Had the rare opportunity to see two living legends in the world of music performing live on stage Monday night. Merle Haggard opened for Bob Dylan in a five-night run at the beautiful and historic Pantages Theater in Hollywood.
Although I’ve known of Merle Haggard for years – most of my family still lives in Texas – I didn’t really know much of his music. I still don’t know his music very well, but what I heard tonight was excellent. Haggard has a warm and confident presence on stage, so confident in fact that he stopped his band mid-song, not once, not twice, but three times when he wasn’t happy with the sounds coming from the stage and once when he goofed up some lyrics and started the song over. One got the feeling that Haggard was more interested in playing good music than in impressing any “big city” audience. He even referred to himself and his eight-member group as the “oldest beer-joint band in the world.”
Throughout his one-hour set, the themes of Merle Haggard’s songs ran from romance and family to the working man, and even to current events, such as a show-stopping ballad called “That’s The News.” At one point he quipped to the audience, “Don’t listen to George Bush; keep focusing on Bob Dylan.” There was plenty of humor in his performance as well, especially when he played a few bars of his famous “Okie from Muskogee” number. Haggard showed off his excellent singing voice with his version of the classic “Unforgettable.” One thing is for certain: Merle Haggard is a true pro and his quality musicianship demonstrates why he is still an audience favorite.
Bob Dylan and his band took the stage at 9:00pm sharp. The curtain rose to reveal Dylan and his six-piece band in action. Dylan, in a black cowboy hat and western-style garb, stood behind his piano on the left side of the stage while an attractive lady playing the fiddle took center stage. In addition to the fiddler and the powerful drummer, Dylan surrounded himself with a top-notch crew of guitarists: a rockin’ lead, steady rhythm, strong bass – who also used a stand-up instrument for a few numbers – and one energetic gentleman who alternated between pedal steel guitar, banjo, fiddle, and a tiny little electric about the size of a ukulele. Besides the token female, who wore a short black dress, the entire band wore taupe colored suits with black shirts and cowboy boots and hats.
Dylan never played guitar nor interacted with the audience, except at one point when he said, “Thanks, friends.” Dylan stayed at the piano throughout the performance, leaning down awkwardly to sing – perhaps croak would be more accurate – into the microphone. His trademark nasally voice sounds more like sandpaper today and he purposely over-dramatized many signature lines from his more famous songs from the 1960s.
From his catalogue of music covering more than 40 years, Bob Dylan treated the audience to a wide mix of old and new, well-known and obscure, slow ballads and rocking blues, and even a bit of country swing. The band was top-notch and Dylan seemed to enjoy changing the set list several times during the set. With five nights this week in Los Angeles, they’ll have time and enough material to put on a new show every night.
A few musical highlights for me were a slow country version of “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, a bluesy version of “Just Like A Woman”, a perfect rendition of “Love Sick” from his 1997 Grammy-winning album Time Out of Mind, and a tender “Girl From The North Country.” The show closed with a scorching “All Along The Watchtower”, which owed a lot to the spirit of Jimi Hendrix’s guitar-heavy cover version. The band could really rock out when demanded, yet they were full of nuance and grace during the quieter moments.
Dylan ended the 90-minute set in typical enigmatic fashion. For the curtain call, the group assembled center stage in front of the drums and all simply stood out facing the audience – no bows – as the curtain came down.
