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Bob Dylan and Dawes at the Peabody Opera House, 04/23/13: Review and Setlist

Apr 24, 2013 at 10:00 am

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To respond to a question with a question -- something Dylan would, and does, do all the time: Why's he singing that now? It might have to do with the sole stage decorations on this tour: three elegantly framed mirrors, portrait-size and randomly angled but all facing the audience.

Before and after the single encore, the band assembled near the front of the stage, arranging themselves as though for a Civil War-era daguerrotype.

Looked strikingly like this, actually, with large-and-in-charge Robillard playing the Garth Hudson part and wispy, puckish Dylan a spectre, present front and center, but looking like he apparated, just for this occasion, from some other place:

The pre- and post-encore bows at the Peabody Opera House, April 23, 2013 (artist's conception).

Critic's Notebook: Personal Bias: This man, who has been averaging 90 to 100 live shows a year since the day he turned 60, is a gift. Every single time he takes the stage. Why does he do it? Might as well ask why rain rains. It's what he does. It's a gift. And like any gift, it's here for the taking -- while it's here. You can get more than a hint of the real thing by listening (for now, anyway) to shows that devotees have uploaded. But a sound file alone does not convey the presence.

Random Detail: Warming up a crowd for Bob Dylan: your proverbial two-edged sword. But Dawes did it just right, delivering a package of Jackson Browne/Warren Zevon school of LA rock in a precise 40 minutes. That said, when viewed in profile, bandleader Taylor Goldsmith bears more than a passing resemblance to Wayne Szalinski.

Overheard: (in front of a flatscreen in the Kiel Club lounge, between sets): Cardinals Ballcap Guy 1: "Dylan, or Wainwright pitching the ninth?" Cardinals Ballcap Guy 2: "Dylan. I've got the Cardinals on DVR. No Dylan on DVR."

Setlist Things Have Changed (2000) Love Sick (1997) High Water (For Charley Patton) (2001) Soon After Midnight (2012) Early Roman Kings (2012) Tangled up in Blue (1975) Pay in Blood (2012) Visions of Johanna (1966) Spirit on the Water (2006) Beyond Here Lies Nothin' (2009) Blind Willie McTell (1997) What Good Am I? (1989) Summer Days (2001) Scarlet Town (2012) All Along the Watchtower (1967) Ballad of a Thin Man (1965)

Bob Dylan piano, harmonica Tony Garnier bass Donnie Herron banjo, electric mandolin, pedal steel, lap steel Stu Kimball acoustic rhythm guitar George Recile drums Duke Robillard lead guitar

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