Key West is the key — Nottingham

Bob Dylan took command of the arena and his band last night.

Here’s a recording of the show last night, it cuts out after To Be Alone With You.

Bob Dylan took command of the arena and his band last night. His rough and rowdy troupe showing extreme sensitivity on the ballads and a raucous cacophonous edge on the bluesier numbers.

Opening the set with a one chord version of Watchtower which felt something like a combination of Masters of War and Political world, Dylan played some nice near chromatic licks at times finding his way into the song.

It Ain’t Me Babe followed and it was a joy to hear his voice so strong and powerful. In fact during the whole evening he was singing powerfully and strong. Never too much or too little.

As he eased into the Rough and Rowdy songs, from where I was sitting a lot of the instruments seemed to be sharing a little too much of the same frequency space that added a murky character to the proceedings, but within it you could hear some very cool interplay between Bob Britt and Doug Lancio. I Contain Multitudes was quite beautiful.

False Prophet followed but didn’t hit me with the same pulsing strength the album version does. Some of the great Jim Keltner’s (as Dylan introduced him) signature rolls weren’t quite landing in the pocket to my ear and that seemed to be the case in a number of the blues-oriented songs.

At the end of one of the songs, and it may have been False Prophet, I did notice Bob reach out his arm half salute in Jim’s direction, though I’m not sure what the gesture was an indication of.

Masterpiece and Black Rider followed and things started to take a turn as the band eased in and their dynamics and Bob’s every nuance seemed to align to perfection.

My Own Version of You seemed to pass me by, although according to reports from others at earlier shows on this tour, this was the best version so far. I tried to grab hold of it and go for the ride but I just couldn’t slide into the songs movement. It felt much the same during To Be Alone With You, although the piano playing from Dylan was dominant, driving and superb, but again sitting upper right from the stage isn’t always the best way of picking up the stereophonic sound of the band. The energy however shifted to joyous extremes with Desolation Row in its Series of Dreams drum version.

And then there was Key West. This was a real turning point for me. It was the moment he took full control. The band slid back into the shadows and Dylan’s incredible vocals punctured the passing chords and piano stabs. His voice was just incredibly strong all night. Singing with such conviction and purpose. You could see a beam of light emanating from the stage, he was like a prophet embalmed in light and an audience rapt by his every utterance. In fact in my limited number (20) of concerts I’ve seen in a quarter of a century this may have been the best I’ve ever heard him sing.

Then followed a run of perfectly executed songs, with a great River Flow, and Baby Blue in its new version with the new minor 4th chord change (if the song is in C I mean the F minor) which reminds me somewhat of Joni Mitchell’s piano demo version that would later morph into her song Not To Blame. I felt Baby Blue was the true grand ballad of the evening. It seems capture the moment we’re in now, with the shadow of the US election just a few days passed.

Then followed a stunning version of Made Up My Mind, the stillness and focus in the audience clear, with Dylan reaching high squeezing out the last notes of the progression “nobody told meeeeeeeee it was just something I knew”.

Mother of Muses is a real favourite of mine and was for me when the album first came out. It’s a beautiful song of praise, gratitude, a requiem to history and a higher level calling and understanding of the relationship between the dark and light parts of history, something that floats above the histrionic static noise of todays “everything is political, everything is divided”. Inside the song are the songs of history, the great divisive figures of history and the beauty that weaves all of these images and events together as one long tapestry of humankind. It’s one of the great Dylan melodies for me and fitting that it nearly bookends the final song of the show Every Grain of Sand.

Goodbye Jimmy Reed injected some light relief before the other grand ballad of the evening provided the grand finale.

Restored to its original glory with the original guitar part from the Shot of Love album, with precision and emotional intensity by Doug Lancio and quite fitting to have Jim Keltner who was there at the original recording session guiding the song along with the gentlest brush drums.

I found myself close to tears and hanging in the balance. Dylan knows what’s ahead and up the road for him and he’s delivers his fans to that enchanted place also, reflecting on the wonder, the beauty and the sadness of life and the strength and faith to gently let go to the will of our maker and the beauty of creation, and with that he closes one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen.