Mavis Staples also has an interesting history. She and the rest of her family formed the Staples Singers and together they became one of the biggest soul singers in the world. Their spiritual based songs spoke about civil rights issues and Mavis proudly worked with MLK and other leaders during the civil rights movement. They released a number of successful songs and they scored two number one hits in the 1970's. She later embarked on a solo career when the group broke up. At the age of 76, she still tours and continues to have the same fire she did with her family back in the 60's and the 70's.
I'll first talk about the good parts. Mavis Staple was fantastic. Her voice is still powerful but she just has such a captivating stage presence. She engaged the audience like few can and she didn't feel like an opening act at all. Her band was tight and while I didn't know any of her songs, she will go down as the best opener I've seen in either of my years at Wolf Trap. As for Bob Dylan, being in his presence was something in and of itself. His band was also really good and to see him performing after all these years was an amazing experience.
And now, the bad parts. One of the biggest parts of Bob Dylan's career is that he often doesn't give what the people want. When he was called the biggest folk singer of his time, he suddenly changed his music and released "Like A Rolling Stone". On his corresponding 1966 tour, he was booed at every venue and many people hated him for turning his back on folk. Later in the 1970's he became a born again Christian and his concerts became religious revivals with gospel songs. This once again alienated his fan base and he never really recovered his previous fame. These days, he continues his tradition of simple alienation. The whole show, he only performed two songs that could be considered hits, "Blowin in the Wind" and "Tangled Up In Blue". Even with those songs, he changed their style to which they were barely recognizable. This goes along with his voice which has aged for the worse unfortunately . He's less singing than mumbling much of the time and his band often had to pick up the slack. As good as the band was, everyone didn't come to see the band and he simply refused to play his hits in the way everyone knows them. If that wasn't enough, he never picked up a guitar once and never really acknowledged the audience at all.
Overall, yes the show was the disappointing. The Dylan from "Blonde on Blonde" and "Blood on the Tracks" is no longer there. Despite that, people still came in droves and both shows were almost sold out. There was a no photography policy that made things hard on the lawn but nothing too bad happened. It was super hot the past two days but no rain. In the end though, the hardest part was seeing people who struggled to understand how Dylan seemed to turn his back to his fans.
My favorite part was the 2nd night when he played "Tangled up In Blue". I really tried to listen for the old Dylan and at one point, he sang it just like he did on the recording and for that brief moment, I reveled in the fact I saw the songwriter of a generation before he finally lays his guns in the ground.
As always, looking forward to more shows in the future!
DC
Remember him for what he was.
Mavis Staples!
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