July 19, 2021

"The 50-minute performance special was set in a fictional, stylized nightclub, possibly in the 1940s or ’50s or just a timeless twilight zone, where every single person in the tiny audience, man and woman alike, was smoking like a chimney..."

"... to a degree that seemed less like period specificity and almost like comedy.... The setlist did lean almost entirely toward ’60s and early ’70s songs.... The wrinkle was that all of these vintage songs looked and sounded like they were being performed by a drummer-less Americana band in a roadhouse.... Reportedly, the real location was somewhere in Santa Monica, but the end credits helpfully hinted that the location shoot had really been at the Bon Bon Club in Marseille. (There’s no such place, naturally.)... Usually we’d be perched behind the Black woman in the front row, who might get up to go get a beer, or to indulge in a slow dance with another patron. On one occasion, breaking the fourth wall, she and another bar-goer flanked Dylan on either side, facing the camera (pictured above), as if about to break into a background vocal that never came. The wall AC unit made cameo appearances...."

From "Bob Dylan Gets Smoke in His Eyes, but Not So Much in His Excellent Vocals, in Lynch-esque ‘Shadow Kingdom’: Stream Review" by Chris Willman (Variety).

Here's a trailer for the show, which plays through tomorrow:

We watched. Quite enjoyed it, even after the hassle of creating a Veeps account, paying $30, and figuring out that I couldn't play it through Roku but would need to do screen mirroring from my iPhone. Something finally pushed me over the line to learn to do screen mirroring.

3 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Jack writes:

"Dylan has a line from a recent song about old things becoming new again. This concert is an example. As always, Dylan’s lyrics are in lead with the music clearly in support. I’ve always seen his music as built on the meter of his lyrics. I enjoyed hearing his lyrics with another Dylan voice and style - makes me hear his words a different way. This treatment conveys how personal his lyrics are, revealing himself. Spanning his many, many great lyrics shows he has certainly had a full life of experiences and feelings/emotions. Thoroughly enjoyable!"

Ann Althouse said...

Thanks, Jack. That motivate me to cue up the show for a rewatch before it goes away (after today).

Ann Althouse said...

I’m just seeing an email message from Bob Dylan saying the period for watching and rewatching the show has been extended through the 25th.

I’m rewatching now and enjoying it even more. The visual is so involving that there’s a lot in the audio that I didn’t hear as well the first time.

But then, I’m always bad at hearing music the first time around.

Bad at seeing things the first time too, actually.