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Bob Dylan & His Band Live at the Avalon Ballroom, Boston, MA. March 25, 2004

In the past 5-10 years Bob Dylan has appeared primarily at ampitheaters and arenas when playing Boston. Upon hearing that the rock legend would be playing at the Avalon Ballroom, a club holding less than 2,000 people, I jumped at the opportunity to purchase tickets. Tonight was the second of three sold out shows. The crowd was a mix of young and old, understandable considering the length and breadth of Dylan's musical career. For every twenty-something attendee, there was a fifty-something.

The stage was sparse. There were no props or gimmicks, just the musicians and their instruments. Dylan looked like a real deal cowboy, dressed in a sweet white suede jacket and black cowboy hat. He could have taught the silly poseurs who brought their cowboy hats to Fenway Park last year for the silly 'Cowboy Up' hoopla a thing or two. Sitting at an electric piano, he faced sideways towards the band rather than the crowd. Dylan was joined on stage with what was dubbed 'His Band.' "His Band' included a bassist, guitarist and two drummers. Tall with long black hair and a dark mustache, the guitarist was a reasonable facsimile of Dennis Eckersley, quite fitting for a Kenmore Square club. The bassist played either a standing or electric bass at different points of the night.

The music was played with a honky-tonk country flair, like Hootie & The Blowfish covering Dylan. It was actually Bob Dylan covering Bob Dylan. Besides the familiarity of their lyrics, it was difficult to recognize some songs. Dylan played for an hour and a half before briefly exiting following a rousing 'Summer Days' from Love And Theft. 'Summer Days' had the crowd dancing and waving their hands as the band jammed with Dylan's frenetic harmonica and equally frenzied piano play. The tepid pace of 'Positively 4th Street' made it positively James Taylor-esque. It sorely lacked the conviction of Dylan's biting sarcastic lyrics and wry delivery from the original version. The more bluesy songs worked well, but overall the rearranged versions were a tough sell.

For the entire evening Dylan stayed at the piano, alternately playing harmonica and singing. He had no interaction with the crowd until coming out for his encore, at which point he introduced the band. "The regular drummer (insert name) hurt his toe, so we got a second drummer..." Dylan noted before trailing off into an indecipherable sentence or two further explaining the presence of a second drummer.

For an encore, Dylan played a slightly upbeat version of 'Like A Rolling Stone' before finishing the show with 'All Along The Watchtower.' The pace of 'Like A Rolling Stone' felt contradictory to the message the song sends. Like 'Summer Days' before it, 'Watchtower' grabbed the crowds full attention. It felt fresh rather than rearranged. The success of 'Watchtower' in this vein is all the more surprising given the abundance of covers through the years. Tonight's version was simple and direct, with Dylan growling through some parts.

Dylan occasionally trailed off or simply skipped certain portions of songs. It was almost as if he was combining two or three sentences into one long word. Melting the lyrics like this is a Dylan staple, and is probably done on purpose. His tenuous hold on annunciation when singing is almost as unique as his gravelly voice.

As the night ended, it was hard not to feel less than satisfied. The layout of the stage was terrible. Placing Dylan on the left front corner of the stage virtually hid him from the view of roughly a third of the crowd. Considering that he has 30+ years of music at his disposal, it is somewhat disappointing that he chose alternate versions for most of songs. This honky- tonk reinvention did not work for most of them, as it stripped them of the power the originals evoked. Simply put, the emotion of the original versions was lost tonight.

Final Grade: C
Disappointing to a casual fan, perhaps better for a more rabid follower.