Here's the set list:

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
Forever Young
God Knows
Bye & Bye
It's All Right, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Lay, Lady, Lay
High Water (for Charlie Patton)
Positively 4th Street
Watching the River Flow
Can't Wait
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Honest With Me
Sugar Baby
Summer Days

ENCORE
Like a Rolling Stone
All Along the Watchtower

Concert review to follow.....

By my count, this was my 8th time seeing Bob Dylan in concert, the last 7 occurring during the Never Ending Tour. I'd last seen him 2 years less 1 day ago. This concert was at the University of Pittsburgh's new Petersen Event Center, which just began its 3rd season as the basketball home of the Pitt Panthers. It's an elaborate facility, built with the big rich athletic donors in mind. It has all the amenities you would want, cept for seats close to the basketball court.

I found a good parking lot a few blocks away. Walking from my car to the venue, there was a large mansion with a huge sign draped over the porch roof: "God Bless America! Vote for George W. Bush." A gang of young female punks were throwing rocks at the house, yelling, "KERRY!" (No, I didn't join 'em.)

It was my 1st concert at the 16,000-seat Petersen Event Center. I was surprised at how good my seat was, considering I got it only a few days earlier. I was about 12 rows from the floor. The stage was at the opposite end, but only a basketball court-length away. Seated behind me was a couple with a 3-month old baby in a little tie-dyed shirt.

I enjoyed the show, but probably liked the last time better. If I had to give this show a grade, I'd grade it a B+, based on giving a C to the 1st 5 songs of the night & an A- to the rest of the show. The last 2 times I saw Dylan, I wished my friends who like to tell me "...but he can't sing! " had been there, coz there were some good vocal performances. On this night I was glad that they weren't there. Dylan's vocals were kinda croaky. Not that I minded.

There was plenty of evidence of Dylan's genius on display, but on some of the tunes he seemed detached from the whole thing. I thought that the venue was waaay too big. It was only about half full & some seats are too far away. It's better at Duquesne University's Palumbo Center, where I saw Dylan the last 3 times. Seems that Bob feeds off the audience & gets energy from them & gives it back. It took him a while to get into it. As always, the songs from the '60's were substantially reworked, but I was surprised that the songs from the recent Time Out of Mind & Love & Theft were radically reworked as well.

I'll start by listing some things that were different about this show compared to others I've seen on the Never Ending Tour:
1. Dylan played piano the entire night, never picking up a guitar even once. Like I said the last time, Dylan on piano is not unlike a pitcher with a bat in his hands. Sometimes he was hunched over it & it looked like he was applying a massage. Sometimes it looked like he was typing.
2. I hadn't seen Dylan play harmonica in years, but he did harmonica solos on several songs on this night. During the opening number, he kinda flourished the instrument at the band before playing it, so it's possible that not even his band expected this.
3. Charlie Sexton is no longer in the band. I later found out that his replacement's name is Stu Kimball. The mainstays of the band are, of course, Larry Campbell (electric, acoustic, & steel guitars, & on "It's All Right Ma" mandolin) & Tony Garnier (electric & upright basses). On drums was George Riceli, & I don't know how long he's been with the band.
4. Previous shows included several acoustic numbers, but on this evening the only strictly acoustic tune was "Sugar Baby," played when the show was almost over, with both Larry & Kimball playing acoustic guitars.
5. Dylan actually talked to the audience! It was only once, & didn't happen until the encore, but he talked! He told a joke. Stick to your day job, Bob.

Continued next post....

It usually takes Dylan (who was clad in a black suit & a black cowboy hat) a couple songs to get warmed up (at least in my experience), but tonight he didn't get into it until the 6th song. Before then, it seemed like he was singing the same note. It reminded me of an early Pittsburgh punk band, the Puke, who followed up their signature song, "When I Get Bored I Play One Chord" with "I Play One Note to Get Your Goat." Still, it was good to hear "Rainy Day Women" & "Forever Young," altho' I preferred the prettier acoustic version of the latter (complete with vocal harmonies) that I had heard in 2000.

