Bob Dylan - Tempest, Sept. 11, 2012

He's playing US & Canada all August and September too.

he's playing an outdoor venue in Indy in late August & then the United Center in Chi in November, both p much equidistant from me. former is prob a more fun venue but the weather's been so savage here that I'm not sure I want to take my chances. but lawn seats are only $30ish! whereas the United Center is not likely to be as loose, but also not going to be meltorama. not sure.

He's playing US & Canada all August and September too.
yeah! crazy. obviously nothing new, but still. he must really like performing. i assume he doesn't need the $$$.

i'd be pretty happy to see this setlist

Lyon, France
Fourviere Nights Festival
Theatres Romains De Fourviere

July 18, 2012

1. Absolutely Sweet Marie
(Bob on keyboard, Donnie on violin, Stu on acoustic guitar)
2. Man In The Long Black Coat
(Bob center stage with harp, Stu on acoustic guitar)
3. Things Have Changed (Bob center stage with harp, Stu on acoustic guitar)
4. Tangled Up In Blue
(Bob center stage with harp then on grand piano, Stu on acoustic guitar)
5. Rollin' And Tumblin' (Bob on grand piano)
6. Desolation Row (Bob on grand piano, Donnie on electric mandolin,
Stu on acoustic guitar, Tony on standup bass)
7. High Water (For Charley Patton)
(Bob center stage with harp then on grand piano, Donnie on banjo, Tony on standup bass)
8. Sugar Baby (Bob on grand piano, Stu on acoustic guitar, Tony on standup bass)
9. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum (Bob on grand piano)
10. Forgetful Heart (Bob centere stage with harp, Donnie on violin,
Stu on acoustic guitar, Tony on standup bass with bow)
11. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on grand piano)
12. Blind Willie McTell
(Bob center stage with harp, Donnie on banjo, Stu on acoustic guitar, Tony on standup bass)
13. Thunder On The Mountain (Bob on grand piano)
14. Ballad Of A Thin Man
(Bob center stage with harp then on grand piano and back to center stage with harp)
15. Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on grand piano)
16. All Along The Watchtower (Bob on grand piano)

(encore)
17. Blowin' In The Wind (Bob on grand piano then center stage with harp,
Donnie on violin, Stu on acoutic guitar, Tony on standup bass)

High Water from that set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZMfWmtjR_E

my fave tempest covers

http://www.popsike.eu/pix/20120521/251067649957.jpg

http://www.popsike.eu/pix/20080601/320258850754.jpg

but i like the dylan cover. except his name doesn't really fit...somehow. the rest i like. would look good for the vinyl version.

Somehow I think it might be a mock-up, or a working visual, like a working title. Just to make the press release more festive, and fit with its massive pimping of awards and chart-toppings from Time Out Of Mind onwards. First time I saw him was in the late-ish 70s, the tour he'd started with Rolling Thunder whiteface shaded to something more tasteful, no stubble, coiffure, Hot August Night-type stage attire (this is when he and Neil Diamond shared some elements of management and/or lawyers, plus Robertson had produced Beautiful Noise, which I'd still like to check[ might be how Neil got to be in The Last Waltz). By the time they got to Birmingham, Dyl was in a rumpled Cisco Kid suit, black and silver (which he wore for this whole leg of the tour, judging by the highlight reel I later saw), side of his hair flattened, hunched over and totin' that big ol' guitar, like he'd just rolled out of the blankets and straight to another night's work. But with enough campfire bacon and coffee to tap that dirty sneaker and direct diff subsets of musicians, and sometimes the whole 20 or so usually onstage (though some were sent into or summoned from the wings). Plus a female gospel chorus in several contexts, incl. a gospel-speed-metal-orchestral "Masters of War."

Another time I saw him, in the early 90s, he was more into playing than singing, lots of fine complex folkie picking and some screaming solos, from him and steel guitarist, especially in "Highway 61" and "Tombstone Blues." "All Along The Watchtower" kept witholding the expected guitarpocalypse, more of a band=laidback Roadrunner, people all along the watchtower and in our mountain amphitheater seats=Wile E. Coyote. It was diabolical, and finally/suddenly we were in the middle of another song.

that highwater is great.

tim heidecker pre-covers Titanic: http://vimeo.com/46246490

haaaaaaa

early, not terribly revealing, report from uncut.

