God the Father comes to Montreal

I’m going to make a confession, I’m a profiteer. Since adolescence, I have tended to stick to people older and more cultured than me. It allows me to take paths that I wouldn’t otherwise take. And save time.

I don’t really remember who gave me this advice, but around the age of 20 an “elder” told me that I absolutely had to listen to Bob Dylan. I got the disc Live at Budokan which he recorded during the 1978 tour with the musicians of the album Street-Legal launched a few months earlier.

The arrangements are confusing, the musicians are hand-picked (as always with Dylan) and the electric guitar triumphs, the one that caused folk purists to have an apoplectic fit one evening in June 1965, at the Newport Festival, when Dylan ‘slung on his shoulder instead of his acoustic guitar.

Indeed, while the Beatles were observing Dylan, Dylan was observing the Beatles…

Poetry for folk, bluettes for rock’n’roll, it was often like this in the 1960s. Dylan proved that poetry had the right to be electrified. And electrifying.

During this famous 1978 tour, Dylan, known for doing as he pleases, decided that he would spoil his audience with some nuggets: Mr. Tambourine Man, Shelter from the Storm, Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, Like a Rolling Stone, I Shall Be Released, Blowin’in the Wind, Just Like a Woman, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Forever Young, The Times They Are a-Changin’…

I had a blast! This double disc became the one I put most often on my turntable. I learned several of his songs on guitar. My girlfriend at the time even translated her texts so that I could better understand their meaning (she loved me rare!!!).

I wanted to listen to everything about him. I ended up with about twenty vinyl records (which I still have). Among my friends, more likely to listen to Duran Duran, The Cure or the Stray Cats, there was always a moment when I got up to change the record, slipping without their knowledge Blood on the Tracks Or Slow Train Coming. I was then entitled to cries of disapproval.

Oh no ! You and your damn Dylan!

I did not care ! Bob’s guitar strumming, his nasal voice and his thundering harmonica all enchanted me. Above all his poetry, that of a portrait painter of his time who uses social, authentic, highly mastered writing. Dylan convinced me that Gainsbourg was completely wrong when he said that singing is a minor art.

At 14, you need idols. But at 20, we look for lighthouses. Dylan was one of those lanterns for me.

To look like him, I drew a thick line with black pencil under my eyes like he did at that time, especially on the album cover. Hard Rain. In the bars of Hull, it had a certain effect.

And then, I went to see him perform. I discovered his legendary way of presenting his shows. Dylan doesn’t monologue about his life while doing steppes, he offers his songs. Point bar.

Yes, I admit, I was unfaithful to him for many years, like many other fans. But that didn’t stop him from continuing to make records and tour. And to win a Nobel Prize for Literature (which he demanded to receive in the strictest privacy).

Bob Dylan comes to Montreal on October 29 at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier. Of course I have my ticket (thanks to a friend whom I bless). And of course I couldn’t resist the urge to consult the list of songs he offers during this tour entitled Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour inspired by the record of the same title.

I warn those who go to see him: Dylan is not doing us the trick Live at Budokan. There is zero hit in this show. But the program is sophisticated, coherent, rich. The disc Rough and Rowdy Waysone of the best in his impressive discography, makes up most of the program (slip that between your two ears this evening and you’ll give me some news).

For the rest, he does some older songs. However, I read that for a few months, the old guy has created a surprise by paying homage to the Grateful Dead. Who knows what he will do in Montreal?

The rare images and sound clips circulating (spectators must leave their phones at the entrance to the theaters) show us an archiminimalist staging. Dylan and his musicians are most of the time positioned in front of the stage curtain with lighting coming from the footlights. Depending on the evening, he puts on his guitar or not.

At 82, Dylan is still on the road. He has been leading this tour for almost two years now. And it’s not finished. He still has other cities to visit.

I know very well that it is risky to go see an artist in the autumn of his career. So I’m going to see Dylan without any expectations. Understand by this to go there with the firm intention of liking it. We cannot allow ourselves to judge God the Father.