…Bob Dylan!

The Bob Dylan Show‘s freewheeling week in NYC began here last night at the Beacon Theatre, and it was a doozy. Bob’s got two opening acts this time around: First up was Amos Lee, a young guy who seemed pretty talented and exuded a sort of John Mayer/VH1-Storytellers vibe, and his three-piece band. Unfortunately, I arrived late and only caught the tail end of their set, but what I heard sounded pretty good.

Then came Merle Haggard and the Strangers, a well-traveled outfit (according to them, 40 years and running) with — as my friend Alex pointed out — the spitting image of Boris Yeltsin on the drums. Haggard & co. offered some old-school, easy-listening, toe-tappin’ country…I’m not a fan by any means, but I recognized some of the songs, including “Workin’ Man’s Blues,” “Okie from Muskogee,” and a cover of Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable.” (Well, it’s Merle Haggard…I wasn’t expecting “London Calling.”) And, despite some stage banter that sounded like it’d been in the can for a really long while (replete with rim-shots), the Strangers offered up a decent hour of countrified ditties that made for a solid, if somewhat quietening, kick-off to the Dylan set.

Finally, at around 9:30 or so, the man of the hour. Dylan’s show hasn’t changed all that much in the past couple of years, but he’s honed further his crack team of back-up musicians, and the stage design — red velvet curtains, a starry backdrop — has a choice David Lynch surreality to it this time around. Here’s the setlist:

To Be Alone With You /
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight /
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) /
Visions Of Johanna (listen here) /
Cold Irons Bound /
Moonlight /
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again /
High Water (For Charley Patton) (Listen here) /
Summer Days /
Standing In The Doorway /
Highway 61 Revisited /
Desolation Row

Encore: Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues / All Along The Watchtower

Aside from the occasional harp solo at center stage (during “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” and “Desolation Row,” for example), Dylan spent the evening on the keys. His voice is not it what once was, obviously, but I generally get over that by the first song or so — In fact, on some cuts, like “It’s Alright, Ma” or “Watchtower,” I actually find Dylan’s current raspy, menacing delivery an improvement.

For me, last night’s highlights were “Visions of Johanna” and “Desolation Row,” both of which remain two of Dylan’s most transcendent wordscapes. And the Hendrix-esque closer “All Along the Watchtower,” while not really a surprise, just keeps getting better and better — Bob’s now added a very eerie echo-effect to the last couplet (“Outside in the distance / A wildcat did growl / Two riders were approaching / The wind began to howwwwll…“) I’m very much looking forward to seeing how he’ll top that tonight.

Power and the Passion.

Call him King of the Mountain….via the newly reconstituted JJG, Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett (who suffered a fainting spell over the weekend) was recently elected to the Australian Parliament. I saw the Oils ten years ago during their WOMAD tour with Peter Gabriel, and Garrett was an electric presence, offering what is still far and away the best stage banter I’ve ever heard. (And, whatsmore, it wasn’t canned…I remember him riffing on their Letterman appearance only a few days earlier.) The people of Kingsford Smith are lucky — in this day and age, you could do a lot worse for an elected rep than Garrett.

Welcome to the Occupation.

So, in their first stop since Dubya Day, REM played the Garden last night. A good show, and they played my favorites from the new album (“Boy in the Well,” “High-Speed Train,” “The Outsiders”) But there was obviously a very strange and subdued vibe to the proceedings. Angela McCluskey, the opening act, struck an appropriately funereal tone with a swelling rendition of The The’s “Love is Stronger than Death.” And Stipe, for his part, seemed as staggered as most of the crowd, and barely spoke at all — (not that it much mattered…85% of the people there seemed to be waiting for “Losing My Religion” the whole time anyway.) All in all, I enjoyed last year’s stop more, but obviously those were happier times for both the band and the nation. Setlist below:

REM at MSG, W2+1:

1. It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine.)	[Just in case you haven’t been keeping up with current events…]
2. Begin the Begin
3. So Fast, So Numb
4. Animal
5. Boy in the Well	“This song takes place in Tennessee.”
6. Welcome to the Occupation
7.The Outsiders
8. Get Up!
9. High-Speed Train
10. Cuyahoga	“This song takes place in Ohio.” [BOO.]
11. Sweetness Follows
12. The One I Love
13. I Wanted to Be Wrong	“This is our State of the Union.”
14. Imitation of Life	“This was a #1 single in Japan.”
15. Final Straw
16. Losing My Religion	“I don’t know what to say tonight, so I’ve tried to say as little as I could and let the songs speak for themselves. There’s something about a well-constructed pop song…”
17. Walk Unafraid
18. Life and How to Live It
E1. What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
E2. Drive
E3. Leaving New York	“This song takes place in NYC.”
E4. Electrolite	“This song takes place in LA.”
E5. Permanent Vacation (w/ Steve Wynn)	“We’re REM, and this is what we do.”
E6. I’m Gonna DJ
E7. Man on the Moon	“This song belongs to you.”

Life and How to Live It.

So R.E.M. came to town Saturday night and played probably the best show I’ve seen by Athens’ finest. (This is my fourth over the past decade.) First the setlist:

1. Finest Worksong

2. What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?

3. Driver 8

4. Drive

5. Animal

6. Fall On Me

7. Daysleeper

8. Bad Day

9. The One I Love

10. World Leader Pretend

11. (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville

12. The Great Beyond

13. Country Feedback

14. Losing My Religion

15. Find The River

16. She Just Wants To Be

17. Walk Unafraid
18. Man On The Moon

19. Life And How To Live It

20. NYC (Interpol cover)

21. Nightswimming
22. The Final Straw
23. Imitation Of Life

24. Gardening At Night
25. It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

So all in all, a truly excellent show. There were other R.E.M. songs they’re playing on this tour that I’d have loved to hear (Exhuming McCarthy, Feeling Gravity’s Pull), but they played my two favorites (and my top two requests) — Fall on Me and Country Feedback — so I left happy. I was particularly impressed with Walk Unafraid and She Just Wants to Be, two songs off Up and Reveal respectively that really came into their own tonight, when Peter Buck chose them to show off his considerable guitar mojo. And the band wisely skipped some of their more saccharine moments — Everybody Hurts or Strange Currencies, for example — to showcase old hits (Rockville, Gardening) and political tone poems (Final Straw and World Leader Pretend, a special treat.) In sum, Stipe, Buck and Mills still got it, and I’m very much looking forward to their next swing through the area.