Tempest seemed to find Dylan on unquestionably formidable form. Its ten tracks run over a total playing time of around 75 minutes, the title track alone taking up a fair chunk of that, with verse following verse in a manner that might remind you of “Desolation Row”. There was a lot, therefore, to take in on a single encounter, especially with note-taking discouraged. There was no track listing forthcoming, either, not that this matters at the moment since I am obliged to not go into premature detail ahead of the album’s September 10 release.
I think I can say without punitive consequences, though, that if you’re trying to imagine what Tempest sounds like you may want to think less perhaps of the rambunctious roadhouse blues that was central to most of Together Through Life and parts of Modern Times, although this is a recent signature sound that hasn’t been entirely abandoned.
Neither are there too many of the jazzy riverboat shuffles of “Love And Theft” in evidence here as much as there are echoes of a folk tradition that was manifest on, say, “High Water (For Charley Patton)” and also “Nettie Moore”, from Modern Times. You may also want to keep in mind as a point of reference “Mississippi” from “Love And Theft” and something like “Red River Shore”, recorded for Time Out Of Mind, but not released until 2009, when it appeared on the Tell Tale Signs three-CD set, where also lurked “’Cross The Green Mountain”, the epic civil war song Dylan wrote for the soundtrack to the 2003 film, Gods And Generals. Hardly anyone heard it when it originally came out, but it came several times to mind as Tempest unspooled spectacularly a few weeks ago, concluding with a song that will probably be much-talked about, although not here, right now.

that Tim Heidecker cover is excellent. i would guess he got pretty close.

"Red River Shore" and "'Cross the Green Mountain" are great, now I'm really anticipating.

"Red River Shore" and "Cross The Green Mountain" were faves in 2008.

the 10-song album is 68 minutes long

oh nooo

― goole, Tuesday, July 17, 2012 12:12 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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― tylerw, Tuesday, July 17, 2012 12:13 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i need to excelsior this

haha.
also haha, this heidecker thing! "The director Cameron on the set of true lies..."

oh titanic - how could you let us down
oh titanic - you're lying on the bottom of the water just waiting to be found

If I were Dylan, I would cover this and insist it be amended to the album.

"Red River Shore" and "'Cross the Green Mountain" are great, now I'm really anticipating.

Almost wish I didn't read this. Expectations are v high now

oh yeahhhhh.
of course it should be kept in mind that the dude writing this heard the album once and was not allowed to take notes.

And was writing for a British nostalgia-mining mag.

if you can't trust British nostalgia-mining mags who can you trust

And if the nostalgia mining company won't come to my rescue
If the nostalgia mining company won't save me
Who's gonna save me?

I get the reference, but I still file it under esoteric.

ez snappin w/a deep cut

tbh i love mojo and uncut

first single out next week!!! EARLY ROMAN KINGS. a late "jam of the summer" contender?!

Bob Dylan on His Dark New Album, 'Tempest'
Dylan breaks down his apocalyptic (and sometimes sweet) 35th studio LP

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-on-his-dark-new-album-tempest-20120801#ixzz22JVe2zAY

even Leonardo DiCaprio appears. ("Yeah, Leo," says Dylan. "I don't think the song would be the same without him. Or the movie.")

^ this lp's alicia keys

It's like people who read Shakespeare plays, but they never see a Shakespeare play. I think they just use his name."

haha

excited to see Charlie Sexton back in the band, I think he adds a bit of fire that was missing from MT and TTL (though I do really like MT and TTL is decent too)

yeah interested to hear what his touring band brings to this album. minus sexton it'll be the same people from modern times, but when they recorded that the guitarists had only been playing with dylan for a little while.

Shakespeare's last play was called The Tempest. It wasn't called just plain Tempest. The name of my record is just plain Tempest. It's two different titles.

Maybe I'm missing it, but it doesn't seem as if anyone linked to this:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/08/okay_this_is_awesome.php?ref=fpblg

Lawsuit from Muddy Waters' estate pending.

Oh dammit, Bob still thinks he's a bluesman.

"thinks"?