"God Knows" isn't Dylan's best song under any circumstances, but it was totally tuneless the way he sang it on this night. He similarly botched the vocals on "Bye & Bye," unfortunate coz the song has a nice melody. Live, it's done like a late-nite jazz tune & I like the lightness with which the band plays it, but in a larger venue the song was almost invisible.

"It's All Right, Ma" was slow, loud & bluesy, with an odd line-up that had Larry on mandolin competing with the electric guitar. I'd heard this version of this song with the same instrumental line-up in 2002, & it might be time to lay it to rest, as Dylan seemed uninspired having to sing it. Then, as tho' a light switch went on, things started to pick up. "Lay, Lady, Lay" was close to the album version (cept for Dylan's voice) & nicely done. Now he was singing actual notes!

"High Water," a banjo work-out on Love & Theft, was a hard rocker with dual electric guitars blazing. "Positively 4th Street" featured Larry on acoustic guitar & Tony on upright bass & was done with sort of a country flavor. These 2 songs were an example of why folks like me like to keep coming back. I especially enjoyed the latter.

"Don't Think Twice" was another real highlight. It's my all-time favorite acoustic guitar song. I was shocked that Dylan would leave the duties of playing this fine acoustic guitar melody to Larry, but the job was in capable hands. "Can't Wait" was done at a slower tempo than the familiar version, with the band playing quietly at times behind Bob's vocals.

"Sugar Baby" was probably the highlight of the entire show. The 2 acoustic guitars blended nicely together, Dylan rendered his best vocal performance, singing as tho' the words meant something to him, & the song was actually pretty. The western swing of "Summer Days" soon turned into a red-hot rockabilly with a long instrumental break & ended the regular set with a bang (altho' the last time, I think it was even louder & wilder; it was like the band held back this time).

My seat rumbled during the rousing encore of "Like a Rolling Stone" & "All Along the Watchtower." At the conclusion, I bounded up the steps to beat most of the crowd out the door before they figured out there would be no 2nd encore. I had been following this tour's set lists on bobdylan.com & there hadn't been a 2nd encore yet, so I had my exit planned out in advance. I recalled that during those rare times as a kid when my dad would take me anywhere, how he would sit & plan his exit, devoting his entire life to avoiding traffic at all costs. Now I was turning into my dad!

Thanks Joe!!!!!!!!!! Great review!!!!!!!!! I know what you mean about "Don't Think Twice". I could kinda feel like I was there, with your detailed description. Were there any walkouts? or does that only happen here. I never anticipate with Dylan, I'm always happy for him to go where the wind blows him. But boy, him sitting at the piano and not touching a guitar all night would be kinda weird. Thanks again!! Louise.

Nope, no walk-outs!

Glad you liked it, Louise.

You don't like his version of "Brown Sugar?" I liked it myself when I saw him play it in 2002. I thought the 2002 fall tour, with "Brown Sugar" & the Warren Zevon songs sprinkled in, was pretty cool.

But this type of debate is what makes Dylan great---there's more interest than ever in his concerts & set lists, & different people will feel differently about what he's doing. A cousin of mine was at this same show & hated it. The reviewer for the local newspaper thought this was a great show, better than the 2002 show. I disagree with both, as you can see.

I have to agree with you on this. There are so many different opinions about song selection, the ways songs are played, how he handles the vocals, etc.

One of the things I really like about going to see Dylan is spotting the people who are seeing him for the first time and don't know much more than "Greatest Hits Vol. 1" and then checking out their expressions when they realize that's not what they're going to hear!

Yeah pathofspirit, they are the ones that walked out of a concert here then missed what they came for when he did some of that stuff at the end!!!!!!

.....and finally...this just in:

While Dylan played at the U. of Pittsburgh last Sun., REM performed at Duquesne U. just a couple of miles down Forbes Ave. The final attendance figures, in case you're interested:

Dylan, Petersen Events Center: 4,197.

