Resurgent Dylan begins three-night stand at Aragon
For a guy who almost died more than a decade ago, Bob Dylan roars into town this week looking as vital as ever.
Dylan's "Never-Ending Tour," which has been never ending for more than 20 years now, begins a three-night stand Thursday at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, a comparatively intimate venue for a legendary musician who has filled arenas like the Chicago Stadium and, more recently, the United Center.
Dylan has enjoyed a late-career renaissance since suffering from a near-fatal heart infection shortly after the release of his mid-'90s return to form "Time out of Mind." This year has been one of his busiest, with the release of two albums - the fine if slightly erratic "Together Through Life" and his brand-new holiday collection, "Christmas in the Heart" - along with another leg of his tour of minor-league baseball stadiums over the summer and now a series of smaller theaters as he barnstorms back across the land.
The Aragon drew one of the best Chicago performances out of the Rolling Stones when they played it late in their career, and one can only hope the hacienda-style decor at the enduring swing palace has the same effect on Dylan. He's been reported to be spry and lively in recent performances, donning his guitar and singing center stage after a few years exclusively on keyboards (supposedly dealing with a bad back) and blowing harmonica on almost every song. The scalding Charlie Sexton has returned to his touring band on lead guitar, alongside the abiding loose-limbed yet rock-solid rhythm section of Tony Garnier and George Recile.
As ever, set lists change from night to night, but Dylan has largely been relying on material from his late maturity as an artist over the last decade or so: "Time out of Mind" through "Love and Theft," "Modern Times" and now "Together Through Life," mixed in with whatever classics from the '60s and '70s he feels like on the evening. He even unearthed Dock Boggs' "Sugar Baby" from Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Folk Music" at a recent gig in Los Angeles.
"Together Through Life" has been criticized as uneven, and Dylan's legendary one-take ethos, even with a studio band including Tom Petty's Heartbreaker lead guitarist Mike Campbell and Los Lobos' David Hidalgo, does produce a couple of static cuts, like "If You Ever Go to Houston." He also draws on help from former Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter here and there.
Yet the album's highs are very high, including the opening "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" (used as the sign-off for this season's "True Blood" on HBO), the bitterly self-lacerating "Forgetful Heart" and the rollicking finale "It's all Good," in which Dylan uses his aged, battered voice to lay bare the irony in the title.
Dylan is singing more and more about mortality, but his live shows seem to be getting more and more energetic and vibrant. These are Dylan's most enticing Chicago dates since he played the even more intimate Metro a dozen years ago, and they shouldn't be missed, especially by those who've never seen him.
Who knows what he'll unearth on Halloween night. Perhaps Boggs' murder ballad "Pretty Polly?"