FRANKFURT 2007


The Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt

APRIL 21, 2007



JAHRHUNDERTHALLE, FRANKFURT,

GERMANY



1. Cat's In The Well

2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

3. Watching The River Flow

4. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

5. To Ramona

6. The Levee's Gonna Break

7. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

8. Rollin' And Tumblin'

9. When The Deal Goes Down

10. Things Have Changed

11. Spirit On The Water

12. Highway 61 Revisited

13. Nettie Moore

14. Summer Days

15. Like A Rolling Stone

16. Thunder On The Mountain

17. All Along The Watchtower



Two days after the great show in Düsseldorf I went down to Frankfurt to see
another concert, my last one for this tour, as I have to go back to Cork this
week. Concerning the setlist it was very similar to the show in Düsseldorf,
songs 1-4 and 12-17 being identical, and three more repeats among the
songs 5-11. Already during the first three songs of the opening act [Dylan on
guitar] (which were warmup songs for his vocal chords somehow) I suspected
something like this, but during “It's Alright, Ma” I stopped caring, so much did
I enjoy another version of the new arrangement of this old war horse, with
Dylan shooting out the lyrics, and the band totally in sync with their band
leader. The last song with Bob on guitar was a fine new arrangement of “To
Ramona” (it had appeared twice on keyboard earlier in the tour), a song which
I had last seen in Oberhausen 2005.

Then came the main set, with Dylan behind his keyboards, starting again
with another great performance of the perfect opener “The Levee's Gonna
Break”, which (as already in Düsseldorf and differently than on the studio
track) ended with the same verse which opens this gem. “If it keep on rainin',
the levee gonna break; everybody saying this is the day only the Lord could
make.” (reflecting Psalm 118:24: ”This is the day that the Lord has made; let
us rejoice and be glad in it.”). This stunning song was followed up immediately
with another rain song, the always welcome “A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall”,
which I had not seen since Erfurt 2005.

Next up was the only song of the night I had never seen live before (as it did
not appear in Düsseldorf), a rocking take no prisoners “Rollin' And Tumblin'”,
with fine guitar work by Denny; followed by another sublime and beautiful
reading of “When The Deal Goes Down”, which Dylan should not withhold
from any audience on this tour, especially as it features more very fine guitar
by Denny. Then came a small semi surprise in the set, the second “Things
Have Changed” of this year, which I found quite enjoyable, also since I had
not seen it since I saw Dylan perform it on the same Frankfurt stage in
November 2003. Another beautiful version of “Spirit On The Water”, with
more fine guitar work by Denny closed the center portion of the show.

The more predictable, and mostly rocking third part of the concert, included
one more slow song, another beautiful version of “Nettie Moore”, which
meant no Ain’t Talkin’ for me this time around. As I wrote already in my
Düsseldorf review, most people attending these shows seem to have no
clue that Dylan will not play the guitar again after changing to piano; and I
also think they actually believe that Dylan and his band come back for a real
encore because they cheer so loud after he walks off stage. When he comes
back, they have not clue that the so called encore is already predetermined.
Nevertheless, the way in which Dylan performed the two final songs of the
show in Frankfurt last night, “Thunder On The Mountain” and “All Along The
Watchtower” was very strong, impressive, and powerful. Long may he keep
touring and entertain us with his songs.



JAÉN, SPAIN