Sarfraz, I agree with (almost) every word you say here and congratulations for saying it. I love his albums (well, the good ones anyway of which there are lots including his last but one Love and Theft) but his concerts (and I've seen him live more times than I can remember and much more than any other artist) have always left me..
.a bit cold (or physically very hot). Going to see him came to be more of a habit than something I was genuinely enthusiastic about.
The last one I bothered with - Cardiff 2005 - was truly dreadful, a huge packed hall and a standing audience and Dylan himself somewhere to the back and side of the stage standing at a keyboard in profile and a large feature obscuring hat on his head. Sometimes a good show can alleviate you above uncomfortable physical circumastances, raise you above it so to speak but this was just terrible. We couldn't wait for it to end basically.
Afterwards we went out to a pub that was blasting out 'The Essential Bob Dylan' album and...
wow...
that sounded so great in comparison to what we'd just been hearing. I can't help but laugh at those deluded souls who still feign admiration for the emperor's live clothes on the expecting rain website - on every tour you'll hear the same old comments in their reviews "Bob was in greater voice tonight than I've heard for a long long time!" Yeah, since the last time you said that after the last time you saw him!
A big problem nowadays is Dylan (because of a latter day increase in popularity) mostly plays vast arenas. He's the worst kind of artist to do so because he plays as though he and the band are in a room alone and the audience may as well not even be there. There's no attempt to engage.
Well we know that's just what we've come to expect of Dylan but it's deadly in a huge venue.
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