On October 13, 1989...I witnessed an amazing show by Bob Dylan at the Beacon Theater in New York. Dylan was in rare form that night...He had recently released OH MERCY, his strongest album in years...and played a lot of songs from that record...plus classics like “It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes a Train To Cry”, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”, “Like A Rolling Stone” and more...During the last number, “Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat”...Dylan finished the song by doing a little jig, then leaping off the stage into the darkness below...It was a truly bizarre, yet brilliant way to end the show.

On October 13, 2009 – 20 years to the day that I saw Dylan at the Beacon Theater, I saw Bob Dylan and his band perform at the Hollywood Palladium in L.A. What’s changed in 20 years? Well...let me think about it...Oh yeah...EVERYTHING. Yet you wouldn’t know it from the scene outside the Palladium...where post-modern hippies (as well actual hippies from the 60’s and 70’s) mulled about...smoked pot openly on the street...and was offered everything from peace sign stickers, and petitions to legalize marijuana...to bootleg t-shirts, and self-published Bob Dylan books. I arrived at 6:00pm and the line was already very long...I was later told that some people were out there on line as early as 6:00am that morning. As I listened to conversations around me...I realized very soon that among this crowd, I was a lightweight. These people were hard core Dylan fans...who traveled around the west coast (and perhaps the country) checking out one Bob Dylan concert after another. Their bond as Dylan fans was something I could only relate to at a distance.

Eventually the doors opened around 6:30pm. For some reason all Dylan shows have a strict NO CAMERAS policy...There were signs, and security people yelled it out loud...just in case we missed the message. Inside the venue...the security people were on the lookout for cameras...even scolding some iPhone users for taking just one picture. Yet to my delight...unlike the old, pre-renovated Hollywood Palladium (which always made you walk through metal detectors)...the new Hollywood Palladium just let people in (though they searched bags, etc...). That said, I snuck my camera in...hoping for the best.

I ran inside...and got as close as I could to the front of the stage...It was all General Admission, and I was standing around the third row. Seemed there was a good mixture of people there...ages ranges from kids in their 20’s, to people in their 60’s and beyond. I chatted with some kids who drove up from Ventura, and had been waiting outside the Palladium since 12 noon. Spoke with a young woman who was at the show with her father...After I saved her spot while she went to the bathroom, she also was kind enough to save my spot while I made a lighting fast bathroom run. Lots of different sizes in the crowd...plenty of tall people over 6 feet...and I was standing near several people who looked no taller than 4 ½ feet...I wondered how they were going to be able to see once the concert started. Pot was in the air...and I heard more talk from the die-hard fans...There was a guy who saw Bob Dylan in his Rolling Thunder Review in 1975 at Madison Square Garden...He spent much of the night going through his collection of pictures on his iPhone...and checking Dylan as well as Springsteen setlists...One guy in his late 50’s passed out...causing a ruckus for a while...

Legendary 60’s Sunset Strip guitarist/singer Johnny Rivers opened the show...and he was quite good...playing with gusto on his hits like “Secret Agent Man”, “Midnight Special, “Mountain of Love”...plus a few Chuck Berry tunes. His guitar playing, though simple...was very impressive. During the show, I noticed there was a woman next to me sketching Johnny Rivers and his entire band on a large notepad...an unusual occurrence for a standing room only rock and roll concert. By the end of Johnny Rivers’ set, I had gotten even closer to the stage.

After a short break, Bob Dylan and his band hit the stage. Dylan is now 68 years old, his voice is more rough and torn than it has ever been...and his walk isn’t so great...Yet, I’ve never seen Bob Dylan look and sound more alive than I did last night. Opening strong with a song I didn’t recognize (“Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking”)...the energy from Dylan and the band was incredible. Unlike the awesome, yet subdued Dylan concert I saw last year at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium...THIS Bob Dylan was animated and full of life...and his band was on fire. Perhaps it was just in my mind...yet it seemed that the return of great Texas guitarist Charlie Sexton (remember him? He had an MTV hit in the 80’s, and played with David Bowie)...breathed new life into Bob Dylan...really put some fire under Dylan’s older frame. The next song was a nice surprise...Last year, Dylan played the whole concert at stage left...playing the keyboards on the side of the stage exclusively...Last night he came out front and center...with just a microphone and a harmonica in his hand...and sung a great version of “Shooting Star” (from 1989’s OH MERCY). Dylan’s harmonica playing was tentative...yet he sung with all his heart...and swayed and pumped to the rhythm. Unlike last year, Dylan actually picked up a guitar, and played center stage on “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright.” His guitar playing, like his harmonica playing, was hesitant...It seemed as if he was unsure of himself on the guitar...strapped in close to his chin, with the guitar neck tilted sky high (the easiest way to play bar chords)...I heard a rumor he’s had wrist problems...or some sort of situation that makes it difficult now to hold and play the guitar. Perhaps this was the reason Dylan played the way he did last night....and so sparingly.

One curious note, despite the relatively small size of the Hollywood Palladium (holds about 4,000 people)...and despite getting near the front of the stage...I still felt a great distance between Bob Dylan & his band, and the audience. Unlike other concerts I have seen... Bob Dylan and his band were not set up at the front of the stage...Instead, they were set up way upstage...towards the back of the large stage area. So when Dylan was front and center...he was really center upstage. This, plus the large security pit that was placed between the first row area, and the stage itself. I kept wishing Dylan would move closer...yet it never happened. Yet I was fortunate to have gotten as close as I did, so I should just shut up. Later, the wave of the crowd pushed me further forward...planting me in the 2nd row area. On the floor of a GA concert, all bets are off...mob rules...so anything goes...Yet I held my ground, and fortunately came out of it in one piece...I think.

As the night wore on...Dylan grew more comfortable on the guitar...even trading licks back and forth with Charlie Sexton...in a duel of some sort. Sixth song of the night “Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)” (from 1966’s BLONDE ON BLONDE) was another surprise...I had never seen him perform that song before. It was fun to hear him sing songs he recorded in 1965 like “Ballad Of A Thin Man” and “Like A Rolling Stone”...I watched Dylan closely as he sang those famous tunes...wondered if these songs held any meaning for him now...of if he had to really force himself to do it. Though not keeping his vocals and phrasing in line with the 1965 recordings...Dylan’s delivery was still very much his own...who is now...today in 2009...and not some oldies act struggling in vain to recapture the magic. Speaking of songs, the new material sounded fantastic. No, he did not play any tunes from his just released Christmas album CHRISTMAS FROM THE HEART...yet he did play no less than four songs from the other Bob Dylan album released this year...TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE. They all sounded great...In fact they sounded so good, I didn’t even recognize most of them...makes me want to listen to TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE again...After each song, Dylan would walk over to stage left...check the set list...and either go out front, or sit on the side of the stage with his keyboards. Even when he was sitting, Dylan was bopping and groovin’ to the music...I watched his facial expressions, and movement...even catching a smile every now and then...Dylan seemed to be have a really good time...just like his audience...