A Different Dylan

Regarding your review of the Bob Dylan concert in Charlottesville I’d like to submit another view.

Dylan came off like a mean ol’ bastard, slurring his words and seeming confused. Only Elvis Costello’s energetic opening gig saved the evening.

Dylan for so many years has been so contemptuous of his fans, his reviewers — hell, everyone — that I can only suspect he is wallowing in some self-loathing of his own and projecting it outward.

I was so disappointed I left before the end of the show. On the flip side, and in the interest of full disclosure, I must confess I have just ended a relationship and knew I needed to duck out early from that concert. I didn’t wanna get loaded on Heineken and sit in the JPJ Arena in a sorrowful state on the off chance the cantankerous old man might have cut loose with “Shelter From the Storm” (“Come in, she said, I’ll give ya…shelter from the storm”).

I couldn’t handle that, especially because I doubt the song still means anything to ol’ Bobby Dylan. And it means way the hell too much to me.

Even if Dylan has stopped caring, his residual legacy is that some of us still do. With all our hearts.

Steve Evans
Charlottesville

  • Click here for more Forum
  • TRENDING

    WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW — straight to your inbox

    * indicates required
    Our mailing lists: