Last Night in Spokane (from Matt Simonsen)

2022-05-28, First Interstate Center for the Arts, Spokane, WA

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Haven’t seen any show photos yet (they made attendees lock their phones in pouches), so here’s a shot guitarist Bob Britt posted from the stage

Reader Matt Simonsen emailed a quick late-night dispatch from last night’s Rough and Rowdy Ways round three tour opener in Spokane, Washington. Thanks Matt!

The show was really good tonight.  Bob’s voice sounded strong and rested.

The lighting was a hazy orange/amber that didn’t change the entire night.  They had flood lights on the crowd, so it was never really dark.

The setlist was identical to the last tour, but the arrangements continued to evolve.

There was no harmonica at all this concert, but Dylan replaced it with a lot more piano.  There wasn’t much plunking or three note doodles this time, but legitimate (and harmonic) fills and flourishes.  There were even times when he played lead piano (like what he would have done with harmonica) and the band filled in beautifully.  If you ever get to listen to this show listen to the end of Mother of Muses with Dylan leading the band on piano.  It’s not something I’ve heard him do as successfully before.  He did the same on Gotta Serve Somebody and Key West, too.

One of the biggest things I noticed is that Bob Britt and Doug Lancio are much more prominent.  There were a lot of guitar fills in the songs this concert.  To me if felt like a jazz/country fusion on many songs, especially To Be Alone With You.  The last verse was an incredible instrumental lead by Dylan’s almost-syncopation piano lead.  Very cool and if kept you on the edge of your seat because you weren’t sure he was going to make it, but he did.  After he finished that song he said “What else do you want to hear?”  I screamed out Murder Most Foul, but it fell on deaf ears.

Jimmy Reed had much more of a shuffle feel, not unlike the album version of Mississippi.

The Key West arrangement had a more delicate vocal approach than the end of last tour and the arrangement sounded like a combination of Time Out of Mind and Link Wray’s Rumble.

Overall the band sounded much, much tighter.  The songs had fewer jump blues or stop/start arrangements and a lot more continuous flow (with Bob and Doug playing a lot more guitar emphasis).

After Melancholy Mood Bob said:

“Thank you.  That was recorded by one of your forbearers, Mr. Bing.  Thought we’d play that for you.  (hesitation).  Mr. Bing!”

The crowd was very old and absolutely dead.  No one stood up.  I saw three younger people dance for about a minute during Baby Tonight, but that was it.  The energy in Spokane vs Milwaukee was night and day difference.

One disturbing thing I noticed was that it seemed like the tempo on a lot of songs was faster and Bob himself seemed to rush.  He started singing Watching the River Flow while the opening instrumental music was playing.  There was no “Please welcome Columbia recording artist introduction.”  But for about 10 seconds there was overlap between River Flow and the intro music.

Bob also missed the start of a line on three different occasions.

You know how in the May 1965 England shows where Bob is kind of rushing through his acoustic songs because he’s kind of bored and wanting to do something else.  I almost picked up on that vibe.  He was singing ahead of the band a lot more than usual.

Thanks again Matt! Let’s dedicate this newsletter to Mr. Bing. Show recording will added here and posted to our Discord when it lands. Below

2022-05-28, First Interstate Center for the Arts, Spokane, WA
One WAV file. Missing first 3.5 songs