concert review | Bob Dylan in Berlin: The service

concert review | Bob Dylan in Berlin: The service
concert review | Bob Dylan in Berlin: The service

When one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century comes to town at the age of 81, it is more than just an entertainment event. Then it takes on religious traits. Henrik Schroeder Bob Dylan experienced in Berlin.

Even the beginning seems incredibly reverent. The Verti Music Hall is fully seated and there is no music before the concert. Everyone had to put their cell phones in sealable bags. Bob Dylan does not want to be photographed or disturbed by anything while practicing his art. And so everyone sits whispering softly in this huge hall. You rarely experience this at a guitar music concert.

In row 9 sits a man from Bielefeld who tells another man from Lüdenscheid that this is his 161st Bob Dylan concert. The two had just met. “When the new tour schedule comes out,” the Bielefeld man continued, then that would be like a marching order, then you book trips and tickets. If you want or not. Lüdenscheider replies that he has only seen Dylan a few times, but that he owns more than two meters of Neil Young’s records. This little overheard conversation illustrates what kind of music lovers you are dealing with on this evening.

Then the lights in the hall go out pretty punctually, Dylan and the band begin – and the church service continues. The stage is actually lit from below, which has an extremely solemn effect, this passive light on the musicians. There are only two lighting moods: all on when Dylan is singing, darker when he’s not singing. In addition, relatively bright blue light on the audience.

Dylan sits so low behind his black-clad, altar-like piano that initially from the floor all you can see is his hairline wiggling a bit. When he sings, he leans forward and then you can see his face, otherwise he almost completely disappears behind the instrument except for a few moments. After each song, he quickly turns the pages, presumably a note or lyrics – and off he goes.

But a couple of times he gets up and, well, wobbles ten feet to center stage and shows himself to the then freaking audience. Indicates a curtsey. Or just waver. That’s not to say exactly. Anyway, he’s the coolest dog ever in his dazzling green shirt. And isn’t there the hint of a smile on his otherwise stony face? In any case, he looks like a cunning grandpa who is a sly old man. And that’s true.

As usual, Dylan hardly speaks to his audience, says thank you every now and then and introduces the band, that’s it. It was always like that, and that’s how it is tonight. No, someone like Dylan, he just plays. But unlike what has been known of him for so long, this evening is very structured, very clear. There are hardly any new interpretations of his songs or eternal jams as so often in the past. Not a setlist that seems to be thrown together every night and in which even the most experienced Dylan experts don’t always recognize every song.

No, this evening Dylan mainly plays songs from his current album “Rough and Rowdy Ways”, which was received by experts and fans as a late work worth listening to and worthy of. The songs sound super bluesy, super transparent live. Dylan’s band of five is completely focused on the boss, hanging on his lips and hands, always ready to react to an intuition from the master and to change nuances spontaneously. Dylan sings a bit croaky at first, it gets better over the course of the concert, sometimes his voice really jumps and rolls through the songs and you get the impression: even at 81, he’s still really up for it and has power.

However, if you expected the greatest hits from six decades at least at the end, you will be disappointed. But nobody has. Dylan doesn’t. you know. And so people just sit there and listen. Now and then, it seems like a ritual between a preacher and his gospel congregation, he sings a line of text particularly loudly or boldly and half the place cheers as if on command. The outsider hardly understands, but comes across quite well. “Amen” you want to shout after some songs. But of course you don’t. Artists and fans take the whole thing too seriously for that and you also want to respect religious rituals.

Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, October 6th, 2022, 9:55 a.m