IT was interesting to watch this show in the company of a Dylan enthusiast who, as it turns out, hasn’t seen him in concert since Edinburgh, 1966 - three days after Dylan, in Manchester, was branded ‘Judas’ by a fan, furious that the singer had abandoned folk music in favour of loud guitars.
The enthusiast’s verdict on Hyde Park? It was fantastic to see Dylan, his voice and his band were terrific, but it was disappointing that so many classic songs had been reworked, sometimes radically. It was a judgement seemingly shared by parts of the 65,000-strong crowd.
But then Dylan, now 78, has done this sort of thing often: re-arranging his songs, keeping things fresh, speeding some songs up and slowing others down, drawing out new meanings from lyrics. Tryin' to Get to Heaven and Make You Feel My Love were cases in point: yes, it was a while before it dawned on you what the songs actually were, but yes, you listened more attentively as a result, appreciating Dylan’s phrasing, his emphasis on certain words.
READ MORE: Bob Dylan and Neil Young roll back the years at Hyde Park
Girl from the North Country featured plaintive pedal steel; Like a Rolling Stone, his groundbreaking mid-sixties classic, was rearranged in such a way that made it difficult for the traditional audience chorus singalong.
Pay in Blood, from his last album of new songs, 2012’s Tempest, sent a shiver up the spine, as it always does, while Love Sick had more grit than the original studio version had.
Some in the audience seemed to lose interest, drifting away long before the encore, but the diehards enjoyed it all. Dylan himself looked cheerful, and the giant video screens even showed him smiling several times. At the end of Can’t Wait, which he sang centre-stage rather than from behind his piano, he indulged in some showmanship, outstretching his arms in acknowledgement of the applause. All told, a fascinating performance.
READ MORE: 5 rare vintage photographs of Bob Dylan in the 1960s
“I’ve never played in daylight before,” quipped Neil Young as he strolled onto the stage. Supported by Promise of the Real, he opened with Mansion on the Hill before surging into one classic after another: Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Alabama, Walk On, Winterlong, Heart of Gold, Old Man, some played by Young with acoustic guitar and harmonica, others loud and exciting: the band in full flight, Young soloing with ragged glory on his black Gibson electric guitar.
Rockin’ in the Free World, studded with several false endings, was a real crowd-pleaser; and the encores began with a compelling Like a Hurricane and ended with a raucous Piece of Crap.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article