Bob Dylan at the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan - Saturday Oct 14, 2017

Despite being a fan of Dylan's since the early 60's (when I first picked up an acoustic guitar, I learned his songs), I have never had a chance to see him before. Knowing how much of a chameleon he is, and having heard some of his more recent albums, I went to this show with no expectations, and thoroughly enjoyed the night.

He has an ace band behind him consisting of 2 guitars (one alternated between electric and acoustic),  a bassist (who played electric and stand up, sometimes with a bow),  a multi instrumentalist (keys, steel guitar, violin and mandolin - and superior on all) and a drummer, and Bob either remained at his piano (variously sitting and standing) or took center stage just singing - often songs that either were or sounded like old standards - in a modified Elvis pose. No guitar at all from Bob or harmonica, which was interesting.

A good portion of his set contained unfamiliar songs (at least to me) or the afore-mentioned standards but he did pull out classics like "It Ain't Me", "Highway 61" and "Desolation Row", albeit in a radically reworked form that made them almost unrecognizable until he got to a classic lyric line. Bob was excellent on the piano, and the band was in fine form behind him, although they were loose enough that they seemed to get lost a few times. We got the feeling that Bob was keeping things open and giving members a nod when they should solo and maybe even changing arrangements on them at times, which was fun. Interestingly, in between songs, the band would kinda noodle around until everyone was ready to start again so that there was no dead air and Dylan never spoke to the audience. Not a complaint - just an observation.

For the encore he either did an extreme re-working of "Blowing in the Wind" or he added that tag line to a new song and then a mind-bogglingly great take on one of my favorites, "Ballad of a Thin Man".

The stage set-up was neat, with the group in almost a semi-circle, and a half dozen or so simple spot lights on stands around them, with the band in matching suits and Bob in a black leather jacket, still looking dapper - at least from our back-of-the-auditorium view.

Definitely an enjoyable evening. I would still recommend seeing him - he's keeping himself relevant and ever-changing, and seems to simply be playing because he still enjoys it, not simply to please his audience. He is certainly not doing an oldies act or giving anyone anything that they would necessarily expect. Go with an open mind and enjoy a true artist remaining true to himself.