Hey Pottel! Thanks, Mister! Wanna buy a poster?
It was fun being your "mysterious (and now hopefully converted) MK fan"!
But today at ER I read another review, totally contrary to my observations: I hope I am allowed to post some parts of here:
After having seen Berlin and Hamburg this was a considerably worse performance. Bob was on auto-pilot for most of the night, with "Not Dark Yet" a notable exception. Even "Visions" was not as good as it should be... Apart from those two (and maybe Sugar Baby) the setlist was rather boring, for me at least. There was a nice comparision in the local paper today: "He lives in his songs like in a room, which he likes to re-decorate every day". But yesterday he was quite comfortable in keeping the room nice and tidy instead of messing things up like he usually does. At the time of "watchtower" the arena was half-empty, of course most of the leaving ones were either Knopfler-fans or the typical Bob tourist that are still surprised that he doesn't play solo acoustic sets anymore... And the TUI Arena is the most terrible arena I ever been to. Apart from being in the middle of nowhere, it looks like a bloody travel agency. I want to go to a rock show (or a sports event for that matter) and I don't want to book my next vacation (there were at least five travel agency booths) or sign an insurance contract while I'm there.
Very astonished to read that. If it is true, it had no impact on the atmosphere and vibe of the show...
LE
Hmm, I am not surprised at all by those reactions, I am rather surprised why some people are surprised
This tour was designed to attract a mass audience, and Bob simply isn't "mainstream". I would say there were quite a few Dylanologists, but also lots of people who came there to see and hear MK, and maybe hear Bob doing "Blowing In The Wind" the way they know it from the original record from 1960-something. Which of course Bob doesn't do. Hence, lots of people were overstrained... In Berlin, I talked to two elder ladies who told me it was "outrageous" Bob doesn't perform his songs the way his fans know them. Make of this what you want, I think you get my point. The fact is, these ladies aren't stupid of course, they just had different expectations, as had all the others leaving during Bob's part of the show. Calling them "Bob tourists" is really arrogant and mean, and way too simple.