Bob Dylan kicked off his latest tour this past Wednesday down in Champaign, Illinois, at a mushroom shaped building called Assembly Hall. With the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh opening the show (Phil Lesh and Friends) the place was filled with college kids dressed in tie-die and smelling of patchouli. In an attempt to satisfy the Deadhead crowd, Phil Lesh was smart enough to surround himself with able-bodied musicians like Paul Barrere and Billy Payne (both of Little Feat fame) as well as San Francisco guitar phenom Steve Kimmock. Unfortunately, Lesh's ensemble had a little trouble getting things together. Their Dead-styled jam aesthetic was not fully complimented by the talents of Barrere or Payne and as a result Kimmock's Jerry Garcia-esque guitar playing had trouble finding a righteous communion with his bandmates. Although Phil and Friends played several lengthy Dead compositions (Jerry Garcia's "The Wheel" was a highlight), the band never really took off. Towards the end of the show, they did manage to do a fairly rousing version of "Not Fade Away", a Buddy Holly song that the Dead had appropriated many years ago with a good degree of success. After only an hour and a half Lesh bid the crowd goodnight. Of course, the following Bob Dylan's performance was absolutely fantastic. Almost every song Bob played was a classic and the crowd loved him from beginning to end. I won't even talk about how great he sounded singing "The Times They Are A-Changin'" or "It's Alright Ma I'm Only Bleeding." The point I did want to make was Dylan's last encore. Flanked by guitarists Larry Campell and Charlie Sexton as well as his crack rhythm section, Dylan launched into an absolutely KILLER version of 'Not Fade Away." It is known that Dylan was a big Buddy Holly fan in his youth and has been evoking Holly's name a lot since the recording of his "Time Out Of Mind" CD a couple of years ago.Still, the fact that his old acquaintance Phil Lesh had already performed the song made this selection a complete surprise. To put it bluntly, Dylan's version rocked out and completely blew away the memory of Phil Lesh and Friends. You had to wonder what Phil thought (if he was still back stage) but you sure knew how the crowd felt-they loved it. Everyone of those little Deadheads were boogying like there was no tomorrow. After the song ended and Dylan was walking off stage you could see one of his roadies hand him a white cowboy hat. Dylan pulled the hat down on his head, tugged the brim over his eyes, turned up his collar like an old gunfighter who had just defended himself in a shootout and disappeared into the night. End of story.
by Mitch Myers
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.