Bob Dylan review: Five-star performance for stunning concert at Gleneagle in Killarney
A file image of Bob Dylan in concert. He played the first of two nights in Killarney on Sunday (Photo by Helle Arensbak / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP)
★★★★★
Touched by ethereal hands, Bob Dylan’s rough and rowdy voice still has the power and clarity to shake the celestial, well-lit INEC Killarney’s tiered rows right from floor level all the way skyward to the vaulted gods.
He was truly magnificent. His diction was perfect, you could hear pretty much every word. Standing ovations after each and every one of the 18 songs in his stunning 1h45m set. Dylan has still has it in abundance – whatever ‘it’ is.
From those of us supping zeros at base camp down on row A right up to the champagne box alpinists at row Z, his genius left no stone unturned in the alphabet of human emotions. Phones were barred, zipped up in pouches. The night was all the better for that.
There were also no press photographers permitted, so the only evidence that exists of the night is in the magic memories in our minds.
At 84 Dylan still looks more fine than frail. The show closed with a joyous singalong — an old American folk song first popularised in this country by Planxty and Paul Brady — and a rendition here that drew a tear from every tier. In Belfast a few days ago, he closed with a cover of Van Morrison’s One clearly does pick up a few card tricks over the course of 60+ years in showbiz.
A total pro, he steps onstage at 7.59pm, the first notes of ring out at 8pm sharp. Then it’s seamless god-like musicianship from there to 9.45pm; the house lights go up two minutes later. It’s over. Sated.
“Thank you so much,” said Dylan before naming and pointing to the four magical members of the band, arguably his best since the Basement Tapes. He didn’t utter one other word and yet he managed to communicate with great depth all night long.
Like this: Sat behind his baby grand piano, his eyes peering out over the sheet music that he’d turn mid-song like you might see at an orchestral performance, his emotive eyebrows did most of the communicative heavy lifting.
You can see his mid-shin black boots tapping away beneath the baby grand, his trousers having ridden up to mid-calf. He looks cool too, head to toe in black.
The oldest person on stage by a distance, his abundant nest of salt and pepper hair is mockingly conspicuous amid the brimmed and soft hats of his band mates.
And what band mates. Guitarists Doug Lancio and Bob Britt brought fresh eyes and ears, innovative new tunes and changes of pace; drummer Anton Fig brought a deep and subtle rainbow of rhythmic colours (for all that, his finest moment, were the train track chugging brushes that added a Sun Records era Johnny Cash snare vibe to Desolation Row); bass player Tony Garnier kept the party going, particularly when on double bass, providing a bedrock of jazz and blues that freed up the others to indulge us with a mesmeric mix of folk, rock and orchestral manoeuvres.
And head and shoulders atop of all that sat Dylan. I think very few of us in the INEC realised just how good he is on piano; powerful, rhythmic and tuneful. Very much the band leader, sometimes playing piano with his right hand while soloing on harmonica with his left, on other occasions riffing on the piano with one hand while subtly shaking the mic stand with his other hand, the feet tapping away below the water line like a seated Elvis.
The result? We were very definitely all shook up. So famous for his repertoire, for the lyrical depth of his songwriting, this night was a welcome reminder of Dylan’s genius as an arranger and as a live performer. Lest we forget, he’s 84.
The setlist featured nine songs from his 2020 album and a handful of his classics stylistically reimagined. A night for purists and die-hards? Maybe. Mind you, this was billed as the ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ world tour, and more generally viewed as being part of ‘The Neverending Tour’ that has been breathlessly running non-stop since the 1960s.
Dylan famously pleases himself; and in so doing, you could say that he incidentally pleases some of us some of the time. And then there’s Ponchartrain. Yes, it’s all quite esoteric, but it’s also still showbiz.
This was the best Dylan show that I’ve seen since his legendary Slane performance in 1984. I’d imagine I’m not alone in holding that view.
- I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight; It Ain’t Me, Babe; I Contain Multitudes; False Prophet; When I Paint My Masterpiece; Black Rider; My Own Version Of You; To Be Alone With You; Crossing The Rubicon; Desolation Row; Key West (Philosopher Pirate); Watching The River Flow; It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue; I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself To You; Mother Of Muses; Goodbye Jimmy Reid; Every Grain Of Sand; and The Lakes of Ponchartrain.
- Bob Dylan plays the Gleneagle Arena (INEC) again on Monday, Nov 24; and then 3Arena, Dublin, on Tues, Nov 25
