard and Amos Lee. We missed Amos
Lee but caught Merle Haggard. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Merle.
A friend had caught his show a few years ago at the Showbox and said
he’d forgotten some of the words to Okie from Muskogee, but last night
he and the Strangers sounded great. His voice was great, he knew
almost all the words, and he charmed the crowd with statements like
“I’m really glad Bob asked me to come out on tour with me…” before
realizing that he was the opening band.
Bob Dylan’s show was lively but he doesn’t have a whole lot in the way
of stage presence. I expected Billy Braggish sermonizing from the
stage but Bob offered neither a single word directed at the crowd (no
“hello, Seattle!”s, no introduction of his entourage, no “good night”)
nor really an intelligible word all night. We could recognize “Like a
Rolling Stone” and “Mr. Tambourine Man” but only by the music. For me
the experience was a little like a dream where you’re in your native
country and you can tell the people around you are speaking your
language but you can’t understand it. The audience was treated to two
encores including a song popularized not by Bob Dylan but a
Washingtonian (”All Along the Watchtower”, or, as Bob performed it:
Vzz Z-lzzz zzz Wzztzz-zz”).
I think it was the first concert I’d seen where the roadies prepared
the stage behind a curtain and it is definitely the most expensive
rock concert I have ever seen, but for a brother from Minnesota, it
was worth it.