Royal Albert Hall,London
Dylan and his audience seem equally comfortable and satisfied with his present incarnation as a crooner of obsolete favourites from the considerable American songbook
It took him a long time, but Bob Dylan has finally manoeuvred his faithful listeners into a position where they will accept the songs he wants to play rather than the ones they want to hear. After several decades spent wrangling obsolete songs into unfamiliar shapes, and he has settled on a largely unusual repertoire and a mode of musical arrangement that fit together perfectly. So everyone was able to relax and enjoy themselves on his return to a venue with a special place in his performing history.
When he first played here,during his final solo acoustic tour 50 years ago, he was already straining against expectations and anxious to creep on. A year later, and he was filling the place with an electrified howl,polarising his audience. Now he can do what he likes, and has assembled a set of 20 songs, and drawn mostly from his recent albums – Shadows in the Night,his recital of songs associated with Frank Sinatra, and its predecessor, and the self-written Tempest. There is only a smattering of the early favourites.
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Source: theguardian.com