STOCKHOLM 2003

THE GLOBE ARENA, STOCKHOLM,

SWEDEN

1. To Be Alone With You

2. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue

3. Cry A While

4. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues

5. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

6. Boots Of Spanish Leather

7. Things Have Changed

8. Highway 61 Revisited

9. Love Sick

10. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

11. Every Grain Of Sand

12. Honest With Me

13. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

14. Summer Days

15. Cat's In The Well

16. Like A Rolling Stone

17. Forever Young

18. All Along The Watchtower

[In early August 2003 I found out that on
the day of my 40th birthday Bob Dylan
will perform at the Globe Arena in Stockholm
(the venue where in 2002 he had performed
his first "SOLID ROCK" since 1981).

So my wife and I have decided to celebrate
my birthday in style this year, and booked
some cheap flights to spend a long October
weekend in Sweden.]

There we were, in Sweden, two native Germans
living in Ireland, my wife and I, to see two
more Dylan shows. It was our first time to
the continent since moving to Ireland in
September 1999. After meeting most interesting
fans from Sweden and beyond, we ended up with
second row tickets for the Globe, and I must say,
it is an impressive arena, and we did see one
impressive show.

I had not seen "Every Grain Of Sand" since its
fourth ever live outing in Hamburg 1984. Since
leaving Germany four years ago we had missed
out on three German performances of these finest
lyrics Bob Dylan ever wrote, and this favourite
song of mine was on top of my wish list before
the tour started. Since Bob already played it
in Helsinki, I was not expecting a second
performance in a row; so it was quite surprising
to hear in Stockholm an extremely wonderful
version of this sublime gem. But a very nice
surprise it was, this most perfect gift on
my 40th birthday that day, as Bob told the
audience that he is "hanging in the balance
of some perfect finished plan".

Other high points of the show for me were
the strong opener, "To Be Alone With You",
(Bob’s voice was great from the start),
the new version of "Boots Of Spanish Leather",
and a fine rocking "Cat's In The Well", with
Bob making sure the band would end the song
while he delivered the last line "May the Lord
have mercy on us all". And of course I must
mention the surprise addition during the encore
set, a most beautiful "Forever Young", which
I took the liberty of taking personal on this
special day for me. All eighteen songs I had
seen before in concert, but most of the
arrangements were fresh and new to me that night.

It was also the first time I saw Bob on piano,
and he played a lot of harp too. His singing
was very committed, and his moving around on
stage quite amusing. For example when the band
started the intro for "Don't Think Twice, It's
All Right", Bob was on electric guitar (even
though he played piano during the previous song).
But his Bobness did think twice, it was not all
right obviously, and he put the guitar down,
and went over to his piano before starting
to sing this song.

The band was new for me as well, except Larry
and Tony, who were brilliant as usual. I like
those guys. As we saw during last year’s European
tour "only" the eight British shows, I had never
seen George in action, and certainly not Freddie.
When Bob was on piano (on all but about three songs),
the whole band formed a perfect half circle
[Bob~Freddie~George~Tony~Larry]. So Freddie got
many a nod from Bob, and delivered many a fine
guitar solo. This guy is good, he is very good.
I do like his stage presence a lot; and Bob seemed
to be very pleased with his work. Well, I certainly
was pleased with Bob and his band that night,
this concert alone was worth the long journey.



OCTOBER 11, 2003 THE GLOBE ARENA, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 1. To Be Alone With You 2. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue 3. Cry A While 4. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues 5. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) 6. Boots Of Spanish Leather 7. Things Have Changed 8. Highway 61 Revisited 9. Love Sick 10. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum 11. Every Grain Of Sand 12. Honest With Me 13. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right 14. Summer Days 15. Cat's In The Well 16. Like A Rolling Stone 17. Forever Young 18. All Along The Watchtower [In early August 2003 I found out that on the day of my 40th birthday Bob Dylan will perform at the Globe Arena in Stockholm (the venue where in 2002 he had performed his first "SOLID ROCK" since 1981). So my wife and I have decided to celebrate my birthday in style this year, and booked some cheap flights to spend a long October weekend in Sweden.] There we were, in Sweden, two native Germans living in Ireland, my wife and I, to see two more Dylan shows. It was our first time to the continent since moving to Ireland in September 1999. After meeting most interesting fans from Sweden and beyond, we ended up with second row tickets for the Globe, and I must say, it is an impressive arena, and we did see one impressive show. I had not seen "Every Grain Of Sand" since its fourth ever live outing in Hamburg 1984. Since leaving Germany four years ago we had missed out on three German performances of these finest lyrics Bob Dylan ever wrote, and this favourite song of mine was on top of my wish list before the tour started. Since Bob already played it in Helsinki, I was not expecting a second performance in a row; so it was quite surprising to hear in Stockholm an extremely wonderful version of this sublime gem. But a very nice surprise it was, this most perfect gift on my 40th birthday that day, as Bob told the audience that he is "hanging in the balance of some perfect finished plan". Other high points of the show for me were the strong opener, "To Be Alone With You", (Bob’s voice was great from the start), the new version of "Boots Of Spanish Leather", and a fine rocking "Cat's In The Well", with Bob making sure the band would end the song while he delivered the last line "May the Lord have mercy on us all". And of course I must mention the surprise addition during the encore set, a most beautiful "Forever Young", which I took the liberty of taking personal on this special day for me. All eighteen songs I had seen before in concert, but most of the arrangements were fresh and new to me that night. It was also the first time I saw Bob on piano, and he played a lot of harp too. His singing was very committed, and his moving around on stage quite amusing. For example when the band started the intro for "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", Bob was on electric guitar (even though he played piano during the previous song). But his Bobness did think twice, it was not all right obviously, and he put the guitar down, and went over to his piano before starting to sing this song. The band was new for me as well, except Larry and Tony, who were brilliant as usual. I like those guys. As we saw during last year’s European tour "only" the eight British shows, I had never seen George in action, and certainly not Freddie. When Bob was on piano (on all but about three songs), the whole band formed a perfect half circle [Bob~Freddie~George~Tony~Larry]. So Freddie got many a nod from Bob, and delivered many a fine guitar solo. This guy is good, he is very good. I do like his stage presence a lot; and Bob seemed to be very pleased with his work. Well, I certainly was pleased with Bob and his band that night, this concert alone was worth the long journey.
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