That track sounds p. good, but I'm more intrigued by the references above to "High Water" and "Nettie Moore."

Sounds good!

”sluggers and muggers
wearin' fancy gold rings
All the women go crazy
For early Roman kings”

ha, well doesn't sound like a huge departure or anything, but it sounds good!

I'm not sure I'm willing to see him again live. I've seen him great once or twice, terrible three or more times. Once (or twice?) I actually fell asleep. Weird how in Chicago he only bothers playing an arena once in a while. Wonder how he decides?

"Hey, can we play a club in October?"

"Sorry, Bob, all booked."

"What about a theater?"

"Nope, sorry."

"So is anything free? Minor league park? Circus tent?"

"Nope, just the hockey arena."

"Oh, OK. Let's play that, then."

Are those exact quotes or did you make those up?

I wish I had access to a transcript of every banal conversation Bob Dylan has ever had.

"What is for breakfast?"

"Eggs."

"Eggs without bacon are like the sky without blood."

"What does that mean?

"It means the day ain't done until the night goes swimming."

"But what does that mean?"

"It means get me some bacon, dammit."

"Oh, OK."

"The fool does not see the fork until it is stuck in his eye."

lol

early review from billboard. DEATH!

Death, whether it be the legacy of John Lennon, the sinking of the Titanic or a trio of cheating lovers, is a dominant subject on "Tempest," Bob Dylan's 35th studio album that is scheduled for release on Sept. 11.

The album marks a return to straight-forward, story-driven songwriting for Dylan. The 10 tracks are more in line with 1997's "Time Out of Mind," '76's "Desire" and '64's "Another Side of Bob Dylan"; a darkness has replaced the instrumental interludes, buoyancy and lightness of his last three albums.

"Early Roman Kings," a 12-bar blues that features David Hidalgo of Los Lobos on accordion, is featured in a music video that HBO and Cinemax began airing today (Aug. 2) in conjunction will the Cinemax series "Strike Back." Another song from the new album, "Scarlet Town" will play over the end credits of the first two episodes, which air Aug. 17. "Scarlet Town," rooted in English folk with banjo, acoustic guitar, fiddle and drums providing the accompaniment, plays out as a tale of doom, fate and potential redemption.

The song that will get the most attention though is the nearly 14-minute title track track. "Tempest," 45 verses written in accentual-syllabic verse with no chorus, is set aboard the Titanic, with characters ranging from an artist named Leo -- DiCaprio, one might assume -- to Jim Dandy, who hands over a chance at survival to youngster.

Besides Hidalgo, Dylan is backed by his touring band of guitarists Charlie Sexton and Stu Kimball, steel guitarist Donnie Herron, bassist Tony Garnier and drummer George G. Receli. Song structures are largely rooted in folk styles, though a few tunes veer into other rootsy areas.

"Soon After Midnight" is a bluesy doo-wop that echoes the Rays' "Silhouettes" and a bit of Santo & Johnny's "Sleepwalk" in an instrumental break; "Narrow Way" is a seven and a half minute riff-driven tune that straddles country and blues; and the bite of Warren Zevon comes out in "Pay in Blood," the chorus of which ends with the gripping line "I pay in blood/but not my own."

The album's final track is a tribute to John Lennon, "Roll on John." In one verse Dylan references the Beatles songs "Come Together," Ballad of John and Yoko" and "Slow Down"; elsewhere on the ballad he combines the metaphysical with the historical.

accentual-syllabic verse, well my my

i know, someone at billboard dropping heavy english major science!

The 10 tracks are more in line with 1997's "Time Out of Mind," '76's "Desire" and '64's "Another Side of Bob Dylan"

"The album is more in line with three albums that sound nothing like each other and have completely different songwriting"

Like Jim Dandy from Black Oak Arksanas?

xp haha yeah. not sure if you could pick three more different dylan albums. also like this helpful bit: "Song structures are largely rooted in folk styles, though a few tunes veer into other rootsy areas."

THE METAPHYSICAL

the secret inspiration behind TEMPEST
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_msHZhK8UVUE/SEw_L5bR-FI/AAAAAAAAAGg/D0cTBIXX1MA/s400/jim+dandy.jpg

Dylan should add Jim Dandy on electric washboard to his touring band for this album.