Much of Bob Dylan's later career has been a struggle between his often problematic present and portentous past. The outcome has often been frustrating, even painful, live performances, but recent years have seen Dylan's live show solidify and improve alongside his recorded output.
That this is a near-vintage Dylan show - full of unexpected twists and wilful perversity - has much to do with the grace and dexterity of last year's Modern Times album. Unusually, the set is heavily loaded in favour of recent material, with six of the album's tracks featuring. The reflective beauty of Ain't Talkin' contrasts with the urgency of the band during Spirit on the Water and encore Thunder on the Mountain, but each is a bona fide highlight.
The surprises are John Brown, a prescient tale of military service from 1963 previously only released officially on the Unplugged album, and the sprightly opener Cat's in the Well from the largely unloved Under the Red Sky album. All of these, and 2001's Summer Days, are treated in a manner at least sympathetic to, and largely based on, the recorded versions.
When tackling his sixties and seventies material, however, Dylan has spent 30-plus years, along with assorted musicians, messing with structures and time signatures. To a certain extent, this continues and even Like a Rolling Stone and All Along the Watchtower are hardly rendered in singalong format. Yet Dylan's voice (clearer and more inhabited than ever) and new-found dexterity on the organ mean he seems to be having fun with, rather than cannibalising, his past. It makes for a convivial atmosphere and proves, most crucially, that Dylan is still in love with music - and, in his 66th year, reconciling his present with his substantial past achievements.
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