This will hopefully be the first post in a series looking at what I see as landmark performances in Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour, as I have experienced it over the last six years. The NET is a strange beast - most Dylan afficionados agree that in his twilight years Dylan's performances have been through something of a renaissance, to varying degrees. Yet no two people experience it in the same way. Everyone attends different concerts, listens to different recordings, and has their own favourite performances. Attention to setlists and recordings can wax and wane as much with the mood of the individual as with the quality of the performances. While no one (or no one in their right mind) would cite the NET as the peak of Dylan's recording career, it's understandably a period I identify with most on a personal level. I mean, 1966 was wonderful, but unfortunately I wasn't there...
I have so far seen over 30 Bob Dylan concerts since May 2000, in the UK, Europe and the US, and I've been lucky enough to witness some rare and fairly noteworthy performances on the way. I thought it would make sense to begin at the very beginning, with the first song of the first gig, in Zurich's cavernous Hallenstadion in May 2000. I had travelled to Switzerland especially for the concert, and was there with my girlfriend at the time, my constant Dylan companion (and the man responsible for this particular addiction of mine) Ed, and his girlfriend. It was exciting enough for four 18 year olds to be on a jaunt in a strange European city, but seeing Dylan for the first time was an incredible experience. I'm sure everyone can remember the moment they first saw that iconic silhouette emerge on stage, and on this occasion as no other since, the heart-in-mouth excitement continued throughout the show. It helped of course that Dylan and co were incredibly on form in the Spring of 2000.
So, back in the day, Bobby would generally open with a traditional song, done acoustically in a great jug-band style by what I think were one of his finest backing bands. "Roving Gambler" is a song that Dylan sang way back in the early 60s before his first album came out, and it was resurrected in the early years of the NET as a solo piece. Like the other openers at the time, "Roving Gambler" always made for a great start to a Dylan gig - over recent years he has often seemed most engaged with singing traditional material, and so starting like this gets his attention much more than slogging through another version of "Maggie's Farm" does these days. The rambling spirit of the song epitomises the romantic, hard travellin' side of the NET, and in this performance it is so much an ensemble piece; in those days seeing Bob Dylan really was about seeing the band as well. The backing vocals of Charlie Sexton and Larry Campbell, in particular, are much missed in recent years.
You can download an mp3 of this performance here:
Roving Gambler (Zurich 6th May 2000)
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