Elusive music legend Dylan leaves crowd wanting more

Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 25, 2006 at midnight

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Long a mystery lacking clues, Bob Dylan has gone almost mainstream in the past couple of years. There was the No Direction Home documentary, the autobiography and the wryly humorous weekly show he hosts on satellite radio.

And there is Modern Times, the new album that's garnering some of the best reviews of Dylan's career.

That pulling back of the curtain, however, doesn't mean Dylan can't still be frustrating and elusive.

Despite the acclaim for Modern Times - and the crowd going nuts for those songs Tuesday night - he limited his erratic set-list to just three tunes of the 10 on that disc.

The fact that those three were highlights for the rabid crowd and, seemingly, for the musicians onstage, made you shake your head. Most musicians would kill for that kind of reception of their new work.

But it's Dylan, of course. The show included many left turns, some of them welcome (a gorgeous reading of Shooting Star), some not so much. (I can guarantee you no one walked in the show thinking "Man, I hope he sings the song Joey tonight." Yet there it was anyway.)

It made for a show that started strong (Sweet Marie, Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again) and ended the same way, but had some name-that-tune moments in the middle.

The highlights, however, made up for the lulls. Workingman's Blues No. 2 from the new disc was sublime, with the crowd applauding the opening notes then reverently taking in each note.

The other new songs, Rolling and Tumbling and Thunder on the Mountain, were delivered in fiercely rocking renditions, driving the crowd absolutely nuts.

I'll Be Your Baby Tonight was delivered as a 1950s-style honky-tonk swing, and the recent Things Have Changed found the band having fun and stretching, digging deep into the rhythms of the song as Dylan gleefully spat out the lyrics.

Perhaps the most stunning moment of the night, however, was Masters of War. I've seen him do it plenty of times but never before with a crowd cheering each individual verse. The song's ongoing topicality, 40-plus years after Dylan wrote it, is both fascinating and disheartening.

In the past few years, Dylan has fallen into a pattern of a 15- or 16-song set, ended with Like a Rolling Stone and All Along the Watchtower. Despite no opening act, the crowd got the same truncated show. It was brilliant at times, but it's safe to say everyone wanted more. Especially of the new album.

But, hey - it's Dylan.

Bob Dylan

• When, where: Tuesday night, Fillmore Auditorium

• Grade: B+

Mark Brown is the popular music critic. Brownm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2674

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