It seemed somehow poignant that as missiles rain down on innocent people in Ukraine a few hundred Bob Dylan fans gathered at the Lichfield Garrick to witness a suitable tribute to the man behind a number of anti-war songs.
Anthems such as Masters of War and A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall were written way back in the 60s, when the Cold War was at its height.
And as the Bob Dylan Story frontman Bill Lennon said at the start: “It’s good to go back to the 60s just for a while.”
Indeed it was, and the five-piece tribute band tell, in music and words, the story of the young Minnesota folk singer who rocked the musical world on its axis when he went electric all those years ago, with considerable wit, style and panache.
The classics kept on coming – Blowin’ in the Wind, Highway 61 Revisited, Just Like a Woman, Hurricane, Mr Tambourine Man, Tangled Up in Blue, Forever Young, Like a Rolling Stone.
A personal highlight was a blistering version of Positively Fourth Street, the ultimate slice of rock and roll vitriol from Bob’s vast repertoire, driven here by virtuoso keyboards from Lewis Cochrane.
Intriguingly, the band stayed far truer to the original arrangements than the man himself ever does in concert. But I guess that Dylan has earned the right to do whatever he wants with his songs after 60 years of astonishing creativity.
The Garrick show unfolded against a backdrop of vintage footage from world history, JFK, Martin Luther King, Vietnam, the Washington Civil Rights March, alongside grainy images of a 20-something Bob.
Meanwhile, Knocking on Heaven’s Door was delivered to a photographic montage of rock artists who are no longer with us, from Elvis to Hendrix, Bowie to Tom Petty, Kurt Cobain to Amy Winehouse.
The Minnesota Bard will be 81 in May and if the Garrick show proved anything as the hard rain falls on Ukraine, it is surely that Dylan’s songs remain as relevant today as they were 60 years ago, when the Cuban missile crisis brought fears of Armageddon.
Or, as the man himself wrote in Blowin’ in the Wind: “How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?”
Sorry, I left during the interval when I saw them in Stafford sometime ago.
Musicians were good but I don’t want to see an impressionist. Rich Hall did a bit of a send-up at the Lichfield Garrick previously.
Who knows, Bob may bring his never ending tour here again soon. He was in Tucson last night. Of course he doesn’t do his songs as the origin versions – that’s for lesser mortals – and why Dylan Live is such an experience. Listen to the bootleg series in the meantime.
Hi Great night really enjoyed the whole night The band’s performance were excellent Good to enjoy some live music let’s hope they go from strength to strength