Zimmy, Dylan, Bobby, His Royal Highness -- whatever you call him, Bob Dylan has only gotten better with age. I can attest to this, having seen him live twice in the past two years on his tour of American minor league ballparks. Now, I'll be the first to admit that a minor league ballpark isn't the IDEAL setting in which to see Bob Dylan in all his wondrous glory, but you know, I'm pretty sure he could have played in a urine-doused, garbage scattered back-alley & I would have still been on cloud nine.
I first saw him in June of 2005 in Nashville, Greer Stadium. My father took me for my 19th birthday, & I ventured off into the standing area on the field, & managed to bite, kick, & crawl my way to the third row back from the stage. It was a magnificent experience, even though Bob seemed to have had a cold, & didn't really budge from behind his keyboard the entire time. However, he SOUNDED absolutely amazing. This man can bring a crowd to it's knees in a puddle of poetic mercy, & then rip them back up by the roots. The set list simply did NOT disappoint, and of course, there was the standard encore of "Like A Rolling Stone" (I'm almost certain he's contractually bound to play that song at least once a day for the rest of his natural life).
After his two hour set, my ears were ringing with the bluesy guitar riffs and his nasal growl. I didn't come down for days.
My good friend Josh & I made the Journey to Lexington this past August to see him again, & as I said, this man only gets better. Well worth the three hour wait in blistering heat, his set was full of classics, "Forever Young" (I cried, I'm not ashamed to admit it. It was just that beautiful.), "Love sick", "The Times They Are 'A Changin'", "Maggie's Farm", "All Along The Watchtower", & baby that was just the beginning. I was fortunate enough to had made nice with an older woman infront of me who let me slip past her in order to see past her enormous giant of a husband, so I had a great view for most of the concert. People were going crazy -- 60 year old ex-hippies, AND 17 year old drunken wannabe flowerchildren whispering about tossing old Bobby their panties.
This being said, if you are a Bob Dylan fan, DO NOT pass up the opportunity to see this man, this iconic figure, live in concert. I promise that you will not be disappointed. And it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up a copy of his new album, "Modern Times" either. It's crazy good.