The air burns!

Bob Dylan in Woodstock | Never Ending Pool Wrap-Up

On July 6th, the second-to-last show of the first leg of this year’s summer tour, Bob Dylan played in Bethel, the legendary town of the 1969 Woodstock festival (which he didn’t attend back then, but made a triumphal appearance there in 1994 for the festivals 25th anniversary)!

On Bill Pagel’s site boblinks.com Barry Gloffke gave a nice review about the show on the 6th of July:

'the air burns, I'm trying to think straight...'

On a sultry summer day/night, my wife (Jacqueline) and I made the 2-hour
drive to Bethel Woods Art Center in N.Y. Unfortunately for us, the air
conditioner in my Jeep died on the way, so by the time we got there we
were both overheated. We were never able to fully cool off, even after
sunset, and I could feel the heat emanating from my dancing body all night
long. I loved it, by my wife not so much.

This was the last of my four shows on this tour (#89), and Jacqueline's
3rd (#24). A solid show, and although Bob had to clear his throat several
times, he still sounded strong. Bob still seems vibrant and healthy. I'm
hoping for, and looking forward to, a late Fall US Tour.

This was our first time at Bethel Woods Art Center and we were very
impressed. Nice layout in a beautiful serene locale. Great sound and very
good sight lines, even from our seats on the far right side of the
amphitheater. Overall the crowd was attentive and energized. At one point
security ushered a woman down to the stage in front of us to take pictures
of Bob... I was told later it was Bob's daughter.

I thought Bob did wonderful versions of SHOOTING STAR and UNDER THE RED
SKY tonight. One of the highlights for me was the duo of EARLY ROMAN KINGS
with a very bluesy and ominous quality... almost like a funeral march...
and CAN'T WAIT which had a similar tempo/feel to me. The top highlight
though, was the trio of BALLAD OF A THIN MAN (slow and deliberate), SIMPLE
TWIST OF FATE (slow and deliberate) and I'LL BE YOUR BABY TONIGHT, which
starts slow and deliberate, rocks out, and ends slowly to finish the show.
Bob did not play as much harp as previous nights, but overall I thought he
played great harp when he did blow it. And I thought his piano playing was
excellent tonight and overall through the four shows I attended. It was a
very satisfying night, very little drama, and my wife and I got to dance
the night away. I hope to be able to do it again soon.

As an addendum, I thought Jim Keltner was out of synch with the Bob and
the Band on more than one occasion during the four shows I saw. The never
ending search for a drummer continues.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Robert Plant and Alison Krauss and
the great show they put on, once again. They meld wonderfully together. I
loved every one of their shows.

We also finally got to see Willie Nelson, and although we only stayed for
a handful of songs, it was good to see/hear him.
Plant/Dylan/Nelson... one night, three legends. Fantastic.

I did not see any familiar Bobcats, but I did meet two cool cats from
Queens, NY. Hello to Charles and John... aka Honky Tonk Queens. I will see
you guys on July 27th at Gottscheer Hall.

As for the rest of you Bobcats... enjoy the balance of the tour... don't
you miss it!

The dancing cowboy from NYC

---

The Never Ending Pool Update

With all of the 11 shows now being included, the current stats look as follows:

nico08 is really spinning it up this tour, great work so far! But we are excited to see how the second leg of this years summer tour will mix things up again, with The Tambo Man, JuliusTheHonk, good captain clack and Passing Stranger all close behind!

The Overall Team-Statistic:

Close, but team Paupers and Peasants and Princes and Kings was able to keep their first place after the 11 shows of leg 1, but with team Discombobulated only 8 points behind, we can expect a close race, re-starting in less than 3 weeks!