Bob Dylan
‘Rough and rowdy ways’
★★★★★
Place and date: Gran Teatre del Liceu
(24/VI/2023)
The time comes and there is the troubadour, attached to a piano, located at the back of the stage accompanied by his five excellent musicians. Sheltered by some penumbra and a red curtain in the background. Tonight, the second in a row as part of the Guitar BCN festival, will officiate a truly extraordinary concert, which will not stop for a moment at the great successes that have marked its more than six decades of journey; nor will one of those imposed "Good night, Barsalona" that other veteran figures study at the foot of the stage when they visit us.
Dylan, we already knew, has always played in another league. And, in addition, he has a very good album to defend: the Rough and rowdy ways that gives the title to this tour and which will command the repertoire. Great record that parades William Blake and praying Muslims, Scarface Pacino, Corso, Ginsberg, the friend Dr. King and those bad boys, the Rolling Stones.
Songbook produced by a creator who, already in his eighth decade of life, knows that the last night is approaching, but that does not prevent Saturday's concert at the haunted Liceu from oozing with pure life. Despite the fact that in the first two tracks his record has been more hoarse than rough, in the subsequent track, the one from Minnesota has shown formidable vocal elements, nuances and punch.
Apart from that, we had a nice Dylan, who thanked us half a dozen times, and even joked when introducing the musicians. Maybe man is not as Martian, nor as squeamish, as we like to believe.
But let's get to the point. In a performance that, without leaving Rough and rowdy ways for the moment, blows our minds with a Crossing the Rubicon in road blues tone, a very frequent bill tonight. Also with the elegance of Black rider, the simultaneously raw and sinuous narrative of My own version on you or the solemnity of Mother of muses, with its point of deconstruction and the envelope of the double bass played with a bow. But, above all, we are blown away by the enormous Key West (Philosopher pirate). points out the bard, transmuted into a kind of enlightened crooner who, perhaps not so captivatingly, will also turn his nose to I've made up my mind to give myself to you.
The script of the night is closed in terms of content, with the only doubt about song number 14, which this time will be a re-reading of Buddy Holly's Crickets' Not fade away, in which the theater rocks and rolls with gusto and euphoria (the real one, not the one sold on TV). All in all, the execution of the program seems open to whims and even to specific moments when we have the impression that something will fall, only to right itself masterfully in an instant. Actually, we're alive, what the hell.
Along with the recent material, Dylan will also put the rear-view mirror on more historic songs, most of them re-recorded in the recent Shadow kingdom. Among them, and very early in the session, a reading of When I paint my masterpiece which, with double bass and violin, evokes a popular orchestra, or that I'll be your baby tonight in which Zimmerman shows both sensuality and irony. Complementing the offer, two rescues from Bob Dylan's Christian stage, which will end the concert with the beautiful Every grain of sand.
Previously, and in the same coordinate, he dazzled us with Gotta serve somebody, devoid of the gospel choirs of the recorded version and crowned with an electric storm. It is the subject that puts us in the dilemma of serving God or the devil. And the choice is not easy, is it?
