It hurts to say this, but Bob Dylan sucked tonight

all one has to do is spend 30 seconds on wiki.

Time Out of Mind is hailed as one of Dylan's best albums, and it went on to win three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year in 1998. Also, the album is ranked number 408 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.[1]

Beside being ranked as number 408 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, in both Pazz & Jop's critics poll[36] and Uncut magazine,[37] Time Out of Mind was voted as album of the year.


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So yeah, its included on any list with Freewheelin and Bringing it All Back home and Blonde on Blonde. That does make it as acclaimed and beloved as any of his classic era albums.

I've read nothing but bad reviews for his shows over the years. If he doesn't care about putting on a good show for his audience, who pay good money to go see him, then he should stop performing.

Just about anyone I know who has seen Dylan in the last 10 years or so say he sucks live. And if his attitude truly is that "i don't care, I'll do as I want who cares about the fans", then I'm glad I never wasted any money on him.

I'd have to generally agree with the sentiments musicismylife. You are clearly someone who understands and appreciates the career of the great artist Bob Dylan, my favorite writer and musician of all time. that said, you did just write like 2 pages of fluffy filler to get a simple point across, which is probably why some find your expressions to be a bit obnoxious.

One thing I would correct you on is the idea that Dylan is selling out stadiums. Simply not true. He's not even selling out amphitheaters with help from two of the greatest touring bands of this era right now. And from reports I've heard of the current Americanarama tour, much of the crowd has been leaving during his set....Dylan certainly still plays a ton of shows, but give me the date and venue of the last time he sold out a stadium. If he ever has, I'm sure it's been a long time.

And the reason why he's having trouble selling out shows is most likely because of the general consensus that probably only about half, and that's being generous, of the people that have seen a Dylan show in recent times have actually enjoyed it for anything other than the fact that they saw Dylan.

Personally, I dig what he does now, for all of the reasons you mentioned, and I appreciate the musicianship he displays with his songs, even though his live voice is typically rather disgraceful at this point. But to suggest that people are crazy because they don't get it like we do is the silliest thing in this whole thread. We are actually the minority.

His recent studio output has been stellar, and anyone who hasn't checked his recent albums out are missing out. His vocal delivery is completely different than it was 30-40-50 years ago of course, but unlike his live performances, the vocals are actually pretty pleasant on record. Musicismylife - no love for Tempest? I think it's much better than Together Through Life actually. Modern Times is probably my favorite from the Time Out of Mind - present era......Not sure I would agree that the new stuff is quite as good as the 60's, early 70's work, but it's a completely different style of music, so pretty pointless to compare.

....also, what album are you referring to when you say T&T?

Lifted wrote:

I'd have to generally agree with the sentiments musicismylife. You are clearly someone who understands and appreciates the career of the great artist Bob Dylan, my favorite writer and musician of all time. that said, you did just write like 2 pages of fluffy filler to get a simple point across, which is probably why some find your expressions to be a bit obnoxious.

One thing I would correct you on is the idea that Dylan is selling out stadiums. Simply not true. He's not even selling out amphitheaters with help from two of the greatest touring bands of this era right now. And from reports I've heard of the current Americanarama tour, much of the crowd has been leaving during his set....Dylan certainly still plays a ton of shows, but give me the date and venue of the last time he sold out a stadium. If he ever has, I'm sure it's been a long time.

And the reason why he's having trouble selling out shows is most likely because of the general consensus that probably only about half, and that's being generous, of the people that have seen a Dylan show in recent times have actually enjoyed it for anything other than the fact that they saw Dylan.

Personally, I dig what he does now, for all of the reasons you mentioned, and I appreciate the musicianship he displays with his songs, even though his live voice is typically rather disgraceful at this point. But to suggest that people are crazy because they don't get it like we do is the silliest thing in this whole thread. We are actually the minority.

