Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler
Greek Theater
October 19, 2012
Berkeley, CA
The untold story of this blog is that the idea of a concert review blog began bubbling through the cobwebs of my addled brain after a friend asked
me how was a recent concert I had attended by legend, icon, mythic hero Bob
Dylan. I sent her a short email summary
of the show and she replied by saying that the review was poorly written and
the reviewer understood nothing about the greatness of Bob Dylan. Four years later and after over 75 (!) concert reviews,
I think I’ve proven that I can consistently post poorly written reviews that
understand nothing about the artist performing. So, here's one more!
Mark Knopfler, former lead guitarist of Dire Straits, opened
the concert on Friday night at the Greek Theater with a bland set of dazzling guitar work. MK is one of the best guitarists in rock
history but his music sounded rather dated on Friday night. His opening set also highlighted a perennial
dilemma for artists with extensive oeuvres. Should they play songs that they enjoy, deep
cuts that only direhard fans will appreciate, or should they stick to popular songs
that they have played thousands of times and are sick of playing. I think artists need to do a mix. If they are sick of a popular song, they just
need to suck it up! Not to put too fine
a point on it. MK has had close to a
dozen genuinely popular songs with Dire Straits and played none on Friday. His final song was a smaller Dire Straits
hit, “So Far Away From Me,” which, frankly is not enough.
Bob Dylan is an icon and a legend. He is certainly the best songwriter in
American history. It’s difficult for me
to say anything negative about Bob since his music is art and his lyrics are poetry. He revolutionized popular music. And he accomplished all this without having
much a singing voice. When young, his
voice was nasally, creaking but warm and world-weary. It invited you into the poetry of his songs
and made you feel understood. Now, his
voice is a croaking bullfrog. It was
difficult at times to even identify the songs with his staccato, sing-songy
rasping. It was very difficult to
listen to. On the plus side, he didn't have to worry about singing in the right key. Bob played Tangled Up in
Blue, Highway 61 Revisited, Make You Feel My Love, Desolation Row. A fantastic set list. However, I will need to go home and listen to
the recordings to remind myself how fantastic these songs are because they were
not fantastic at the Greek on Friday night.
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