Shoulders of a Giant

“Because something is happening here, But you don’t know what it is, Do you, Mister Jones?” – Bob Dylan, Ballad of Thin Man

There’s something strange about waiting for a band to take the stage. You’re waiting for things to begin: everyone is milling around aimlessly and the dull drone of idle chatter fills the air. You try to start small talk with the people around you, but you’re never paying attention for fear of missing even a millisecond of the performance. I love when the crowd claps and cheers when they catch a glimpse of the sound tech’s hat from behind an amp. Think about the shows you’ve been to and that electric anticipation at the start. Then multiply it by a hundred, a thousand, a million. I really had no idea what to expect. This wasn’t just any show by any band I had seen a million times before. This was Bob Dylan.

Even before he stepped out on stage I was trying to wrap my mind around what I was about to see. Not just 50 years of music, but 50 years of music history. Bob Dylan changed the way music was recorded and performed. He changed the meaning and the value of music. Everything since is really just an echo, a tribute.

The venue on this night was the indoor arena at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell. The stage was casually arranged and minimally dressed. The crowd, gathered close to the stage, ebbed and flowed with anticipation. A deafening roar errupted as he took the stage and kicked off with ‘Gonna Change My Way of Thinking.’

There was something so pure and inhibited about this set of songs. There was no excess or fluff. There was no holographic packaging with bonus tracks and hidden features. It was just Bob Dylan and his band – as advertised. Less is more. So very true. From the bluesy grit of ‘It Ain't Me, Babe’ and ‘Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again’ to the laid-back ‘Simple Twist of Fate’ and ‘Visions of Johanna’ it was truly an epic experience. Bob Dylan stood at the organ, effortlessly coaxing sinewy grooves from the shy keys. The band, in perfect synch with him and his harmonica playing ‘Tangled Up In Blue’, was so intense it gave me chills. The memory still has an effect on me as I write this, months later. ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ (one of my personal favorites) was beautifully tough and raunchy.

At the conclusion of ‘Thunder on the Mountain’ everything changed. For the first time, the lights stayed low as the band started ‘Ballad of a Thin Man.’ This song, with its ghostly organ and slithering beat, is one of my favorite songs of all time. Yes, I know I’m metalhead and I should be in love with some Sabbath doom or Metallica thrash anthem, but this is it. This is the song that makes me stop whatever I’m doing and just listen. It’s got some otherworldly power that I can’t even attempt to adequately describe. Hearing it live was incredible. The world could have ended and that would’ve been fine by me. Maybe the world did end and I didn’t notice because I was just too busy being swept away.

He closed out with ‘Jolene’ and ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’ Whether you had a hunch or had been following set lists from previous shows on Facebook, you knew how it would end. And just like a good book you’ve read over and over again, the ending gets sweeter every time. The journey was just as epic as the destination. But hey, this was Bob Dylan… this is rock, this is life, what are you listening to?