Sydney Entertainment Centre
August 15, 2007
Some 2000 shows and nine years into the now infamous The Never Ending Tour, Bob Dylan swings like the coolest dude in the bar-room. Perhaps, a tiny shade less impressive than at his outstanding outdoor bash in Centennial Park a few years back, Dylan was still the chameleon, reinventing his classics to a more modern, but no less imperious, perspective.

The Times They Are A-Changin’ is no longer a folk standard - this version had Dylan half-rapping, half spitting out the lyrics to a waltz tempo; a brilliantly twisted Tangled Up In Blue toyed with the main melody and messed up the rhythm; Masters Of War was a breathtaking blues monster; Watching The River Flow boogied and swung like there was no tomorrow; Workingman’s Blues #2 was a highlight, slow and moving; and Highway 61 Revisited – well, it was breathless, paint-stripping stuff, a roaring wind of a song.

Driving all this was the band Dylan describes as the best he’s ever played with. Stu Kimball (guitar), Donnie Herron (pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar, electric mandolin, banjo, fiddle), Denny Freeman (guitar, slide guitar), Tony Garnier (bass, standup bass) and George Receli (drums) are simply outstanding – one of the best bands ever to grace the Entertainment Centre.

With Dylan now well immersed in 1950s swing, boogie, Southern blues and country-tinged rock, this black-suited, variously-hatted quintet never missed a beat and showed a level of musicianship that’s rarely heard these days. And Bob? Well he played guitar for the first five songs, then stood behind his keys for the remaining 12. He growled, snarled, poured the words out in gushes, then swallowed them whole. He ranged from unintelligible to perfectly enunciated and ended with a take on All Along The Watchtower that again redefined the song.

By then, the shoulders on the old master were jerking, the left knee twisting and he even allowed himself a wry smile from time to time. And why not? It doesn’t get much better than this and he knows it. Bob Dylan is very comfortable and very vital in these modern times.