Yesterday was a super special day for me: my dad and I went to see Bob Dylan together in the Hamburg Stadtpark (central park).
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| Bob Dylan and Band at Hamburg Stadtpark — |
I should add that my dad is a huge Bob Dylan fan – but has never seen him before. Furthermore I should add that for the last 15 years I’ve lived in the USA, while my dad and the rest of my family continued to live in Germany. So for all those years we pretty much missed out on going to shows or other events together.
Spending more time with my family is the main reason why I’m currently back in Germany (and thus experiencing some kind of odd ex-expat phenomenon).
Finally taking my dad to see Bob Dylan was a total dream come true. By the way, the last show we went to together was Lloyd Cole in New Orleans in 1998.
We got to the venue super early so we could stand pretty much up front, which was a bit taxing while we waited for 1 1/2 hours in the heat. After all we’re not the youngest (well, my dad is still 2 years younger than Bob Dylan). But it was so worth it!
When Bob Dylan and his band came on stage we could see every expression and appreciate how much fun they had on stage. What struck me the most was probably how much Dylan was laughing and smiling.
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| Bob Dylan smiles in Hamburg — |
Of course, I was in awe of experiencing such a legend perform live. It was a pleasure to realize how much more I like his older man’s voice than I liked his younger voice. All together the interpretations of the songs were so different and fresh from the recordings I’ve heard over and over again through my life. I really loved the songs and (re)discovered some favorites.
For example, there’s the ultimate expat song “Like A Rolling Stone”.
Here an awesome animation video by Brianne Bowers:
Here a live version from 1966:
Oh, and of course my dad had a blast, too. I’m so grateful we could have this wonderful evening together. Thanks, Bob Dylan.
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P.S.: My intention was to share a few other videos or recordings. But in Germany it’s pretty much impossible to find Bob Dylan recordings online because of that whole GEMA and Sony thing. So maybe you can just put on your own old Dylan record and listen to “Don’t think twice, it’s alright” or “Ballad of a Thin Man”…
P. P. S.: For once I took the rule “no cameras allowed” to heart and only took pictures with my phone. Yeah, not such great quality.