Dylan socially unfathomable, in his world of uncorrupted music (or that’s the illusion), regenerating on each tour at the cost of shuffling his songbook and giving it new forms. And Dylan in the vantage point of his 82 years, who project new connotations to lyrics such as that of ‘Watching the river flow’, a piece that opened the first of two concerts at the Liceu, great events of the Guitar BCN festival. “Sitting on this sandbar / watching the river flow”, yes, and indulging in a very alert dialogue with that quintet of musicians with whom he sails at will through the waters of rock’n’roll, country, blues and their tributaries.
This time, his instrument It was a Grand Piano modality ‘baby‘, which he played looking at the audience, semi-hidden therefore when he was seated (and the microphone stand sometimes covered his face), with his accomplices surrounding him, standing close, attentive to every gesture. Framed by a theatrical red curtain and wrapped in gloom (the lamps of the Gran Teatre maintained, on the other hand, a dim and unusual lighting), the ‘troupe’ got into the matter, prioritizing the material from the album ‘Rough and rowdy ways’ (2020). Evoking Walt Whitman in the solemn ‘I contain multitudes’ (which Dylan sang getting up and playing standing up) and raiding the old blues in ‘False prophet’ (with exquisite improvisations by the guitarists). You also mention the recently released album of free ‘remakes’ ‘Shadow kingdom’, such as a ‘When I paint my masterpiece’ with applauded harmonica blows, and a leafy ‘To be alone with you’ with violin.
Howls in the audience
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No cell phones in sight in the stalls and boxes (they had been immobilized at the entrance), the public’s concentration on what was happening on stage was perceptible, an unprecedented situation in at least a decade. Hallowed silence, with fleeting bursts of joy: howls on ‘I’ll be your baby tonight’, in that amazing version with piano introduction, swampy rock’n’roll turn and denouement to the rhythm of blues. There were also no photographers who could distract the myth, banned from the concert as is their custom.
If in other recitals he walked offering 17 songshere there were 18, with two peculiarities: the rescue of the trotter ‘Tweedle dee & tweedle dum’ and, big surprise, ‘Stella blue’, by The Grateful Dead, both in a final stretch in which Dylan sang to the muses and spiritual faith. There is an aura of transcendence in this repertoire with appointments to the last resting place, such as ‘Black rider’ and ‘Key West’, which connects with the vibration of those Christian records from more than 40 years ago. And there was a distilled ‘Gotta serve somebody’, now without the gospel choirs, and the farewell with ‘Every grain of sand’, a first-person confession where “in the fury of the moment& rdquor; He says he sees “the hand of the master”. We were also able to see her that night of Sant Joan at the Liceu, where the troubadour was kind enough to say goodbye to the public with a slight inclination shared with his musicians.