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Bob Dylan’s vocals were clear and forceful during last night’s show at the Citi Wang Theatre. |
MUSIC REVIEW
Dylan presents rollicking, charged up show at Wang
Set lists aside, Bob Dylan’s concerts are rarely carbon copies. What you see and hear on a Friday is probably not what you’ll get the next night. For his latest tour, the only thing you can count on is that Dylan will probably wind down with “All Along the Watchtower.’’
And so it went for his concert at the Citi Wang Theatre last night, the first of three performances there. A lean and rollicking show, it reminded you of the vast difference between seeing Dylan in a midsize theater versus an arena (where his recent Boston-area shows have happened). A good sound mix is crucial; otherwise, you end up scratching your head all night wondering what on earth he’s singing.
At the Wang, though, Dylan’s vocals were relatively clear and forceful. Better yet, he was fully engaged during the two-hour set that drove hard and deep into his catalog, from “Girl From the North Country’’ (featuring Dylan’s only performance on guitar) and a particularly charged “Highway 61 Revisited’’ to newer songs such as “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ ’’ and “Jolene.’’ (Mercifully, he didn’t play anything from his new holiday confection, “Christmas in the Heart.’’)
True to form, Dylan was as enigmatic onstage as he is off, and it was hard not to read too much into his body language. Was that a faint smile during “Just Like a Woman’’? Such are the frivolous questions you ask when the man never addresses the audience, aside from “thank you, friends’’ during the band introductions.
Dylan locked into a muscular, junkyard-blues-rock groove early on, courtesy of a tight, five-piece band that, despite some stellar solos from guitarist Charlie Sexton, never stole Dylan’s spotlight. When he left his Hammond organ to play harmonica or take the microphone, there were flashes of Dylan as carnival barker (replete with rasp), striking poses with outstretched hands.
Rather than give “Like a Rolling Stone’’ the usual anthemic treatment, he brought it down to earth with a freewheeling arrangement that you could appreciate without having survived the ’60s. And “Spirit on the Water’’ gave Dylan his best line, which doubled as a mantra: “You think I’m past my prime/ Let me see what you got.’’
James Reed can be reached at jreed@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
