Dylan in Las Vegas tonight was Dylan at his strangest — hilariously eccentric to start, until he did a version of “Delia” that equaled the one on World Gone Wrong, which is one of his very greatest vocal performances. That led eventually to a heartbreakingly sad version of “Like A Rolling Stone”, which is a very sad song, but rarely feels sad in performance.
A quirky set-list, with “Every Grain Of Sand” and “Mississippi”, setting up a program that was all over the map emotionally and stylistically. The band lost its groove occasionally, I think from finding itself in the predicament of trying to follow Dylan’s quirky piano styling, but always roared back in expert support.
A classic Dylan mind-fuck and utterly exhilarating.
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, Girl Of The North Country, and Things Have Changed for openers, plus Every Grain of Sand, Delia, and Mississippi later on? What a beauty of a setlist!
It was kind of amazing, Ken, and the mood of the show kept shifting, sometimes from song to song. It was weird and wonderful.