Bob Dylan & Willie Nelson @ Five County Stadium

Bob Dylan
Willie Nelson
The Greencards
Five Country Stadium
Sunday, June 12th, 2005

This was a different sort of show. For one, you're talking about two of the grandmasters of Rock, Folk, and Country music, for another you're talking about being out in the middle of nowhere at the Carolina Mud Cats' minor league baseball stadium. It was a beautiful day with a great venue and some top-notch acts.

I enjoyed Willie much more than Bob. Willie was personable and outgoing, and his music was all I'd expected it to be. He had his sons on stage with him, one a pretty darn good Blues guitarist. He played all our favorites and then some, and his new songs were just as good as the old.

Bob on the other hand... well, it's Bob Dylan. Unless he was dropped from Heaven riding a beam of shining light, well... I don't guess I'd be happy. However, his voice, never very good, was GONE. He had two sounds (notice that I didn't call them "notes") -- gravelly, low inaudible growl, and nasal, twangy high screech -- and he'd switch from one to the other, back and forth, constantly. Sigh. Also, the rumor is his contract won't allow for Jumbotron close-ups, so I'm not really sure it was even Bob up there in that Stetson and cowboy jumpsuit. Although with the voice as bad as it was... I'm not sure why he'd put anyone else up there. What would he have to cover up? Still, the music was driving and interesting, and like I said -- it's Bob Dylan. I'll be a fan till I die.

The Greencards were of course working their hearts out at the start of the show. Their upbeat and bright music were a perfect match for the early part of the show -- warm and sunny. I couldn't help but notice the contrast -- Bluegrass/Americana, a mostly American invention, played extraordinarily well by two Aussies and a Brit, on a huge baseball field -- the sport of the US. Heh! God, I love this planet.

And I have to say the best part of the show was the crowd. I'm just blown away by all the cool people here in our part of North Carolina -- and with such great taste in music! Not to even mention all the beautiful women in sun dresses and country gear -- God bless denim skirts, tight shirts, and cowboy hats -- but the guys were all friendly and happy too. Everyone just seemed to be having a good time. While explaining to my friend's young son how an encore worked and why we had to wait a little bit, the couple in front of us -- who had every right to be annoyed or impatient with our loud talking -- just turned around and smiled at us. They knew they were witnessing his induction into concert-going. Pretty damn cool.

I also wanted to give a shout-out to Kurt Hagardorn, Thad Cockrell's kick-ass guitar player. I ran into him and his wife in line for beer and hot dogs. Ah, baseball parks... mmm. It was cool meeting you, Kurt.