Collectors Music Reviews

Rock And Tangled Up In Blue (TMR-111/112) 

Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN – October 29th, 2006
Disc 1:  Maggie’s Farm, She Belongs To Me, Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, When The Deal Goes Down, It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding), Simple Twist Of Fate, Rollin’ And Tumblin’, Masters Of War

Disc 2:  Tangled Up In Blue, Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright, Highway 61 Revisited, Nettie Moore, Summer Days, Thunder On The Mountain, Like A Rolling Stone, All Along The Watchtower

Rock And Tangled Up In Blue is the complete tape for Dylan’s St. Paul show on October 29th.  It is an excellent stereo audience recording of the complete performance with no cuts in the tape.  The set list is as standard as one can expect from Dylan with no rarities or suprises.  “Simple Twist Of Fate”, played eleven times, makes a welcome inclusion.  Four songs from the new album are played and they all sound like instant classics with “When The Deal Goes Down” standing out.  Before a strange version of “Summer Days” someone from the audience begs for “Visions Of Johanna” but does not get it.  Dylan introduces the band before the “All Along The Watchtower” and says, “one of us was born in St. Joseph’s Hospital.  See if you can guess who” referring to bassist and St. Paul native Tony Garnier.  There is an echo delay on his voice for some verses of “All Along The Watchtower” adding a surreal effect.  Like with their other recent releases, TMR chose not to include filler bonus material but only the one concert with minimalistic artwork is done by Office Canmes. 

A review in one of the local papers states:  “The entire evening was pretty tame, actually. The crowd was skewed very young, I thought, for Dylan. Maybe a lot of people were there just to see Grohl & Co.  Here’s the thing about Dylan . . . I’ve seen him now three or four times, and though I’ve always had a great time at his shows, I think maybe they’ve seemed more important because of his idol status, and I’m not so sure I’ll see him again. It’s not that the shows are totally disappointing, but they’re somewhat anticlimactic. In all those shows I’ve seen, he’s only spoken to the audience once. I know he doesn’t strongly claim his Minnesota roots, but can’t he just acknowledge us a little?

“Nevertheless, he looked and sounded good. His five-piece band was dressed in gray suiting, while he sported all black, with a black hat. I gotta say, hearing that legend on harmonica is thrilling. I’d hoped to hear him play some guitar, but he never left the keyboard.  They opened with ‘Maggie’s Farm’-one of my favorites-then played a bunch of post-’70s stuff, with a couple other older tunes (‘Highway 61 Revisited’) thrown in here and there. I’ve got to hand it to him for playing both ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and ‘All Along the Watchtower’ in the encore. But the encore came pretty fast. You’re in your home state, playing the X . . . couldn’t you at least do two encores if you’re only going to play an hour-long set? What about ‘Hurricane,’ ‘Mr. Tambourine Man,’ ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,’ ‘Rainy Day Women’?  And one final note, to the management at the Xcel Energy Center: Whoever does your sound should get a raise.” (Megan Wiley, Mpls St Paul Magazine).  This is another excellent job by the TMR people and is very much recommended.  (GS)

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