War and apocalypse (and, er, women!) were very much on Bob's mind in Strasbourg tonight, it seems... Maybe he knows it was Hitler's birthday yesterday. Or perhaps he was inspired by being in a city that has been fought over by France and Germany more than once. One of the Nazis' first acts on taking the city in 1940 was to raze to the ground Strasbourg's synagogue (pictured), one of the largest in Europe, the Jewish community in Alsace being one of the oldest on that continent. The city was heavily bombed by the allies in 1944.
Let's go through the setlist...
1. Cat's In The Well
2. Masters Of War
3. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
4. Lonesome Day Blues
5. Under The Red Sky
6. Rollin' And Tumblin'
7. Beyond The Horizon
8. John Brown
9. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
10. This Wheel's On Fire
11. Highway 61 Revisited
12. Just Like A Woman
13. Thunder On The Mountain
14. Like A Rolling Stone
(encore)
15. All Along The Watchtower
16. Spirit On The Water
17. Blowin' In The Wind
1. Cat's in the Well -- dogs are going to war.
2. Masters of War.
3. [No direct mention of war, but reindeer armies and seasick sailors, an orphan with a gun, and "the dead" feature]
4. Well, my pa he died and left me, my brother got killed in the war
5.[Again, no direct mention of war, but this sinister nursery rhyme is every bit as much about the betrayal of innocence as John Brown; note also that after Baby Blue and a Blues, we now have a red sky!]
6. [No direct mention of war, but "sooner or later you too shall burn "and "early doom" and "long dead souls" hardly lift the mood!]
7. [Some light relief at last, though the song is a tad ambiguous]
8. When John Brown went off to war
9. Are this nasty pair supposed to be Bob's comment on gay marriage?
10. Another sinister song...
11. ...tryin' to create a next world war
12. Just Like A Woman -- No war connection, but as Horace says, cunnus taeterrima belli causa, which I won't translate in deference to any ladies who might be visiting my blog, but you can google it...
13. I need a real good woman to do just what I say...
14. How does it feel? The third "woman" song ends with her downfall. Bob's not only in a belligerent, doom-mongering mood, he's feeling pretty misogynistic too.
15. The end of the world, portents of which were seen in 1 and maybe 10.
16. Quite placid, apart from the "I killed a man" line
17. Too many people have died... This might be the audience's feeling after this setlist!
All in all, one of the most doom-laden concerts Bob's given for a while. Thanks to Bill Pagel for the set list.
5 comments:
"9. Are this nasty pair supposed to be Bob's comment on gay marriage?"
WHAT!?
That observation's about as accurate as your grammar.
Yeesh!
"Maybe he knows it was Hitler's birthday yesterday. Or perhaps he was inspired by being in a city that has been fought over by France and Germany more than once."
Or maybe it was Tuesday.
Dylan already played in Strasbourg in April 2002. He did the anti-military songs because they're always a hit with French audiences (cf. Paris). In my knowledge, the only influence a birth day has on Bob's setlist is adding "Happy Birthday" when one of his close friends in the audience celebrates it.
Since 10 June 2008 Bob has played 14 Tuesday concerts. All of these (including Hannover, Paris, Basel and Strasbourg this tour) have featured John Brown and Masters Of War. How many times were one of these songs played on other days of the week during this period? Zero.
Tuesday just happens to be his war day.
Hahah, Bob's so funny. I love the choices he made.
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