Fencing In Bob Dylan
At last night’s Bob Dylan concert in Prospect Park, the closing night of Celebrate Brooklyn and a benefit for it, too, the last longhaired baby boomers in the borough gathered to listen to the musical icon of their generation sing—though plenty of GenX and GenY-ers showed up as well. Only problem: those who didn’t wish…
At last night’s Bob Dylan concert in Prospect Park, the closing night of Celebrate Brooklyn and a benefit for it, too, the last longhaired baby boomers in the borough gathered to listen to the musical icon of their generation sing—though plenty of GenX and GenY-ers showed up as well. Only problem: those who didn’t wish to swing the $55 for lawn seats or well above a cool hundred for actual chairs found they couldn’t partake of extra-bandshell listening, as so many are accustomed to doing. One reader wrote in to complain about the high fence erected around the venue to prevent glimpses; sound apparently did not travel well beyond it. “Unbelievable: Dylan comes to Brooklyn & everyone who wasn’t in his fan club, a VIP [there were plenty of seats reserved for music biz types], or willing to pay $200+ wound up barely able to hear and completely unable to see the concert, thanks to a tall black fence completely surrounding the bandshell area,” he writes. “Considering that I’ve never seen this sort of setup at Celebrate Brooklyn, I have to ask: Whose idea was this – Dylan’s or Celebrate Brooklyn? Anybody have an answer?” Well, do ya?
Dylan photo by Alan Fleishman
i’m surprised dylan didn’t insist the fence be erected on the stage itself.
I was right outside the fence at the back of the bandshell and the sound was o.k. Fact is Dylan mumbles. And he did play ‘ Masters of War’ but a shortened version, along with ‘It’s Alright Ma’, ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, ‘Highway 61’ and a nearly unrecognizable ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’. All in all, good line up.
This has been done at the non-free shows for a while. Not really newsworthy or worth getting upset about.
Was anyone on the other side of the fence? What was it like? Playlist?
They were playing “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” at Gorilla Coffee yesterday. Man, that guy had some chops, at least as a 20 year old. “Masters of War” C’mon.
The concert wasn’t in the Celebrate Brooklyn line-up — it was a benefit to fund Celebrate Brooklyn.
Did he play “Tangled Up In Blue?”
This was a special “benefit show” of which there were three. All others are free.
not to be snarky but.. didn’t they say it was a benefit – hence those prices.
Ordinarily I’d assume that the reason they’d need the fence was to induce people to pay for the concert (rather then just come and listen for free) – but having heard alot of Dylan’s music – maybe the fence was to keep people from running away in horror.
I love the idea of Bob Dylan behind a sound-proof barrier.
Can we keep him there forever?