Concert Review

Say what you will about Bob Dylan – at 66, the
man still knows how to rock. Dylan is a musical icon,
a living legend. He’s one of the few socially conscious
folk-rock troubadours to survive the ’60s.

And we all should be very thankful he did. Dylan
filled Charlottesville’s John Paul Jones Arena Thursday
with his blues- and country-infused brand of classic
rock ‘n’ roll.

Dylan and his five-piece band showed they still have
what it takes to get an arena of thousands on their
feet screaming. While most of that crowd was in the
40-and-up age group, there were also plenty of college
kids and 20-somethings to be found.

Wearing a wide-brimmed, flat cowboy hat and slick
black suit, his hips swinging and legs bouncing, Dylan
displayed his talent on guitar, keyboard and harmonica.
His band completed the sound with superbly performed
acoustic and electric guitars, drums, bass guitar, upright
bass, pedal steel guitar and keyboards.

It’s really quite impressive that Dylan has made a
career out of singing as if he’s got a mouthful of cotton
balls, but those nasally vocals are what make his voice
unmistakable. Mumbly and at times indiscernible lyrics
have always been a part of his charm.

The show was a veritable best-of bonanza, combining
Dylan’s ’60s classics, tracks off his 2006 album,
“Modern Times,” and many notable bits and pieces
in between.

This mix could be attributed to the October release
of “Dylan,” yet another greatest-hits album, or maybe
it was because he has a solid, nearly four-decades-long
songbook to pick from.

A particularly energetic performance of the 1965 hit “Highway 61 Revisited” really got the audience charged.

In “Spirit on the Water” from his “Modern Times” album, he jokes about his age: “You think I’m over the hill.

You think I’m past my prime. Let me see what you got. We can have a whoppin’ good time.”

Dylan made the audience practically beg him to come back onstage for an encore. I guess when you’re Bob
Dylan you can make them wait an extra few minutes, just to be sure they make enough noise to warrant the
effort of an extra two songs.

And what an encore it was. Dylan and his band played the up-tempo, hard-rocking “Thunder on the
Mountain” from “Modern Times” and the pi

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