Arena rock on a Saturday night
Talk about your extremes. Thursday night, I catch an up close and personal set by the Monotonix. Two nights later, I sit in the mid-level seats for the Dylan/Elvis Costello show at OSU's Value City Arena. Nevertheless, what Saturday evening lacked in intimacy was made up for by the fact that it was a rare opportunity for me to see Dylan with an opener other than Jimmie Vaughn.
After a typically ho-hum set by opener "Famous" Amos Lee (in fairness, though, it seemed like the crowd of mostly middle-aged Midwestern folk who would never be caught getting trash thrown at them at a Monotonix show really dug A-Lee), Elvis Costello took the stage alone as part of what is being billed as his first solo tour in 12 years. This was the first time I'd ever seen Costello live, and while my familiarity with Costello runs just a little beyond really liking his first three records + Blood & Chocolate, I enjoyed his set. The hits were the highlights for me, particularly the opener "Red Shoes," "Alison," "Radio Sweetheart," and "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding."
Coming in, I was a little curious as to how Costello would handle the powerpop solo (if he'd even touch it at all), but he ran his acoustic through a distortion pedal and phaser, which gave him the necessary oomph, not to mention the fact that his voice is still in top form and could probably carry most of the tunes by itself. Predictably, the Dispatch called Costello's rig "sometimes-abrasive and over-amplified," but wasn't that the point? I mean, it wasn't billed as an "unplugged, return to 1926 evening with Elvis Costello" or anything. But I digress. Costello's big into the call-and-response thing, which I wasn't too into, and when he pulled out the eponymous line from John Lennon's "I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier," I would've preferred he had gone for "I don't wanna be a lawyer, momma, I don't want to lie." But I acknowledge that I'm in the minority, and all-in-all I appreciated Elvis C.
As for Dylan's set, it was one of the better times I've seen him (keep in mind I've only seen him live over the past two years), definitely better than his set at the Coop in Columbus last year. Seemingly going back to the vault once again, the Dispatch approached the set from the "where has the anti-war, peacenik Dylan gone?" angle, which is unfortunate since -- once again -- Dylan hasn't been the "anti-war, peacenik Dylan" since, what, 1964? The reason Dylan is Dylan is because of his ability to reinvent his music and public persona, and it's kinda a drag to have the local media base its review on the expectation that a performer should be the same as he was 35 years ago. This type of journalism also contributes to the seemingly increasing neo-hippie presence at Dylan shows, which I've ranted about in the past, though thankfully it wasn't that big a deal Saturday night.
But I digress again. As always, it took Dylan a song or two to warm up vocally, so while I was glad to hear "Rainy Day Women" as the opener, it wasn't a particuarly inspiring version. I recently heard someone say that you go to a Dylan show now for the possibility of seeing a few "moments" where things just click, and Dylan's guitar solos on the second and third tunes ("It Ain't Me Babe" and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," respectively) fit the bill. I guess I've never really appreciated Dylan's lead guitar work (what I've even heard of it), but for whatever reason these leads were right up my alley -- melodic, unpretentious, and evocative of some kind of mood that wasn't otherwise present in the arrangement.
A little while later, Dylan & Co. went into a solid version of "Workingman's Blues #2" (one of the better songs from his most recent album), which started off a bit more forlorn than on the album version and worked upward on the foundation of a good, slow groove. For whatever reason, the evening's version of "Highway 61 Revisited" really kicked it, and, as always, the band threw everything into a rousing version of "Summer Days" near the end of the main set, which closed with an equally strong "Ballad of a Thin Man" that provided another one of those "moments" when Dylan delivered a couple of deft harmonica solos. Thankfully, Dylan avoided tossing in another version of "Like A Rolling Stone" (which really doesn't cut it live right now, along with stuff like "Blowin' In The Wind") and opted for the more dependable "Thunder On The Mountain" and "All Along The Watchtower" as closers.
