Friday OT #1 - Work It, Let Me Work It
- Thread starter Angie
- Start date
Dylan is the prime example. Even stuff like "Before the Flood" can be tough to listen to. I've never seen him live based on the clips I've watched.
But he's inarguably one of the all time greats, and I love his studio work.
It's not that his voice is any worse live, it's how out of sync he gets and how so much of the time he reworks the songs into an unrecognizable form.
But he's inarguably one of the all time greats, and I love his studio work.
It's not that his voice is any worse live, it's how out of sync he gets and how so much of the time he reworks the songs into an unrecognizable form.
Yep. Of the entire set he played the one time I saw him, I barely recognized Maggie's Farm. I think he might have played All Along the Watchtower, but I honestly couldn't tell for sure. And he set up on the far side of the stage playing the keyboard so that he kind of blended in with all the other musicians on the stage. He's either trash live or a master in trolling.
I can't vouch for this directly, because I've never been to a show by The Cars, but someone years ago said he had seen them and they were extremely boring live, basically no on-stage action/movement. Seems to contradict the groove of the band's up-tempo stuff.
I'm not a guy, but Band of Horses was sort of the same environment. Lot of neck beards and ironic flannel or non-ironic North Face in that crowd.
Another vote for Dylan.
A show I worked that I thought was actually fun, even though I don't care for most of his music. Neil diamond.
Years ago I was working a Carlos Santana show. By the end of the show I was absolutely blown away. I took off my headset and commented what a great show it was. The two guys working with me pretty much said, "Meh, he just stood there." The guy's guitar was so hot it was practically smoking. To each their own, I guess.
Another "Dylan is brilliant but BRUTAL in person" vote here.
It seemed like he either didn't want to be there and just hurriedly blathered through his set or wanted to do more stuff than he had time for and blathered through his set.
My advice to Bob - You're Bob ****ING Dylan, if you don't want to do it don't do it.
It seemed like he either didn't want to be there and just hurriedly blathered through his set or wanted to do more stuff than he had time for and blathered through his set.
My advice to Bob - You're Bob ****ING Dylan, if you don't want to do it don't do it.
Maybe at some point Dylan needed to pull a "Chris Gaines" move and invent a persona and alternate music genre, just to keep himself interested, even if it failed.
He could've created a fictional stage name to go along with it. Something random, like "Robert Zimmerman."
Can't say I couldn't STAND them live, but I listened to Everclear quite a bit in high school, and saw them once in college and they sucked really bad.
Also was disappointed in Built to Spill and Neko Case...they were fine, just expected the bands to be more elaborate.
Justin Townes Earle was once up there with my favorite live acts but about 5 years ago I saw him with a full band and it was really bad...he's best with less.
Also was disappointed in Built to Spill and Neko Case...they were fine, just expected the bands to be more elaborate.
Justin Townes Earle was once up there with my favorite live acts but about 5 years ago I saw him with a full band and it was really bad...he's best with less.
Sprinkled in there are some gems...the Live 1966 version of Just Like A Woman is incredible but it's also only him so nobody had to figure out what chords he's playing, what key he's playing in, when he's going to come in, etc. I think it was someone from The Band that actually said he had to watch the back of Bob's hand on the fret just to figure out what he was doing during a performance.
Rolling Thunder Revue stuff is very good as well.
Saw him '04 and was disappointed, but went again in '06 and liked it more for some reason. His backing band does have a really unique sound.
Not someone I'd recommend for the price of admission though unless they just wanted to see an icon.
