All seven were drawn from his two most recent albums, 2015’s delightful “Shadows in the Night” and this year’s equally arresting “Fallen Angels.” On Monday, these included “All or Nothing At All” and a fleeting but emotionally wrenching “Autumn Leaves” that was a marvel of finely calibrated intensity.
Where he has sometimes felt detached from his music in the past, on Monday he sounded fully committed.ĭressed like a cowboy movie star from his boyhood days at a Sunday social, Dylan was equally committed when he performed seven Tin Pan Alley classics from the Great American Songbook. Happily, they did exactly that.ĭepending on the song at hand, Dylan sounded poignant or playful, rough or tender, wry and wise. Things have definitely changedįrom the opening number, Dylan’s Oscar-winning 2000 gem “Things Have Changed” - which was taken at a more brisk pace than the original version and delivered with a sly tone quite different from the resignation of the recorded version -it was clear that Dylan and and his band were poised to deliver a memorable set. And when Dylan nonchalantly sauntered a few times from center stage to stand in front of George Receli’s nearby drum set, it had more impact than any gyrations or choreographed routines by a flavor-of-the-month pop star and their hyperactive dance troupe. As a result, simply lowering or bending one of his arms had a dramatic impact. When not playing piano, Dylan barely moved. That, no doubt, was by design, the better to emphasize that the music was the star of the night.
The stage was rung by vintage Klieg lights, which provided a moody backdrop and equally illuminated each band member, although none of them - Dylan included - too brightly. Accordingly, his Monday performance featured only two songs from the 1960s, “She Belongs to Me” and “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and one from the 1970s, “Tangled Up in Blue.” Five of the songs came from his 2012 album, “Tempest,” including “Scarlet Town” and “Early Roman Kings,” a Muddy Waters-styled blues stomper that found Dylan spitting out the lyrics like Waters and Bo Diddley in their respective primes.ĭylan alternated between singing while standing at a microphone set back from the center of the stage and while playing a baby grand piano. This held true when he was essaying his own songs, which included a dramatically re-arranged “Blowin’ in the Wind” - now improbably jaunty, but no less moving - and a galvanizing version of “Tangled Up in Blue,” which surged, receded, surged anew and shifted shape with such grace and power that it was a revelation.ĭecades ago, Dylan cautioned against looking back, well aware of the creative stasis that can envelop artists who rest on their laurels.
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