“They understand this music here better than anywhere else”
2000-09-29, Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
We’re in the closing stretch of the Europe 2000 tour. Twelve shows down [catch up on them all here], five shows to go.
Four notable things about this Frankfurt show, the second-smallest venue of the tour after Vicar Street in Dublin:
1. BobUnterhaltung [that’s BobTalk in German]
As great as this tour is, it’s mostly missing one thing: BobTalk! A nice piece today though. Just one sentence, but it’s a beautiful tribute to the people of Germany. Dylan says before the band intros: “Thank you. Every time we play this country, they understand this music better than anywhere else for some reason.”
He might have been referring to one person in particular though. More on that in a minute…
2. Tour Debut
This late in the tour, there are naturally fewer tour debuts. In fact, after today, only three more songs will be added. Today’s is not huge news, exactly, but it’s a personal favorite: “Seeing the Real You at Last.” A fun rocker that I wish he’d bring back.
3. Front-Row
If you’ve been following this series from the start, you know that most venues on this tour were standing-room only at the front, and that Dylan’s people would pull people out of the back of the line to fill in the first few rows—infuriating fans who queued for hours to be front row—reportedly so Bob didn’t see the same faces up front every night.
In Frankfurt, apparently they set up a whole separate invite-only VIP area between the crowd barrier and the stage. Dylan’s people roamed the crowd before the show began, looking for special people to hand blue wristbands to, which let them into this section in front of the front row. The fans who had queued for hours were, again, less than thrilled. One fan’s report:
We really could not believe it. Suddenly the first row turned out to be the sixth. Was that the reward for all the suffering we went through for four and more hours? We felt so mocked, so disillusioned. This selection and division. Just by mere accident. That’s not the way the management of Bob - presumed that the management had ordered this measure - should treat the audience… No wonder that there was an occasional booing when Bob and his band finally entered the stage.
The system worked just fine for Bob though. Multiple people reported that he fixated on one young woman in the front row. One fan writes:
For some reason, Bob fell completely in love with her and played the rest of the show just for her. That’s right, it wasn’t just only one song, like we’ve seen it so many times before, especially during the encores, it was the WHOLE show.
A different fan notes:
After the show Bob picked up a few roses that somebody had thrown on stage, made a few steps towards the young lady in row one, basically handed her one rose and threw the others in the other direction, not aiming at anyone in particular…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bob having so much fun. Not for the whole duration of a show, anyways. And it really was just down to this one girl, so whoever you are, thank you very much!
One person met her afterwards and learned her name was Soena and she is Turkish. So maybe it’s really the Turks who understand his music better than anyone.
4. Bob’s Bus Stuck in Traffic
One more amusing fan report to close:
There was traffic chaos after the show, there seems to be only one exit from the carpark and all cars tried to hit it at once. I didn’t even try, I waited around and then thought to have a look around the back of the hall in case Bob was having a cold one or a smoke to relax after the show. Anyway I went around the back of the hall just to see Bob’s bus start up and roar off, only to hit the traffic jam about 30 metres around the corner!
Both buses were in the jam, the bus drivers got out and were examining the mess. Bob’s bus was the second one. Some German guy went up to Bob’s bus and held a cover of New Morning up to the windows and walked the length of the bus holding the cover. Like, Bob will open a window and sign New Morning? [Ray: Or maybe he won’t open it and he’ll just…Sign on the Window! (rimshot)] DUH!! Anyway these antics caught the attention of a security guy who, shall we say, gently asked the person to stop doing it. The guy complied. After a few minutes I went over to the security guy and chatted with him for a few minutes, a real nice guy and obviously one of the private security team. He mentioned the Cagliari concert where Bob went over to all the fans and signed things for them and took photographs. But he said, to try to meet Bob in a hotel, WRONG PLACE. Try to meet Bob at the airport, WRONG PLACE. After a good show, you stand a chance.
After about 20 minutes, the bus drivers spotted a way out and the buses overtook some cars and made a speedy exit. The speedy way out was actually following an ambulance, someone had fallen or something and were rushed off in an ambulance.
Interesting that the guy was waving New Morning at Bob’s window. Because at the very next show, a certain New Morning song will make its live debut after thirty years…
Sign on the window!
Coincidence? Doubt it.