Bob Dylan
Olympic Gymnastics Arena, Seoul
March 31, 2010.
Bob Dylan’s guest appearance in South Korea is the 2,218th concert of his so-called Never-Ending Tour, which began on June 7, 1988. The 68-year-old still plays around 100 concerts a year… Even death had respect for eternity and allowed Dylan back on stage in 1997 after a life-threatening illness. “Critics should know that there is no such thing as eternity,” Dylan explained in a 2009 Rolling Stone interview. We’re not so sure about that. Dylan will be back on stage in Athens at the end of May.
Joanna Newsom
Barbican, London
January 19, 2007
People went to this concert as one might have gone to an opera performance by Richard Strauss at the beginning of the 20th century: serious, concentrated, in great tension and joyfully anticipating the peaks of ecstasy that evening… “Ys” had been released two months earlier , an album of five songs in which the young harpist took her complex songcraft to narrative heights, which Van Dyke Parks illustrated in a congenial way with his arrangements. Now Newsom would perform the work in concert accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra. After this concert, the idea that “independent” in the pop context also stood for aesthetic limitations, for strummed guitars and lo-fi sounds was once and for all a thing of the past.
Vote For Change
USA
September – October 2004
It was pure desperation that drove her onto the streets. In 2000, they watched as George W. Bush snatched the election victory away from Al Gore. Something similar would not happen again in 2004. So a number of musicians came together to support the Democratic candidate John Kerry. Bruce Springsteen, REM and Bright Eyes were among the bands that performed in the so-called “swing states” in which the outcome of the election still seemed completely open… The most eloquent speaker was once again Springsteen, who never tired of that to ask the audience to vote every evening. After years of abstinence from politics, Michael Stipe also got involved again, while Conor Oberst seemed particularly impressed that he was allowed to share the stage with his heroes.
But it was all of no use. It wasn’t until four years later that Barack Obama made it – without a “Yes, we can” tour, but again supported by many musicians.
Rufus Wainwright
Summer Stage, Central Park, New York City
July 14, 2004
Just as Rufus Wainwright steps onto the stage, a hellish thunderstorm breaks out. The singer begins his incantation “Agnus Dei” – but the rain gets heavier, a storm tears the curtain behind the stage in two… “Well, if I can’t shock God with my brilliance, maybe I can lull him with my sweetness he calls out desperately, singing against the noise with Sister Martha and Teddy Thompson. But only when he – his mother Kate McGarrigle is sitting at the piano – sings “Over The Rainbow” does the rain stop. Rufus thanks Leonard Cohen with “Hallelujah”. There has never been more drama and heavenly pathos. Wainwright’s finest opera.
Brian Wilson
Royal Festival Hall, London
February 20, 2004
Beach Boy Brian Wilson had big things in mind in 1966: “Smile” was supposed to be the mother of all concept albums, a musical panorama like none before. But then everything collapsed, most of the songs remained fragments. The fact that 37 years later Brian Wilson would once again strive to complete it – with the help of lyricist Van Dyke Parks and his “musical secretary” Darian Sahanaja – and then premiere his masterpiece live – a miracle! …So the Royal Festival Hall threatens to burst with tension on that February evening: all eyes are on the helpless-looking man surrounded by his band, sitting behind a keyboard that he will hardly touch during the concert, and on his eyes nothing but fixate on the teleprompter. A tragic figure? Not at all! When Brian Wilson raises his voice, the song of an angel can be heard, his ten-piece band, with the support of the Stockholm Strings n’ Horns, perfectly implements his musical visions, and the premiere turns into a triumphant march. And the trend of performing entire albums in one evening is taking off.
Robbie Williams
Knebworth Festival
August 1st – 3rd, 2003
“And for the next two hours… your ass is mine!” For three days, Robbie Williams is the greatest entertainer in the universe, the mastermind of all superlatives. 125,000 fans braved the heat and traffic chaos to see their favorite, Houdini-style, headfirst onto the legendary open-air stage in the English county of Hertfordshire. At the moment, Robbie is directing the crowds at will, initiating the ultimate “We Will Rock You” and “Strong” karaoke shows… Other highlights include the classic “Mr. Bojangles” and Robbie’s special game with the audience: according to his instructions, they answer “Yes” to “Alcohol” and “Boo” to “Drugs”. The Victory Sign made flesh is probably also responsible for the greatest group therapy in the world: not only the girl who was allowed to grab Robbie’s ass on stage during “Come Undone” and the lovers to whom he dedicates “She’s The One” take it evening – “I can feel you all!” – as something very personal.)