R.E.M., A.J. Palumbo Center: 2,653.

I'm off to see Dylan at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA on Tuesday night, Joe... I actually had a ticket for Dylan's show in Binghamton, NY tonight, but I'm afraid it went unused - and it's partially Arlo's fault. I went to Arlo's shows in New Brunswick, NJ (just 15m from home!) on Thursday night and at the Keswick in Glenside, PA on Saturday. So this Sunday AM I woke up in post-Keswick rapture and the thought of driving the three and a half hours to Binghamton (alone, the wife has pretty much written off Dylan) was just too daunting. Incidentally, at the State Theater show in New Brunswick, my wife whispered in my ear while Arlo was in the midst of a transcendent performance of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", that 'this is a better rendition than any we've heard from Dylan in years,' or words to that effect. And it was equally as beautiful at the Keswick two nights later! I'm glad Arlo has reintroduced this song into his set-list of late... I really haven't heard him perform "Mr. Tambourine Man" with any regularity since his concerts with Shenandoah in the mid 80s. I remember a show Arlo performed with Davis Bromberg at (the then) Garden State Arts Center Circa 1983 (?). Arlo opened his set with a solo acoustic "Mr. Tambourine Man" with the members of Shenandoah backing him only on the vocals of the chorus. One of those great musical moments that I'll always remember and cherish.

At the Arlo show in Harrisonburg, VA we ran into a Bob Dylan fan.Turns out she was at a coupla of the same Dylan shows we went to. We've been to 3 Dylan shows so far. Been awhile but Arlo is the higher priority...

Hank, an unused Dylan ticket is almost against my religion, but I can understand it in your case given the ambitious concert schedule that you laid out for yourself.

I saw Arlo sing "Mr. Tambourine Man" here on 5/24/01, Bob Dylan's 60th birthday, during his 1st encore which he dedicated to the man himself. He & Xavier were joined onstage by opening act Jorma Kaukonen, & the tribute included "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," "San Francisco Bay Blues" (after which Arlo gave Jorma a quizzical look & asked, "When did Bob write that?"), & "Mr. Tambourine Man."

You all know how some folkies adore Dylan(like myself) and others can take him or leave him, and some just don't care for him.
There is a Vermont based band of folkies called "Woods Tea Company" that we have had perform at our local coffeehouse, and they have a mix of Dylan fans and non-fans in the band. One of the non-fans in the band gets some laughs from the crowd when he remarks " I heard a rumor that Bob Dylan is getting back together again". -----Just thought I'd mention it.

Larry, that's a great joke (even if at the expense of my hero!). I'm really tired, I just got back from the Bob Dylan show in Bethlehem, PA at the Stabler Arena, but it was such a great concert that I'm twice as sorry now that I didn't make the trek up to Binghamton, NY on Sunday night. My unused ticket for Binghamton is sitting on my bookcase - mocking me! Tonight I was able to find a nice 8th row seat on the left-center aisle near Dylan's piano, so I had an amazingly good sight-line from my seat (though no one really sat at all through the show except during a particularly tender rendering of "Girl From The North Country"). Many, many highlights tonight, though I'm not up to the task of writing a review at present. But the opening one-two punch of "Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat" and "Absolutely Sweet Marie" got things off to a fine, rockin' start! "Positively 4th Street" was set in a somewhat, laid-back semi-acoustic fashion, but with Dylan snarling the words over the moderate backing. "Under The Red Sky" was, as usual, suitably eccentric and inscrutable and "Masters Of War" dripped with Dylan's patented vocal venom. Dylan seemed (for him anyway) in a particularly good mood, moving about the stage in that odd shuffle that he's adopted of late, making lots of maestro-like hand gestures to the band and even blowing kisses to the audience who he addressed as his "friends." Dylan also told an awful joke from the bandstand... Many more musical highlights as well, but I've got to get to bed!