Chimpomatic

Bob Dylan

Cardiff

I'm not quite sure why you would, if playing just two UK dates in 2006, choose Cardiff and Bournemouth, but there's little point in trying to figure out how Bob Dylan's mind works. Last night's Cardiff show was a competent, solid, but slightly predictable affair that left me longing for the spontaneous magic of the 2003 Hammersmith show to which Chimp71 was kind enough to take me. In fact, when one of the highlights of the evening is spotting Paul Morley in the queue, you know that you've witnessed one of those dreaded 'average' Dylan shows. There were some lovely moments – 'Ballad of a Thin Man' and 'Cold Irons Bound' were delivered with real verve, and the beautiful arrangement of 'Girl of the North Country' that he does these days is always a joy to hear – but many of the songs ('Positively 4th Street', 'Absolutely Sweet Marie', and 'Watching the River Flow', for instance) were decidedly lacklustre. What really depressed me, though, was the predictability of the set list, which was far too close for my liking to the one wheeled out for last week's Irish shows. If you look at the running order of last night's gig against that of Sunday's Cork show, for instance, you'll see that the first three and the last five songs are exactly the same (and in the same order, too). When you've got a back catalogue as extensive as Dylan's, this is unforgivable (and it's the reason that I haven't been to see Van Morrison for about four years). There's a new album, Modern Times, coming in August, though, and it's five years since the last one appeared, so perhaps before long times will be a-changing for the better.

Full set list:
Maggie's Farm
She Belongs to Me
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Positively 4th Street
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
Love Sick
Watching the River Flow
Ballad of a Thin Man
Absolutely Sweet Marie
Girl of the North Country
Cold Irons Bound
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
Summer Days