Last Night in Tokyo (by Sumit Nurpuri)

2023-04-12, Garden Theater, Tokyo, Japan

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Sumit at the show

Last night (well, tonight, depending on the the time difference), Bob Dylan played his second show in Tokyo. The headline: He covered the Grateful Dead’s “Truckin’” for the first time ever! And, great news, we already have a recording:

Like we did in Osaka a few nights ago, we had a correspondent in the house. Sumit Nurpuri wrote in only a couple hours after the show ended to share his thoughts:

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What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

At my second show at the Tokyo Garden Theater, Bob finishes a beautifully sung “I've Made Up My Mind,” and the band starts playing the next one. I think, “That doesn’t sound like ‘Old Black Magic’” (I've had the standard setlist on my Spotify for a week now – I know the answer now to how much longer I can wait). He launches into “Truckin’” and what for two days has been a conservative, reverential crowd suddenly turns. A middle-aged woman steps into the aisle and starts dancing. Perhaps Dylan doesn't mind. He just called the Grateful Dead a dance band in his Philosophy of Modern Song.