His recent studio output has been stellar, and anyone who hasn't checked his recent albums out are missing out. His vocal delivery is completely different than it was 30-40-50 years ago of course, but unlike his live performances, the vocals are actually pretty pleasant on record. Musicismylife - no love for Tempest? I think it's much better than Together Through Life actually. Modern Times is probably my favorite from the Time Out of Mind - present era......Not sure I would agree that the new stuff is quite as good as the 60's, early 70's work, but it's a completely different style of music, so pretty pointless to compare.

....also, what album are you referring to when you say T&T?

I messed up typing, T and T should be L and T or Love and Theft from 2001.

Dylan;s career goes through arcs and phases. Anyone who's been around 50 years will have that. His late 70's, much of the 80's, and much of the 90's work was considered a low point of his career. During the Dead and Dylan tours, he'd regularly perform in a sweatshirt with the hood up. He'd open for the Dead and play to a disinterested crowd. But his tours in the 2000's have been as dynamic and electric as anything he's ever done.

Im hesitant to agree with you or any of the others here. You are free to have an opinion about him in 2013 and wwhether you enjoyed the concert is your own bag. My problem is the idea that a thread on a PJ board is somehow a good measure of whether or not the majority of people at his shows feel he is off his game. Naturally the Americanarama show is different than a normal Dylan gig. I cant speak to how he sounds this tour, ive not seen him. But a show like that is bound to be different and have a festival sort of vibe to it, rather than a regular Dylan and an opener gig.

I would assume the majority here dont visit the dylan boards and fansites that number in the thousands. There are dylan boards and all that. One site posts daily and collects every article published each day that mentions Dylan. And his message boards are filled with some of the most fanatical Dylan fans you will find. Ive followed these sites for over a decade now. I can personally tell you the sentiment among these folks isnt what we get in this thread. So I dont believe "we" are in the minority. On this board we are. But Dylan fans are as passionate and rabid about Dylan as they always have been. They post each setlist for the tour, and dissect it, give crowd reports. People post bootlegs of the shows. The threads created for each show arent filled with people complaining about Dylan.

My main problem was the general sentiment on this board, or this thread was that the OP and others seemed to suggest that they spoke for the majority of concert attendees. Which is absurd on its face. This isnt a Dylan forum nor a MMJ or Wilco forum, so trying to gauge audience approval of any of the acts is laughable. The idea that thousands of people are walking out of Dylans shows during this tour I think is probably an exaggeration. All due respect to MMJ, Wilco and Bingham, but the main draw is Dylan. Always have been. Tweedy, and James and Ryan would agree. Dylans like the Stones or Paul or something. No matter who he tours with, he's always the defacto headliner and draw even if he suggests its a shared bill. The idea people would walk out of Dylans set EN MASSE is ridiculous to me. If it can be proven, I will be wrong I guess. But I think its a gross exaggeration.

Dylan has a LARGE fanbase. They are every bit as rabid as any other bands. They pick apart the setlist, debate the song choices, they discuss band changes during the shows (who was that in dylan's band tonight, why wasnt so and so there), and any number of other things. One thing you wont find is a large group of them saying "bob should hang it up".

put it this way, say PJ toured with 2 other bands of equal stature to MMJ and WIlco. Theres a variety of ways to get a consensus and polling on how well received the show was and whether PJ killed it or not. One thing I dont think I would do however is go to a site of a band that wasnt on tour. So if it was PJ, MMJ and Wilco on the same bill, I wouldnt go to a De La Soul message board to gather whether any of those bands were putting on great shows. And if there was a thread on the De La board about it, Id take into account the preferences of the board. Does the board favor one band over the other. etc...

I think if you follow any of the reviews for Americanarama, or check out the MMJ/Wilco boards, you will see/read that people are leaving every night, either before his set or soon after. As someone else said, MMJ and Wilco are two of the very best touring acts playing today. It's a shame that this is happening, but it is what it is. I wish that MMJ and Wilco could just co-headline so I didn't have to spend $50 on shortened sets.

musicismylife78 wrote:

all one has to do is spend 30 seconds on wiki.

Time Out of Mind is hailed as one of Dylan's best albums, and it went on to win three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year in 1998. Also, the album is ranked number 408 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.[1]

Beside being ranked as number 408 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, in both Pazz & Jop's critics poll[36] and Uncut magazine,[37] Time Out of Mind was voted as album of the year.


