Plus - the band have really come in to their own. He doesn’t need to strain so much and thus seems to be taking great care with his vocal performance - as if he really cares that he makes the most of what’s left of his vocal chords, and what’s left of his touring years. The audience is forced to listen (and they do) and Bob’s voice sits nicely on top of the band’s sympathetic backing. It’s almost minimalist, very few solos by any band members, and very suited to the small theatre residencies he’s been doing on this tour. It is an introspective show, the band is much quieter, gone are the half dozen or so rocking blues-rock-rockabilly numbers you could count on in a Dylan set. So, what is this plan? Well, he has designed a very specific new show, centred on Tempest, his most recent album.
We are used to him mixing up the medicine night after night, but now? No. A great venue, and seemingly a great tour, with the biggest surprise of all being that, well, there haven’t really been any surprises! Other than a bizarre blip when he completely changed the set-list in Rome earlier in the tour, Bob has played pretty much the exact same set for this entire tour, which as Dylan watchers will know is very unusual. I do less now for one reason or another - but managed to make it over from Dublin for the final night of three shows in the gorgeous opera house at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. And more about the geographical significance later – keep reading, John Lennon fans! But we got a bit of both last month when Bob Dylan’s latest tour-leg trundled in to the seaside Lancashire town. Not necessarily a town associated with great art or never ending rock tours.
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