Red Skies and Bluegrass.

Hey y’all…busy weekend over here in these parts. Aside from a final orgy of TIME-reading to put an end to my summer research work, I also went to go check out the Creative Time fireworks show, where I spent most of the 4-and-some-odd minutes trying to prevent Berkeley from having a coronary (Lousy judgment on my part bringing him…I thought he might enjoy night in the Park, but he clearly thought he was back on Hill 243.) And I got to see St. Felix Station, my friend’s great bluegrass band over at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg (and was delighted to find said candy store has a weekly trivia night…booyah.)

Indy Carnies (Carny Indies?)

This Modern Age plays Hipster Bingo at the Siren Music Festival on Coney Island. (Via Listen Missy.) I was there on Saturday too, and was kicking myself for not printing out a card. (I must say I also quite relished being at a beach and being well within the skin tone median – usually I’m the whitest guy for miles, but with indy rockers galore about I felt certifiably tan.) At any rate, the only acts I caught were Hot Hot Heat (interesting), The Datsuns (bleah), and Modest Mouse (ho hum) – I spent most of the time enjoying ancient amusement park technology and eating carny food. All in all, it was a beautiful day to enjoy a quintessential NYC summer attraction.

Carrying a Torch.

Bob Dylan’s second night at the Garden was as enjoyable as the first, with its own share of surprises. The bulk of the setlist remained the same – Although this time around Bob seemed a little more hopeful (with Forever Young and The Times They-Are-A Changin’ in the mix), he still made time for some Dylanesque zingers (such as One Too Many Mornings and You Ain’t Going Nowhere) To be honest, at the end of the show the little cynic inside my head was on the fence about whether going twice was justified…until the band closed the night with a special surprise. Bob said a few words about a friend who couldn’t be there tonight: “We were such good buddies, so I wanted to play this for him.” At which point they broke into The Beatles’ [George Harrison’s] “Something.” It was a beautiful moment to cap another great night.

It’s Alright, Ma (He’s only from Yemen.)

Caught the first of Bob Dylan’s two NYC shows last night, and as always it was a powerful experience. Dylan (who spent most of the night on piano) definitely had an agenda for the evening. For one, the war in Iraq weighed heavily on the early part of the set. A cover of Don Henley’s “End of the Innocence” (?!) at the 4-spot led into the always-excellent “Things Have Changed” (as in the The-Times-They-Are-NOT-A’-Changin’) and, after a surprisingly rockin’ version of the Stones’ “Brown Sugar,” (?!), Bob gave us the one-two punch of “Masters of War” (self-explanatory) and “It’s Alright Ma (I’m only Bleedin’)” (in which he yelled the line “And even the President of the United States must have to stand NAKED.”)

For another, Dylan spent an inordinate amount of time playing other peoples’ songs, with Neil Young (“Old Man“) and Warren Zevon (“Mutineer“) tunes at the back end of the set. Considering also that the encore was “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and “All Along the Watchtower” – two songs noted for other peoples’ versions of them – and it seems like Bob felt like paying credit to his colleagues tonight.

All in all, a great show, with “Just Like a Woman” and “Shelter from the Storm” also deserving special attention (The really hardcore Dylan fans’ highlight seemed to be the second song, “Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread,” from The Basement Tapes…but to be honest, I didn’t recognize it until I saw the setlist.) The night also featured the following misheard exchange between me and my sister during a very loud “Drifter’s Escape:” Her (pointing at guy a few rows over dancing like crazy): “He’s jamming!” Me: “He’s from Yemen?” Ah well, I guess you had to be there. (Picture courtesy of Jim Lawhead.)

Trust Elvis.

The Elvis Costello show at the Beacon the other evening was superb (set list here)…I was surprised how good he sounds live. I expected his voice to be a little more off, but he could hit all the notes and wavers from the studio versions. If I could pick three Elvis songs I had to hear, they’d be “Man Out of Time,” “Indoor Fireworks,” and – most importantly – “I Want You,” so I was not disappointed. (Yeah, “Alison,” “Beyond Belief,” or “Everyday I Write the Book” would’ve been cool too, but I’ll take what I can get.) The third encore in particular, the blue-lit, NIN-esque version of “I Want You” paired with “Almost Blue,” was truly a thing of beauty. As for Underworld the other night, I was underwhelmed…mostly by the venue, which was way too small and overbooked for a dance show. In fact, I’ve pretty much given up on the Hammerstein as a venue by this point. (More on the Underworld show in the comments of this post at Do You Feel Loved.) Did I mention that Elvis is King?

Born Slippy, Beyond Belief.

This appears to be the one week a year when I take advantage of living in NYC. A high school friend has procured me a ticket to see Underworld tonight at the Hammerstein, and then Tuesday I’m off to the Beacon to catch one of those acts on my must-see list for years, Elvis Costello and the Imposters. If the setlist is anything as ridiculous as Wednesday‘s, the show is going to be off the hook…Man Out of Time, Indoor Fireworks, Beyond Belief, Alison, Almost Blue, and I Want You?! Unbelievable.