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So yeah, its included on any list with Freewheelin and Bringing it All Back home and Blonde on Blonde. That does make it as acclaimed and beloved as any of his classic era albums.

So let me get this straight...when RS leaves newer albums out of their greatest__________ lists, they're compiled by a bunch of baby boomers so they're obviously gonna be slanted to their taste, but when they praise newer Dylan albums it's 100% legit. The only reason those album are getting any sort of recognition is b/c his early work, and judging by a few rankings of his catalog, none of his recent albums are getting ranked among his classics, they're getting ranked behind even some of his weaker output.

Dylan is a fantastic songwriter so he's gonna have a few chestnuts on everything he puts out, but in no way does it compare to his glory days.

DewieCox wrote:

musicismylife78 wrote:

all one has to do is spend 30 seconds on wiki.

Time Out of Mind is hailed as one of Dylan's best albums, and it went on to win three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year in 1998. Also, the album is ranked number 408 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.[1]

Beside being ranked as number 408 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, in both Pazz & Jop's critics poll[36] and Uncut magazine,[37] Time Out of Mind was voted as album of the year.


---

So yeah, its included on any list with Freewheelin and Bringing it All Back home and Blonde on Blonde. That does make it as acclaimed and beloved as any of his classic era albums.

So let me get this straight...when RS leaves newer albums out of their greatest__________ lists, they're compiled by a bunch of baby boomers so they're obviously gonna be slanted to their taste, but when they praise newer Dylan albums it's 100% legit. The only reason those album are getting any sort of recognition is b/c his early work, and judging by a few rankings of his catalog, none of his recent albums are getting ranked among his classics, they're getting ranked behind even some of his weaker output.

Dylan is a fantastic songwriter so he's gonna have a few chestnuts on everything he puts out, but in no way does it compare to his glory days.

Dylan has ALOT of classic albums. Its sort of basic brain power function to understand that list is long. Decisions have to be made in terms of what album is the tops, and what album is still damn good but is 20th on a list of best dylan albums. He's had so many classics.

You cant have it both ways. You cant say as some delusional nut was claiming here that "everyone knows his new stuff is crap and his best days were long ago". Thats just not living in the realm of facts, my friend. You are entitled to a preference in era and perference in albums. But to claim most people only like his 60's stuff, as was claimed I dont know if it was you, but someone claimed that. That most people want to hear dylan cover songs instead of dylan singing his own songs. Thats so laughable and its verifiably false.

Id recommend anyone check out his late 90's and 2000's work. Time out of Mind especially is among is best work. Critically and fan wise this is true.

Lifted wrote:

musicismylife-
damn dude. that's what i'm talking about......that is the most ridiculous response to what i had said that you possibly could have made. not to make this a pissing contest. but i'm probably a bigger dylan fan than you are, so no need to try and further educate me on his background. dylan wouldn't agree with me here? what are you talking about? agree with me about what? the FACT that the majority of people i've talked to in the REAL world, not on the pearl jam message board which i rarely even visit, do not enjoy his live shows today? there's nothing for dylan to disagree with us about. he has no control over whether or not people dig his shows, and like you said, he doesn't care. you have a funny way of trying to manipulate a conversation....

anyway, i've been to dylan shows, i've heard people talk, i know dylan fans. i actually have real friends in the real word, and most of them like music enough to know about dylan's live reputation. which is notoriously bad these days among the general population. this isn't some idea my brain was just implanted with because people on pearl jam's message board don't appreciate dylan's live shows.

of course dylan has a rabid fanbase that loves anything he does. anyone of his stature would. and those people aren't the ones who leave disappointed in his shows. but they aren't selling the shows out either. i really have no idea what point you are trying to make anymore, other than using this thread as a vehicle to bombard people with your vast knowledge of Bob Dylan, which i'm starting to think is just a mashup of a few internet articles you may have read.

Let go of the holier than thou attitude and act like a normal feeling human being. Frankly you are acting rude.